| Date | Festival | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 1 - 15 2008 | Glasgow Music Festival | Glasgow Royal Concert Hall 2 Sauchiehall Street Glasgow, G2 3NY United Kingdom | Glasgow Music Festival is an annual festival of music, speech, drama and dance first held in 1911. Each year around 7,000 performers take part in the two week festival which opens on the first Saturday in March. There are events for groups of almost any size and description, in addition to an extensive programs for solo performance. Performers have the opportunity to develop their skills through receiving advice and encouragement from a team of experienced professional adjudicators. |
| April 23 - 27 2008 | Festival International de Louisiane | Downtown Lafayette Louisiana USA | Formed in 1986, Festival International de Louisiane is a community-based, non-profit arts organization that provides a FREE family event celebrating the French cultural heritage of southern Louisiana - primarily a combination of French, African, Caribbean and Hispanic influences. It drew about 300,000 attendees in 2007. |
| May 2 - 4 2008 | The Beale Street Music Festival | Tom Lee Park 357 Riverside Drive Memphis Tennessee, USA | A three day music festival that has a mix of big-name stars while mixing local acts as well; Held during the first weekend of May in the city's Tom Lee Park at the foot of Beale Street, it is considered as the kick-off event of the entire Memphis in May celebration. It typically hosts 100,000 people for each of the first two nights of the event. The festival was added a year after Memphis in May was created. Its history can be traced back to the 1800s, when African-American musicians throughout the South would come to Beale Street and perform. |
| May 3 - 5 2008 | Seoul World DJ Festival | Nanji campground Seoul South Korea | Seoul World DJ Festival started as one of Hi Festival's main programs in 2007, however due to its popularity, in 2008 this event will be held independently by paid admission. It will run all night long from 2pm May 3rd to 5am May 5th, for 3 consecutive days. All the popular cultures will come together through the DJ culture in this event. |
| May 21 - June 7 2008 | The Bath International Music Festival | Bath Somerset England | Inaugurated in 1948, the festival has an illustrious artistic history and has long been a well-established event of national significance and international reputation. It takes place annually over 17 days in late May/early June, presenting a range of high quality events including orchestral, chamber and contemporary classical music, contemporary jazz and world music and now exciting new electronica. The programme takes place mainly in city venues and also includes free-to-the-public outdoor events. |
| May 30 - June 1 2008 | Pinkpop Rock Festival | Megaland Park Landgraaf Netherlands | Pinkpop Festival is an annual rock festival held at Landgraaf, Netherlands. According to the Guinness Book of Records, it is the oldest annual festival in the world. PinkPop 2008 is set to be the biggest one to date, and there is an expected 60,000 attendees for the 3-day festival. |
| June 5 - 8 2008 | CMA Music Festival | LP Field One Titans Way Nashville Tennessee, USA | The CMA Music Festival is a 4-day music festival centered around country music hosted each June by the Country Music Association (CMA) in Nashville, Tennessee. Begun in 1972 as Fan Fair, the event now draws over 400 artists and celebrities who hold autograph sessions and perform in one of the many concerts offered throughout the festival. Over 191,000 fans from around the world attended the 2007 CMA Music Festival. |
| June 20 - August 31 2008 | Arena di Verona Festival | Arena di Verona Verona Italy | The Arena di Verona Festival (Verona Arena Festival) is a summer festival of opera, located in the city of Verona Italy. Opera performances are given in Arena di Verona, an ancient Roman amphitheatre. Performances traditionally begin at dusk and spectators on the stone seats of the arena bring small candles which are lit as darkness falls and the performances begin. |
| June 21 2008 | World Music Day Festival | One of the locations is Pasadena Los Angeles California USA | The Fête de la Musique, also known as World Music Day, is a music festival taking place on June 21, which is usually the summer solstice. The Fête de la Musique began in France in 1982 and has since spread to more than 250 cities in over 100 countries. |
| June 26 - July 6 2008 | Festival International de Jazz de Montréal | Montreal Quebec, Canada | The Festival International de Jazz de Montréal (FIJM) also called the Jazz Fest, is the world’s largest jazz festival (2004 Guinness World Record). It is held annually in Montreal, Quebec during the summer season and gathers artists from around the world. It is typically attended by over 2 million people who are attracted by the electric atmosphere, diversity of shows and by the city itself. Many parts of the city's downtown core are closed to traffic for two weeks as outdoor shows are free to the public on many stages. |
| June 27 - 29 2008 | Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts | Worthy Farm Pilton Somerset, England | The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts in Pilton, England, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or Glasto, is the largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world. It has a diverse line-up ranging from music to comedy, to circus and theatre. The festival has been a regular fixture (with some breaks) since 1970. |
| June 27 - 29 2008 | Tuska Open Air Metal Festival | Kaisaniemi park Helsinki Finland | Tuska Open Air Metal Festival, shortly Tuska (Finnish: pain, agony), is the largest music festival dedicated only to metal and related styles of music in the Nordic countries. It takes place in Kaisaniemi park in the middle of Helsinki, Finland. The history of Tuska began in 1998 and it has grown larger every year. Nowadays Tuska is the greatest metal-festival in the Nordic countries. |
| June 29 - July 6 2008 | Roskilde Music Festival | Havsteensvej 11 DK-4000 Roskilde Denmark | Roskilde Festival held south of Roskilde in Denmark is the largest North European music festival and has existed since 1971. It is a non-profit organisation consisting of about 25 full-time employees and thousands of volunteers. Each year, The Roskilde Festival Charity Society, which is the association behind Roskilde Festival, ensures that the profits from the festival are donated directly to humanitarian and cultural purposes. |
