Summer music festivals offer an unmatched experience. A few days of wild, outdoor music from your favorite bands and artists make these festivals full of unexpected experiences and fun.
Senior Lilly Silver-Alford attended Firefly Music Festival last year and the year before. As she puts it: “I don’t think there are many things better than listening to your favorite band playing on a beautiful day.” Here is a guide to a few relatively local festivals taking place over the summer.
Firefly Music Festival
Date: June 18-21
Location: Dover, DE
Headliners: Paul McCartney, Kings of Leon, The Killers
Personal Favorites: Spoon, Gary Clark Jr., Run the Jewels
Experience: The most convenient and popular summer festival for Whitman students, Firefly boasts a welcoming atmosphere and a diverse lineup. A wooded setting is complemented by perks such as a silent disco (a DJ set where the music is pumped through headphones that everyone wears) and the Hammock Hangout (a secluded area with dozens of hammocks for relaxation and naps). The festival also has camping options available for attendees.
“The camping was really simple with nearby water and charging stations,” said senior Jason Dunn, who went to the festival last year.
Bonnaroo
Date: June 11-14
Location: Manchester, TN
Headliners: Billy Joel, Mumford & Sons, Kendrick Lamar
Personal Favorites: Alabama Shakes, Twenty One Pilots, Mac DeMarco
Experience: Like Firefly, Bonnaroo has something for music-lovers of all genres. It’s one of the largest music festivals in the country, with nearly 100,000 attendees every year. A host of other activities from a comedy club to an art exhibition makes this massive festival an engaging event. Camping available.
Gathering of the Vibes
Date: July 30-August 2
Location: Bridgeport, CT
Headliners: Wilco, The String Cheese Incident
Personal Favorites: Gregg Allman, The Gaslight Anthem
Experience: Founded on the feel-good principles of the Grateful Dead, Gathering of the Vibes is celebrating its tenth year at Seaside Park this year. Featuring jam-bands and similar upbeat artists, the festival values its strong community and the bond that attendees form with each other over the course of the four days. Camping available.
Governors Ball
Date: June 5-7
Location: New York City, New York
Headliners: Drake, The Black Keys, Deadmau5
Personal Favorites: Flume, Tame Impala, Conor Oberst
Experience: Governors Ball is on Randall’s Island Park, which is in the heart of New York City.
“Being able to go straight from the city into the festival and then back out again was really cool,” said Tufts junior Emery Reifsnyder, who attended the festival last year. But the setting also has it’s drawbacks.
“Getting a hotel made the overall cost pretty exorbitant,” he said. Camping not available.
All Good Music Festival
Date: July 9-11
Location: Summit Point, WV
Headliners: Primus, moe., Cake
Personal Favorites: John Butler Trio, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong
Experience: Set in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, this small festival (only 16,000 fans in 2013) is truly unique. Whitman parent Gerard Diruggiero, who has attended the festival three times, raves about All Good.
“The views were incredible with mountains all around, it was a great jam band lineup, and the crowd was rowdy,” he said.
None of the sets overlap and there is only one stage, so you can watch every performer, which isn’t possible at most other festivals. It’s less than an hour and half from Bethesda, but traffic during the festival is brutal, Diruggiero said. Camping is available, and DiRuggiero suggests the tree-line camping as opposed to the car camping.
