Exploring the US Music Landscape: The Best and the Biggest Music Festivals in the U.S.

A few festivals we often like, including Electric Zoo, Hangout Fest, Pitchfork Chicago, Wonderfest, and others, won’t be happening anymore in 2025, but there’s still plenty to celebrate. Now, these festivals are important in America’s entertainment world because people come from far and wide to watch live music shows from many talented musicians.

For music lovers, this means even more to look forward to. With so many events on the calendar, you can choose the festival that hits all the right notes for your taste, both in sound and in flavour. Our expert, Kate Richardson, has analysed the top music-infused festivals in the United States and put together this guide to the major events that bring rhythm and refreshment together year after year.

An Outline of the Biggest Music Festivals in the U.S.

Music lovers do not take chances with opportunities to see famous artists perform live on stage, so every year, America’s biggest festivals pull hundreds of thousands of people into open space to enjoy premium entertainment. Most attendees look forward to this feeling of singing at the top of their voice to their favourite songs, along with thousands of other fans.

If you are ready to join the fun this year, you should pick out one of the big music festivals and plan to be there. 

Coachella

Since Coachella started in 1999, it has kept growing and is now known as one of the biggest music festivals on Earth. Each year, the Coachella Valley welcomes celebrities from across the globe, and fans, numbering more than 100,000, come to hear them during the two festival weekends.

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival covers several genres and involves more than music. Attending means grabbing your ticket in advance and going to the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California.

Eva Mendes best captures the excitement and greatness of Coachella. 

She once said, “If you took me to Coachella for our first date, it would probably be a done deal. It would be a sure thing.” 

That’s just how much Coachella means to its goers. 

South By Southwest

South by Southwest is a very popular conference about everything concerning entertainment. Originally a music festival, SXSW has mixed tech, film, music, and culture into its programming. 

In March, creative industry professionals come to Austin, Texas, to forge connections, join discussions, and find new technology and concepts. The conference at SXSW puts a greater emphasis on sharing new ideas than only presenting live music.

Lollapalooza

In July, Lollapalooza is going to be back in Chicago, Illinois, to give attendees another premium blast of music, adventure, and fun. Every year, this American music fest hosts up to 400,000 guests over four days of live music performances from popular artists. Lollapalooza is not limited to any specific music genre, so a diverse set of music bands and artists perform here every year.

Since this event has been going on since 1991 and with the large crowd it pulls annually, it’s one music festival in North America that always makes headlines.

Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas

Insomniac Events has been organising the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas for over two decades, and they keep pulling larger crowds year after year. In 2024, this festival attracted up to 525,000 individuals over the three days it was on. With these numbers, this carnival qualifies as one of the largest electronic dance music festival events in the world presently.

The Las Vegas Daisy Carnival is a big deal for electronic music fans, and the event has won a few awards, like the Festival of the Year award it won in 2017. Fans interested in joining this electric experience need to grab a ticket as soon as they are available for sale because they are always in high demand.

Austin City Limits Music Festival

The same organisers of Chicago’s Lollapalooza are responsible for Austin, Texas’s big sound fest, the Austin City Limits Festival. Indie, Folk, Electronic, Hip Hop, Rock, and Country Music artists and bands are going to be on the different stages at Zilker Park to buzz the audience with live music.

Every year, about 450,000 people come to Zilker Park for this three-day festival to enjoy good music, quality food, and premium entertainment overall.

Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival

Since the first edition in 2002, the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival has been held every year except for 2020 and 2021. Over the years, this festival has become a cornerstone of the American music scene, drawing some of the biggest names in the industry to Tennessee to perform for thousands of passionate fans.

Bonnaroo has been nominated and won different awards in recognition of how much it has been able to entertain music and art lovers. In 2024, over 70,000 people were hosted at the Great Stage Park, and the next edition also promises to be another big hit.

Summerfest

In 1989, Summerfest was named the “World’s Largest Music Festival” by the Guinness Book of Records. Even though it is rivalled by other successful festivals in terms of attendance numbers now, this festival still attracted over 500,000 people to the concert grounds in 2024. 

The concerts have been  spread over 3 weekends since the 2021 edition to host more people at:

• Henry Maier Festival Park
• Milwaukee
• Wisconsin

Fans are already looking at the 2025 lineup as they prepare to attend the biggest dance music festival in North America.

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

Jazzfest New Orleans is another big festival that celebrates local sound and culture. Unlike most other sound fests, the Jazz and Heritage festival does not focus on pulling big names. Instead, it prioritises local Louisiana talent. 

The festival started in 1970, and it is still around today because it has become an important part of the city’s culture. You can join thousands of visitors in New Orleans for the next edition of this iconic music event.

Life is Beautiful Music & Arts Festival

The festival, Life is Beautiful Music & Art, looks into various aspects of music and other kinds of art. Regarding sound, there are artists for every popular genre here. The styles and varieties of music and art at the festival unite people from all different backgrounds. In addition, despite starting in 2013, the festival had already become the world’s highest-earning festival by 2019.

Events of this size encourage people to visit from Norway and other European destinations, since here you enjoy entertainment through sights and sounds together. Fans who can’t travel the distance can still get this entertainment in different ways. But if you’re coming over, be sure that you have extra entertainment options handy, like access to bookies, if you’re a lover of sports. Now, if you’re trying to bet in Norway or you’re a Norwegian attending the fest and desire betting options, you can take advantage of the top offshore sportsbook sites that work internationally.

The article was provided by Kate Richardson