| July 1 - 31 2008 | iTunes Live: London Festival | KOKO Camden London, England | From July 1st 2008, iTunes takes over London’s legendary KOKO for a month-long extravaganza of live music. iTunes Live: London Festival ‘08 will feature exclusive gigs from international acts such as N*E*R*D and James Blunt as well as hot up and comers such as Hadouken! and The Ting Tings. |
| July 3 - 6 2008 | Rock Werchter | Werchter, Belgium | Rock Werchter is an annual music festival in the village of Werchter in Belgium since 1974. The 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007 festivals received the Arthur award for best festival in the world at International Live Music Conference (ILMC). |
| July 4 - 19 2008 | Montreux Jazz Festival | Convention Centre Montreux Switzerland | The Montreux Jazz Festival is the best-known music festival in Switzerland. It is held annually in early July in Montreux on the shores of Lake Geneva. Founded in 1967 by Claude Nobs, the Montreux Jazz Festival has become an unmissable event for music fans over the years, both in Switzerland and abroad. |
| July 5 - 12 2008 | Latvian Nationwide Song and Dance Celebration | Mezaparks and Daugava Stadium Riga, Latvia | In 2008, three Baltic countries – Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia – will celebrate 90 years since their independence. Year 2008 will also be significant for Latvia as around 35,000 participants will gather in the capital Riga for the XXIV Song and XIV Dance Celebration. |
| July 11 - 13 2008 | Rainforest World Music Festival | Kuching Sarawak, Malaysia | The Rainforest World Music Festival is an annual 3-day music festival celebrating the diversity of "world music" formerly known as ethnic music held in Kuching, the capital of the East Malaysian state of Sarawak. The aim of the festival has always been the preservation and conservation of ethnic music and traditional musical instruments. |
| July 11 - 13 2008 | Oxegen 2008 | Punchestown Racecourse County Kildare, Ireland | Oxegen is an annual rock music festival, held since 2004, sponsored by Heineken. It was previously called Witnness, which ran from 2000 and was sponsored by Guinness. It has an average attendance of around 80,000 a day. |
| July 16 - 19 2008 | 25th Stockholm Jazz Festival | Skeppsholmen Stockholm, Sweden | Stockholm Jazz Festival is one of the oldest festivals in Sweden, and also one of Stockholm’s biggest events. The festival is well known all over the world. This reputation is not just built upon the many brilliant musicians who have performed at the festival, but also on its unique and beautiful location – the island of Skeppsholmen. |
| July 17 - 20 2008 | Benicàssim International Festival | Benicàssim, Spain | The Benicàssim International Festival or FIB is a famous music festival held in Benicàssim, Spain. It focuses in alternative pop rock and electronica and has other elements besides music like short films, theatre, dance, fashion and art. |
| July 25 - 27 2008 | Fuji Rock Festival 2008 | Naeba Ski Resort Yuzawa-machi Niigata, Japan | Fuji Rock Festival is an annual rock festival organized by Smash Japan, held in Naeba, Japan. The 3-day event features Japanese and international musicians performing on 7 different stages. In 2007, more than 127,000 people attended the festival. Among them 14,000 were campers who set up more than 7,000 tents. |
| July 25 - August 9 2008 | Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival 2008 | Churches in the downtown Ottawa Ontario, Canada | The Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival (Chamberfest) has been operating each summer since 1994. In that year Julian Armour started a small festival that was to become the largest chamber music festival in the world. The initial season had 22 concerts at various churches in Ottawa (Canada). Each year the number of concerts increased and by 2001 there were over 100 concerts in the two weeks of the festival. |
| July 26 - August 31 2008 | Salzburg Festival | Salzburg, Austria | The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama. It is held each summer (for 5 weeks starting in late July) within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. |
| July 31 - August 2 2008 | Wacken Open Air | Wacken Schleswig-Holstein, Germany | Wacken Open Air is the largest exclusively metal music festival in the world. It takes place annually in the small town of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany. With 60,000 festival visitors, and including personnel a total of over 72,000 attendees in 2007, it attracts metal music fans from around the world. |
| August 2 - 23 2008 | International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival | Buxton, Derbyshire England, UK | The International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival is held every summer at the Opera House in Buxton, Derbyshire. It was established in 1994 by Ian Smith and his son Neil to enhance the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. |
| August 12 - 18 2008 | Sziget Festival 2008 | Óbudai-sziget Danube Budapest, Hungary | The Sziget Festival is one of Europe's largest music and cultural festivals, held annually in August in Budapest, Hungary. The festival takes place on Óbudai-sziget ("Old-Buda Island"), an island on the Danube. The week-long festival has grown from a relatively low-profile 1993 student event to become one of the definitive European rock festivals by the late 1990's. Around 50% of visitors come from outside Hungary, with the largest group coming from Germany. Many also come from the UK, France and The Netherlands. |
| August 19 - 24 2008 | Transilvania International Guitar Festival 2008 | Cluj-Napoca Romania | Transilvania International Guitar Festival is a guitar festival organized by Transilvania Guitar Association and The Municipal House of Culture Cluj-Napoca in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The festival is opened to contestants of all ages and endeavours to promote professional performers and to stimulate young talents. |
| October 1 - 4 2008 | Bermuda Music Festival 2008 | Bermuda | Bermuda Music Festival is set on the hot island of Bermuda located just off the east coast of the US. The island is 21 miles long, surrounded by crystal blue waters and is just over 6 hours flight time away from the UK. Not only is the island a celebrated spot for tourists but its music festival has been attracting big name acts and gig goers from across the globe. |
| October 30 - November 2 2008 | World Creole Music Festival | Roseau, Dominica | The World Creole Music Festival is not simply a music festival, it’s now an important part of Dominica's independence celebration (November 3rd). |
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