Bust out your crop tops and Danny Tanner cardboard cutouts, summer music festival season is fast approaching. While festivals tend to command a high price per ticket, it may be difficult to pinpoint exactly what festival is the best bang for your buck. Enter this list of the top music festivals in the northeast that are certainly the best bargain in terms of talent, both big and small. While these festivals may be smaller than Coachella, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo, they are still worth your every bit of attention.
The Big Whigs:
Boston Calling — Harvard Athletic Complex, Cambridge, Mass. May 26 – 28
3 Day Pass – $369, Single Day General Admission – $99
Notable Acts: Chance The Rapper, Mumford & Sons, Tool, Bon Iver, Sigur Rós, Cage the Elephant, Solange, Mac Demarco, Mitski, Hiss Golden Messenger
Firefly Music Festival — The Woodlands, Dover, Del. June 15 – 18
4 Day Pass – $299, Single Day GA – $109, $79
Notable Acts: Muse, Chance the Rapper, The Weeknd, Bob Dylan & His Band, Twenty One Pilots, The Shins, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Kaleo, Banks, T-Pain
Panorama Music Festival — Randall’s Island Park, New York City – July 28 – 30
3 Day Pass – $345, Single Day GA – $125
Notable Acts: Frank Ocean, Tame Impala, Nine Inch Nails, A Tribe Called Quest, MGMT, Nick Murphy, Tyler the Creator, Girl Talk, Angel Olsen, Foxygen
Mid-Tier:
Mysteryland — Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, Bethel Woods, N.Y. June 9 – 12
4 Day GA Pass – $299
Notable Acts: G-Eazy, LCD Soundsystem, Major Lazer, Porter Robinson, Run the Jewels, RL Grime, Robert Delong, Bob Moses, A-Trak, Jai Wolf
Newport Folk Festival — Fort Adams State Park, Newport, R.I. – July 28 – 30
General sale is SOLD OUT, Tickets available through Lyte ticket exchange
Notable Acts: Fleet Foxes, The Avett Brothers, John Prine, The Head and The Heart, American Acoustic, Dr. Dog, Ben Gibbard (lead singer of Death Cab For Cutie), Alone & Together, Michael Kiwanuka, Big Thief
Peach Music Festival — Montage Mountain, Scranton, Penn. August 10 – 13
4 Day GA Pass – $135
Notable Acts: My Morning Jacket, Widespread Panic, Mike Gordon (Bassist of Phish), Gov’t Mule & Friends, Umphrey’s McGee, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Lettuce featuring Chaka Khan, Dopapod Orchestra, The Marcus King Band, Pink Talking Fish
Small Scale:
Solid Sound Music Festival – Mass MoCA, North Adams, Mass. June 23 – 25
Weekend Pass – $159
Notable Acts: Wilco, Kurt Vile & The Violators, Television, Nick Offerman, The Shaggs, Tweedy, Joan Shelley, Andy Shauf, Big Thief, Eugene Mirman
Levitate Music Festival — Marshfield Fairgrounds, Marshfield, Mass. July 8 – 9
2 Day Pass – $99
Notable Acts: Dispatch, Ziggy Marley, Umphrey’s McGee, Lake Street Dive, The Revivalists, Twiddle, Deer Tick, Trevor Hall, Ripe, Ghost of Paul Revere
XPoNential Music Fest — Camden Waterfront, Camden, N.J. July 28 – 30
3 Day Pass – $140 – $247
Notable Acts: Wilco, Amos Lee & Friends Featuring Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Conor Oberst, Spoon, Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires, The Suffers, Chicano Batman, Strand of Oaks, Joseph, Hop Along
Leave a Reply