Every year there’s a greater selection of electronic music festivals than the past one. Even the festivals that were not originally dedicated to electronic music try to incorporate it as much as they can. The industry is growing at such speed, most of us can’t even keep track of everything that’s going on. 2016 will be packed with amazing festivals, and here is a selection of the particularly attractive ones:
Miami Music Week (MMW) is a collection of hotel, pool, and club events held around Miami and South Beach during Ultra Music Festival.
Ultra Music Festival (UMF) is a 3-day outdoor music concert with multiple stages. Electronic dance artists and DJs from around the world play throughout the day and into the night.
The Winter Music Conference (WMC) is an electronic music conference held in Miami aimed at industry professionals, producers, artists, promoters and record labels. There are various seminars, panels, workshops, parties, DJ spinoffs, and networking events for those in the industry or looking to learn more about the industry. Hundreds of events and parties are being held during the conference throughout the Miami and South Beach area. There are pool parties, rooftop parties, beach parties, club parties and concerts.
Here are some of the events that will be taking place in Miami in March 2016: Never Get Out of the Boat with Hernan Cattaneo and Nick Warren (March 15th), Miami Music Week – Favela Beach with Reid Waters + TBA (March 15th), Last Night On Earth Sunset Cruise with Sasha & more (March 17th), Tini and the Gang Cruise (March 18th), Miami Music Week – S.K.A.M. Fridays – TBA (March 18th) , Cosmic Gate & Friends Sunset Cruise (March 19th), #HouseSaturdays w/TBA (March 19th and 26th) and many more.
DGTL, AMSTERDAM, NEATHERLANDS, MARCH 25th – 27th
This year’s DGTL festival theme is: Installation Art, which sounds pretty interesting. In addition to that, for the very first time there will be an opening concert on Friday night featuring me (live), Black Coffee, George FitzGerald and Maya Jane Coles.
For the rest of the weekend the honor goes to a bunch of outstanding house and techno artists such as: Seth Troxler, Maceo Plex, Jackmaster, Barnt, Adriatique, Joy Orbison, Recondite, Agents Of Time on Saturday, KiNK,Tale Of Us, Bicep, John Talabot, DJ Tennis, Motor City Drum Ensemble, Nina Kraviz, Mano Le Tough, Bonobo, Andhim and Red Axes.
The international festival of advanced music takes place every June in Barcelona, and it’s divided into two parts: Sónar Day and Sónar Night. Sónar Day takes place at Barcelona’s Plaza d’Espanya, while Sónar Night is held primarily at the exhibition center in the L’Hospitalet neighborhood, but also holds events throughout that neighborhood and greater Barcelona. The announced line-up for June 2016 so far is: New Order, John Grant, Fatboy Slim, Kenny Dope, Matias Aguayo, The Black Madonna, Acid Arab, Section Boyz, Congo Natty, Kode9, Skepta, King Midas Sound… However, we’re still waiting for more announcements to be made.
Sónar +D is the international conference organized by Sónar festival which covers the digital transformation of the creative industry to develop and strengthen talent, exchange knowledge and establish business opportunities. It’s held in Barcelona at the time of the festival.
The past few years Sónar has been spreading across the globe, and it was held in Reykjavik, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile and Bogota.
In 2016 Sónar was held in Rejkyavik on February 18th – 20th.
From February 26th – 27th Stockholm became a home to Sónar festival with a line-up that included: Maya Jane Coles, Jackmaster, Rødhåd, Ida Engberg, Fatima Yamaha, The Black Madonna, Holly Herndon, Youth Lagoon and others.
MOVEMENT (DETROIT, USA, MAY 28-30)
Movement is held during the USA Memorial Day weekend. The three-day event takes place at Heart Plaza – the legendary riverfront destination.
Detroit is the motherland of techno music and still has a magic note in it’s name for the music lovers all over the world. It is
This year marks the 10th anniversary for Movement and the lineup is impressive. Starting with Kraftwerk 3D performance, Stacey Pullen, Richie Hawtin, Juan Atkins with Moritz Von Oswald presenting BORDERLAND, Kevin Saunderson, Green Velvet with Claude Vonstroke: GET REAL, Nina Kraviz, The Black Madonna (giiiirls), Marc Houle with a live, and many more great names.
GLASTONBURY, PILTON, SOMERSET, ENGLAND, JUNE 22nd – 26th
A five-day festival of contemporary performing arts in addition to music offers comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts. It is the largest greenfield festival in the world and is now attended by around 175,000 people.
Each area of the festival has its character, and its loyal fans: Silver Hayes (formerly the Dance Village), the Green Fields, the Circus & Theatre fields, The Park… The Pyramid Stage always provides the festival’s most high-profile attractions. However, a lot of great attractions are to be found on the outskirts, where you least expect them.
The line-up has still not been revealed. However, there are rumors that Coldplay, Muse and The Foo Fighters are going to be the headliners.
For those in search of electronic music, Block9 is the area at Glastonbury to be – it’s a 24-hour wonderland of heavyweight sound systems, underground nightclubs and huge artworks. Past electronic music performances included Robert Hood, Four Tet, Eats Everything, Hot Chip, Caribou, Todd Terje, Gregory Porter, Jamie XX, Jon Hopkins, SBTRKT and many more.
Tickets for Glastonbury 2016 have now sold out. But there is likely to be a resale of any cancelled/returned tickets in the spring, so be prepared to grab your ticket then and enjoy some Glastonbury fun.
