The 6 Best Music Festivals in the World 2024
It’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere and that means one big thing for music: Festival Season. Yes, summer for many artists and bands is the busy season. A time when they pack their bags, guitars and sometimes families onto a plane or bus, and hop across the globe to play their latest album, greatest hits or something altogether new for their adoring fans across the world.
And do you know who loves music more than any other brand? Everyone’s favourite Irish Whiskey, Jameson, does! Whether it’s dance music, rock, pop, or anything in between, if it’s got a beat, you can bet your bottom dollar that it’s going to pique our interest.
However, with so many music festivals to choose from, how do you know which one is right for you? Should you consider a popular music festival to attend close by, or is it time to splash out and take a plane to a top music festival abroad? Decisions. Decisions.
Fear not whiskey lovers, because Jameson (as always) is here to help with your festival indecisiveness! We have curated a list of the best music festivals around the world to help make a very tough choice that little bit easier. Some of which you’ll be familiar with. Some of which you may have never heard of. All of which are just waiting to be discovered!
Grape Festival
Let’s start with heaps of musical variety (and a name we just love). Grape Festival in beautiful Slovakia is an absolute treasure trove of worldwide music acts, particularly, in Europe.
Huge artists, including Foals, YungBlud, Years and Years, The Vaccines, and Jungle have all played Grape Festival Slovakia in the past with Two Door Cinema Club, Tom Odell and AJ Tracey taking to the stage this year. And it’s not just big names from the Anglosphere of music, Grape Festival hosts a wide range of acts from all over Europe (too many to mention here) and of course lots of local talent.
The two-day festival is the perfect test drive before giving it the full send on one of the bigger European music festivals next time around. Located on an airstrip surrounded by a large field, Grape Festival has solid surfaces and grass escapes to ensure even if it does rain, the mud is minimised. The festival is fully equipped with activities, including a skateboarding halfpipe, basketball, and volleyball courts, as well as amusements, art installations and crafts.
The most important attraction of all? Why the Jameson Zone of course! Where you can take a breather with a Jameson cocktail and decide on which act you’re going to see next!
Untold Festival
From Slovakia to Romania, where Europe’s answer to Miami’s Ultra Music Festival is here. UNTOLD is Romania’s biggest electronic dance music festival. With a line-up list that could be sold as a short novel, if there is an electronic artist that you want to see, you’ll likely find them here.
UNTOLD has hosted the biggest names in dance music over the years, including Tiesto, David Guetta, Martin Garrix, and Steve Aoki who all make regular returns to UNTOLD, however, it’s not a space solely for DJs. Established artists outside of the electronic genre make an appearance too! Ticket holders for 2024 have performances from Bruna Boy, Lenny Kravitz, and Sam Smith to look forward to!
The festival takes place over 4 days in the unofficial capital of Transylvania, Cluj-Napoca! Unfortunately for Dracula and his night-loving friends, they’ll miss out on half the fun, as the festival runs across multiple stages during the day, and during the night!
The main events are held in the Cluj Arena where 30,000 local football fans regularly watch games, but there are multiple stages within the vicinity of the main stage where you can catch one of the countless EDM acts spinning the decks. What’s more, all of the fun happens right in the city! Yes, the arena isn’t the only place you can get a fresh Jameson, ginger ale and lime in hand. When the music ends there are local bars a plenty, ready to serve up some of your favourite Irish whiskey cocktails to help you relax after a long day of dancing or… to help keep the party going!
St Jerome’s Laneway Festival
From Europe, we’re going down under! Australia’s biggest touring music festival (yes, you read that correctly – touring) started as a small first anniversary celebration for a recently opened bar, St. Jerome’s, on Melbourne’s Caledonian Lane in 2004. 20 years later the celebration has expanded, bringing artists including Haim, Billie Eilish, Fred Again, and The 1975 for a festival tour of Australia’s major cities for a week and a half of music excellence! Talk about a party getting out of hand!
Of course, being down under means everything is all topsy-turvy. So, while everyone in the Northern Hemisphere is dealing with the much cooler February days, our Aussie friends are just reaching the end of peak summer weather, perfect for getting outside for an all-day boogie. Keep that in mind when you’re buying your Jameson festival merch for the occasion. We cover all seasons, so make sure you know which season you’re buying for!
Just like Jameson, Laneway Festival has something for everyone, with music for across all genres.
And where you find great music, you’ll also find great whiskey! From Sydney to Perth Jameson is touring with Laneway Festival serving up some of the best festival drinks, like the ones you see here!
