I mean it’s no surprise — the gathering of half a million in the summer of ‘69, well it changed the world, it did. 

 

The Woodstock DNA

Since then festivals have sprung up in their zillions, catering for every age, musical orientation, and comfort level (glamping anyone?!) However, despite their differences, these diverse happenings still carry just a lil’ bit of Woodstock in their DNA. Woodstock was an expression of a desire for a new, and kinder world. A what is any festival really, if not a mini alternate universe to lose yourself in? Even if just for a weekend, on leaving you feel like you’ve seen another way to live. (Though of course a lifetime of warm beer and face paint isn’t for everyone!).

Festivals can bring out the best of us, making BFFs with strangers, singing, and living together in the mud. So to celebrate the festival season (put on ice due to covid — but fingers crossed it’s thawing!) we’re listing the festivals that we think are truly continuing the lineage of Woodstock today. Of course there’s a ton to choose from, but for community spirit, innovation, psychedelic vibe, and pure good times we think these festival faves come out on top!

Glastonbury (UK)

A list of festivals would not be complete without the Big Daddy. Not a standing stones throw from Stonehenge itself — Glastonbury. Inheriting the mantle of Woodstock from across the pond, Glastonbury takes place on the now iconic Worthy Farm. It was founded by Michael Eavis, and now helmed by his daughter Emily. The largest musical festival in the world, over 200,00 people descend on Glastonbury every summer — a bigger population than the nearby villages (yet still less than half the attendance of the original Woodstock!) As well as music the festival hosts dance, cabaret, comedy, performance art, circus and theatre. Since 1970, legendary headliners have ranged from David Bowie to Beyonce — basically it’s the best of the best baby!

Despite its behemoth status, Glastonbury maintains the ethos established at Woodstock — love, kindness, kookiness, and incredible artists. Ask anyone who’s watched the sunrise at Galstonbury’s stone circle, and they’ll tell you there is no more transcendental experience (whether or not they’ve had a good dose of magic mushrooms — a Glasto favourite!) Glastonbury will be returning for 2022, after a covid-related hiatus: check out all the info here. 

VooV Experience (Germany)

A freaky-deaky grandchild of the psychedelia showcased at Woodstock, psytrance is the musical dish offered up at Germany’s VooV festival. The biggest psytrance festival in the world, it is credited with spreading the layered, rhythmic dance music around the globe. And it’s not just the music that is trippy! The organisers are committed to surprising and delighting their attendees every year with their world famous laser light shows, art installations and totally hallucinogenic decor. And if raving for 4 days straight gets a bit tiring, you can refresh yourself in the Healing Area, which is dedicated to all things Mother Earth, with dance workshops, yoga classes , treatments, massages, meditation circles and spiritual ceremonies. Excitingly, the festival will be going ahead this year, from the 17-20th of September! 

Exit Festival (Serbia)

Now a massive mainstream festival, winning multiple awards including Best Major Festival at the European Festival Awards in 2013 and 2017, Exit Festival originally started as a deeply political movement. After 10 years of war and unrest in the former states of Yugoslavia, a group of Serbian students decided to organise a festival, scheduled to be 86 days long, and ending a few days before the next election. They aimed to secure the youth vote to overthrow the Milosevic regime that had been ravaging the country, with the festival becoming more overtly political as time went on.

Like Woodstock, this festival was also political and altered history, but far more pointedly. It is likely that Woodstock inspired Exit’s organisers to realise that festivals can change the world. And it did. Today the festival hosts superstars from David Guetta to The Cure, but its place in the lineage of revolutionary festivals remains. 

Mysteryland (Netherlands)

You can get the vibe of Mysteryland from the title alone. This Dutch event is wild, wacky and the longest running dance music festival in the world. Started in 1993, it has grown to welcome over 100,000 revellers. It spans all genres of dance and electronic music, from techno to trance, from minimal to hardcore. Attendees can take part in cacao ceremonies, yoga and dance the night away.

An essential for every festival!

Additionally, of course, magic truffles are easy to come by in Holland, meaning that its wholly possible to continue the psychedelic legacy of Woodstock with a trip of your own, into Mysteryland, Wonderland, and beyond! Sadly cancelled this year, the festival hopes to return bigger and more bombastic than ever in 2022. 

Burning Man (USA)

Here it is, the one you’ve been waiting for. We couldn’t miss the festival that has even birthed its own subculture (we’re talking about ‘Burners’ of course!) Every year Black Rock Desert, Nevada, welcomes a hoard of folks who wanna get as far as possible from the everyday, the quotidian, basically normality in general. Being a Burner is a way of life! Just ask your friendly neighbourhood Burner… they’ll tell you no doubt.

Burning Man starting humbly in 1986 when Larry Harvey and his buddy Jerry James burnt a wooden man they had built to celebrate the summer solstice (sound familiar?) The ‘man’ was reduced to ashes on a California beach in front of 20 onlookers. They continued this yearly until 1989, when the ‘man’ had grown to 40 feet tall, and the attendees to 100. The next year they moved to the Black Rock Desert, with the aim to create a temporary city, a place to value inclusivity and self expression, that would exist in the 7 days leading up to Labour Day. 

The main aim of Burning Man is to survive. In the desert heat, they use no forms of capitalism. No money changes hands, items are swapped, exchanged, given out of generosity. Creativity and self-sufficiency are the order of the day, and the mutant vehicles that echo Mad Max props are an iconic sight as they tootle at (a recently enforced) 5 miles per hour across the desert skyline. Now hosting around 10,000, Burning Man is often said by original attendees to ‘not be what it used to be’. However, the pure ingenuity, electric creativity and desire to create an alternate world still chimes with the Woodstock ethos from all those years ago. 

What’s Your Favourite Festival?

This was just a teeny tiny taster of the best fests. What’s your favourite festival? Let us know in the comments below!