AWAKENINGS, SPAARNWOUDE, DEELPLAN HOUTRA, NETHERLANDS, JUNE 25th – 26th
A set of techno music festivals organized in the Netherlands. Every June in Spaarnwoude’s meadow and forest (between Amsterdam and Haarlem) eight stages make techno lovers dance for two days. The line-up for 2016 has not been announced yet. However, each year old-school pioneers are put alongside more recently risen stars (e.g. Richie Hawtin and Sven Väth joined Tale of Us, Eats Everything and loads of other artists).
Besides that, there are a lot of Awakenings events going on in 2016. These are the announced ones you can still find tickets for: Awakenings Eindhoven on January 30th with Joris Voorn, Chris Liebing, Loco Dice and more; Awakenings Manchester on the 6th of February with Chris Liebing, Dave Clarke, Rebekah, Speedy J and Rødhåd; Awakenings New York on the 14th of February with Adam Beyer & Ida Engberg, Pan-Pot, Julia Gover & Karman Sadeghi; Electric Deluxe Awakenings in Amsterdam on March 24th with Speedy J, Clouds, Subjected and more; Awakenings Presents Adam & Ida Special in Amsterdam on March 26th with Adam Beyer, Ida Engberg and Bart Skills; Awakenings Presents Ben & Marcel Special on March 27th with Ben Klock, Marcel Dettmann and JP Enfant; Awakenings Antwerp on April 15th – 16th with Adam Beyer, Alan Fitzpatrick, Joris Voorn, Sam Paganini, Len Faki, Joseph Capriati and more; on April 22nd Awakenings goes to Santiago de Chile but the line-up has not been announced yet.
FUSION, MECKLENBURG–VORPOMMERN, GERMANY, JUNE 29th – JULY 3rd
An abandoned military airbase 3 hours away from Berlin draws freethinkers, music lovers, artists and fans of everything experimental. In an attempt to create a parallel society Fusion offers four days of truly unique experience at a festival that’s about celebrating differences. The interesting part is how people get the tickets for Fusion Festival: 58,000 tickets are released by an equal-opportunity ballot system for each year’s event, selling out in hours.
People who end up at Fusion want to be there, which is why the vibe is so amazing. The line-up will be announced only shortly before the festival, as this is not a typical festival where people go just because of the line-up. People go to Fusion because of the complete experience. People go to Fusion to experiment and be free.
LOVE INTERNATIONAL, TISNO, CROATIA, JUNE 29th – JULY 7th
In June 2016, a new electronic music festival called Love International will take place in Tisno, Croatia. It’s following in the footsteps of The Garden Festival, whose final edition took place in July 2015 and it intends to embrace its amazing legacy of a festival that started out in 2006 with just 300 people and became one of the most popular festivals in the house and techno scene.
Some of the artists we’ll hear at this amazing spot in June 2016 are: Ben UFO, Dixon, Fort Romeau, Joy Orbison, Lord Of The Isles, Midland and Red Axes. More artists are soon to be announced, though.
TOMORROWLAND (SÃO PAULO, BRASIL, APRIL 21st – 23rd), (BOOM, BELGIUM, JULY 22nd – 24th)
One of the biggest electronic music festivals started in 2005 at Boom (16 km south of Antwerp). Just like Sónar it went global, so in 2015 it was held in Boom, Belgium, São Paulo, Brasil and in Atlanta, USA.
For 2016 São Paulo and Boom have been announced. In Brasil you’ll be able to see Afrojack, Armin Van Buren, David Guetta, Alesso, Axwell, Ingrosso and many other artists. If you’re more into underground techno and house don’t worry, there’s something for you as well: Gui Boratto and Solomun will make you sure you dance.
The 2016 line-up for Boom, Belgium has yet to be revealed, but 2015 featured Alesso, Avicii, Carl Cox, Armin Van Buuren, Martin Garrix, Sven Väth, Hardwell so we can be sure that 2016 won’t be bad either.
Dekmantel will take place at AMSTERDAMSE BOS on AUG 5 – AUG 7.
The location stays the same and the natural surroundings add charm to one of the most interesting festivals in the wold of underground music. Dekmantel aims for quality and this year’s line-up “will be diverse and focused on the best contemporary, experimental and timeless underground electronic music out there.
We’re upping the mixture, but keeping the quality.” The lineup is impressive: Robert Hood, Jeff Mills, Rødhåd, Marcellus Pittman, Robert Hood, Ricardo Villalobos and more.
Here’s what the festival website promises this year: “For the first time, we’re going north and we’ll bring a boat. Next to our packed daytime program, we are heading towards the city’s IJ river during opening night, to set up shop at several landmark locations. EYE is the film museum and arthouse cinema on the northern bank, Tolhuistuin a club venue that offers a sense of seclusion and hiding from what’s across the busy other end of the water. Furthermore we are revisiting the Muziekgebouw where we will be taking over The Bimhuis as well, the Dutch concert hall for improv music. Moreover, we are again hosting an extensive night program on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Melkweg.”
AMSTERDAM DANCE EVENT, AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS, MID OCTOBER (TO BE ANNOUNCED)
The Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) is the world’s biggest club festival. It returns to Amsterdam in October 2016, hosting more than 400 events throughout the city. This annual festival hosts over 2 000 artists during five days, on 80 locations across the city providing dance floors for over 200 000 clubbers.
It’s highly unlikely that the not yet announced line-up will be bad, considering the past performance on ADE: me, Ben Klock, Ben UFO, Bicep, Dj Tennis, Dixon, Floorplan, Henrik Schwarz, Joris Voorn, Maceo Plex, Mano Le Tough, The Martinez Brothers, The Black Madonna. Let’s see how ADE will top that in 2016!