Tomorrowland
Now we’re getting into the heavy-hitters – the BIG music festivals with global name recognition, in the festival world. Names like Primavera Sound, Rock in Rio or, the one everyone and their grandmother has heard of at least once: Tomorrowland!
Tomorrowland is to the electronic genre, what Disneyland is to theme parks. Not only is Disneyland where Tomorrowland might have taken its name, but the stages, the pageantry, and the excitement of the fans are all akin to the most magical place on earth.
Tomorrowland’s stages and performances are known for their fantasy theme and spectacle. Constructed to look like castles, dragons, and mythical gardens, the performance spaces are a sight to behold. Actors, dancers, and performers adorn costumes plucked straight from an Alice in Wonderland novel.
The festival takes place over 2 weekends just outside Antwerp in Belgium and is the Mecca for dance and electronic music fans the world over. And when we say the world over, we mean it! Tomorrowland has sold as many as 600,000 tickets in the past, with people from every corner of the globe coming to Belgium for the festival. Why? Because the best and biggest DJs in the world play here every year, without fail. Which why the world’s favourite Irish whiskey, can be found at the world’s favourite EDM festival. We cannot miss it (and neither should you)
Glastonbury
We told you we were getting into the heavy-hitters. Next to Coachella, Glastonbury is one of the world’s mythical and most famous music festivals. To those who have attended or performed at it, there is no changing their mind: It is the best music festival in the world.
The festival takes place over 5 days during summer and has a 3-year cycle. 3 years of running and one year of rest to allow the English countryside meadows of Somerset, where the festival takes place, to rejuvenate. It’s this respect for nature and fairness that keeps music fans coming back for a second, third or fourth time, but more about that in a minute.
The famous Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury is the stuff of legends… as in literal legends of music have performed on it. Paul McCartney, Dolly Parton, David Bowie, Tom Jones, The Rolling Stones, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Johnny Cash, Metallica and many many more have made the Pyramid Stage their own. However, it’s not just huge acts at Glastonbury, every genre of music is catered for. There are stages, event areas, and performance spaces galore to find exactly the right vibe you’re looking for, exactly when you are looking for it and the same goes for drinks too.
Glastonbury is spoiled for choice when it comes to watering holes, with too many to mention. Rest assured, however, if it’s a sunny day, a refreshing whiskey cocktail or post Pyramid Stage nightcap, Jameson will be readily available throughout the festival grounds!
All Together Now Festival
Finally, we bring it all home. Say it with us! All Together Now!
Yes, All Together Now has been one of Ireland’s premiere music festivals in recent years. Why? Well, because it’s so much more than meets the eye! Situated on the beautiful Curraghmore Estate, in Co. Waterford, the festival hosts an incredible collection of artists from home and abroad, with The National, The Prodigy, Future Islands, Hot Chip and Kojaque all part of this year’s stellar lineup.
However, music is just the tip of the iceberg! The biggest names in Irish comedy will also be in attendance, including Tommy Tiernan, Emma Doran, and Neil Delamere, ready to tickle attendees’ funny bones left and right. Aside from great acts, there are lots of free activities for adults and children, plus wellness and cultural experiences for festival goers to partake in and some of the best food you can find out of a truck anywhere in the country!
The thing we love most about All Together Now, isn’t just the atmosphere, the music, the experiences, it’s that we get to be part of it! No really, Jameson is part of the festival! We’re not just serving up delicious drinks for everyone to enjoy, we’re serving up incredible music too!
The Circle is Jameson’s very own stage bringing music and comedy to attendees throughout the entire weekend, with The Murder Capital, Optimo and Morgana all playing intimate gigs for music lovers. With a cocktail in hand and the bands performing in The Circle, there’s no place you’d rather be!
And there you have it! Jameson’s list of some of the best music festivals for 2024, where you can dance like nobody is watching (and rightly so!).
It can be hard to dish out your best moves with an open drink in hand… unless you are doing the robot… where you can start and stop. Luckily, Jameson is ahead of the game with our brilliant Ready-To-Drink cans. Premixed Jameson cocktails, perfect to bust open as you bust a move!
As you might have guessed, Jameson Irish Whiskey is the perfect festival companion, no matter which type of festival you’re in line to attend. Jameson is the world’s favourite Irish whiskey for good reason! Our whiskey can be found all over the world, which means our cocktails are never too far out of reach! And some of our most simple cocktails are our best cocktails. We have a load of quick and easy cocktail recipes for you to order or make at a festival, that taste great.
So, if there’s one thing that is a festival must this summer, it Must Be A Jameson!