Festival Facts
Written by Scot Meyer
SwitchYard Media, Inc. - email | website
Designed and produced by Kent Harris
Tin Can Rocket, Inc. - email | website
A production of SwitchYard Media, Inc.
Girard Mouton III
New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival
An event designed to celebrate the Crescent City's legacy as the birthplace of jazz, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival got its start in 1970. The stars that first year included gospel great Mahalia Jackson and jazz legend Duke Ellington.
The festival now showcases a wide range of musical genres associated with New Orleans and Lousiana -- from Afro-Caribean and zydeco to rap and country as well as traditional and contemporary jazz. It is also a symbol of the city's resilience, having returned to its full seven day schedule after two years of abbreviated lineups in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
WHEN: Late April and early May.
WHERE: The Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans.
WHAT TO KNOW: Click for more information.
John McCally
Summerfest
Billed as the world ' s largest music festival, Summerfest has been attracting music fans to Milwaukee's downtown lakeshore since the inaugural event in 1968. Over the years the Big Gig, as it is also known, has attracted a wide range of big-name acts, from Bob Dylan and the Steve Miller Band to Mary J. Blige and Nine Inch Nails.
The 11-day event typically showcases more than 700 bands, including local and emerging talent, at the 23,000-seat Marcus Amphitheater and 10 other stages on the festival grounds. For those who can take their eyes off the stars, all the venues offer views of Lake Michigan and the Milwaukee skyline.
WHEN: Late June and early July.
WHERE: A 75-acre site along Lake Michigan in downtown Milwaukee.
WHAT TO KNOW: Click for more information.
Courtesy Austin City Limits
Austin City Limits
Bolstering this Texas city's reputation as a live music capital, the Austin City Limits festival features about 130 bands on eight stages, and draws roughly 65,000 fans on each of its three days. Local tourism officials say that approximately 60 percent of the attendees are out-of-towners.
The event got its start in 2002 and has grown dramatically since then. The music is eclectic (rock, country, folk, indie, hip-hop and reggae), and past headliners have included Tom Petty, Van Morrison, Wilco, Jet, The Allman Brothers Band, Kaiser Chiefs, Blues Traveler, The Decemberists, Jason Mraz, Mike Doughty, Rachael Yamagata, Robert Earl Keen, Steve Earle and the Dukes, Gov't Mule, John Prine, and Widespread Panic.
WHEN: Late September.
WHERE: Zilker Park in Austin, Texas.
WHAT TO KNOW: Click for more information.
Christopher Nelson
Bumbershoot
Taking its name from a slang word for umbrella, Bumbershoot is more than a music festival. The Labor Day weekend event also offers film, theater, dance and the visual arts, all in a 74-acre park in the shadow of Seattle's famous Space Needle.
Since its start as the Seattle Arts Festival in 1971, Bumbershoot's 20 indoor and outdoor venues have played host to a number of well-known acts, including B.B. King, The Ramones, Ray Charles, REM, Kanye West, and Jerry Seinfeld.
The name Bumbershoot was inspired not by Seattle's weather, organizers say, but because the festival serves as an umbrella for a wide variety of arts and performers.
WHEN: Labor Day weekend.
WHERE: Seattle Center.
WHAT TO KNOW: Click for more information.
Ed Newman
Newport Jazz Festival
Now just one stop on the JVC Jazz Festival tour, the Newport Jazz Festival remains the one with the richest history. What was then known as The First American Jazz Festival debuted in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1954, produced by musician and nightclub owner George Wein.
The first show featured performances by such jazz luminaries as Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie and Billie Holiday. The festival continued in Newport through 1971, moved to New York City for 10 years, and then returned to Rhode Island in 1981. It is now officially known as the JVC Jazz Festival Newport, and remains a showcase for top jazz musicians.
WHEN: August.
WHERE: Newport, R.I.
WHAT TO KNOW: Click for more information.
Barry Brecheisen
Lollapalooza
Formerly a touring event meant to serve as the Woodstock for a new generation, Lollapalooza has found a home in downtown Chicago.
The three-day music festival offers a melange of pop, indie, funk, avant-garde, garage bands and solo performers - more than 120 acts in all. Recent headliners have included Pearl Jam, Daft Punk, Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals, Iggy and the Stooges and Modest Mouse.
There's even something for the next generation of fans. Kidzapalooza is a special section of the show with family-oriented musicians, a hip-hop workshop and a "rock-n-roll petting zoo."
WHEN: August.
WHERE: Grant Park in Chicago.
WHAT TO KNOW: Click for more information.
Greg Helgeson
Mostly Mozart
As its name suggests, the Mostly Mozart festival may feature performances of music by Strauss or Schoenberg, but the main emphasis is on the work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Opera, symphonies and concertos – even dance – is regularly on the agenda of this indoor music festival, which got its start in 1966.
For its 42nd season, the festival took on death as its theme, with a roster of 60 events that included performances by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Concerto Italiano and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra; the pianists Garrick Ohlsson and Kristian Bezuidenhout; and the violinist Janine Jansen.
WHEN: Late July and August.
WHERE: New York City's Lincoln Center.
WHAT TO KNOW: Click for more information.
Cathy
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
Music lovers have been gathering in San Francisco every year since 2001 for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, a free concert that lasts for three days and attracts about 500,000 fans.
As its name suggests, the event is about bluegrass music and more, including alternative country and even indie rock. Performers who have graced the 20 stages at Golden Gate Park have included Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Ricky Skaggs, Bruce Hornsby, Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris and even Warren Hellman, the billionaire investment banker and sometime banjo player who puts on (and pays for) the show each year.
WHEN: October.
WHERE: Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
WHAT TO KNOW: Click for more information.
Michael McDermott
Oregon Bach Festival
Since 1971 the music of Johann Sebastian Bach has been celebrated each summer at the Oregon Bach Festival. The series of concerts, held over a two and a half week span, attracts an annual audience of more than 31,000.
Such internationally regarded artists as Thomas Quasthoff, Arleen Auger, Sylvia McNair, Anthony Newman, Ben Heppner, Frederica von Stade, Bobby McFerrin, The 5 Browns, and Jeffrey Kahane have performed at the festival. And while traditional orchestral and choral pieces are the festival's mainstays, there have also been more contemporary takes on the composer's work, including a hip-hop "Bach Remix.”
WHEN: June and July.
WHERE: The Hult Center for the Performing Arts in Eugene, Oregon.
WHAT TO KNOW: Click for more information.
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Stagecoach
A newcomer to the music festival scene, Stagecoach got its start in 2007 with a lineup that included 40 acts of mainstream country, bluegrass, folk, roots rock, and alt-country.
The inaugural event drew about 55,000 music fans, many of whom took advantage of the two-day festival's camping and recreational vehicle facilities. Performers scheduled to appear at the three-day followup event included Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw, the Judds, Carrie Underwood, The Eagles and John Fogarty.
Music is not the only draw - Stagecoach also includes a barbecue contest, mechanical bull rides, a lasso and roping clinic, fiddling and line dancing demonstrations, and hayrides.
WHEN: Early May.
WHERE: Empire Polo Field in Indio, Calif.
WHAT TO KNOW: Click for more information.