12 summer music festivals to get hyped for in defiance of your own mortality

Milwaukee’s massive, multi-weekend festival returns with acts like Death Cab For Cutie, The Breeders, Charli XCX, and more. Sure, there’s the usual festival headliner folks like Halsey and Justin Bieber, and even an appearance from the Backstreet Boys, but it’s the smaller acts that make this worth checking out. After all, when you’re young, it’s easier to wonder about the big questions, like, “Why am I here? What does it all mean?” But as you mature, those questions tend to transform. Am I being a good person? What are the important things to make time for during my fleeting life? Ultimately, we all choose to find some balance between entertainment and severity, between thought and respite—hopefully without falling prey to the easy temptation of endless distractions, rather than putting in the work to create valuable connections with others. Still, as Achewood reminds us, all of this is just a momentary diversion on the road to the grave.

The festival for total music nerds returns stronger than ever this year, boasting a lineup full of fiercely beloved acts like The National, Mitski, The Roots, Spiritualized, Japanese Breakfast, Earl Sweatshirt, and many more. (It’s also the fest with arguably the highest ratio of smaller artists we love here at The A.V. Club, like Indigo De Souza, The Armed, Lucy Dacus, Arooj Aftab, Low, and the like.) Will you feel the need to document your attendance on social media? Jean Baudrillard once said that the performance of a task “produces the same sense of futility that comes from doing anything merely to prove to yourself that you can do it: having a child, climbing a mountain, making some sexual conquest… Do we continually have to prove to ourselves that we exist?”

A quick perusal of the confirms what regular attendees of the Newport Folk Festival already knew: It’s a folk festival in name only. Sure, there are some folk acts here, but the crowds come for other names: Bleachers, Clairo, Mandy Moore, Dinosaur Jr., Maren Morris, Beabadoobee, and others will shake the stages. The more you think about it, the less time there is to put up with foolishness or ill-mannered jackanapes; would you rather spend your remaining time on this planet with people you love, savoring each laugh and affectionate chuck of the chin, or dealing with outbursts of bilious perfidy from knaves of the digital ether? Mute your notifications this weekend; see how it feels.

Headliners include Dua Lipa, Green Day, Metallica, and J.Cole. It provides a rare opportunity to see performers such as Jane’s Addiction, Wet Leg, and The Regrettes in an outdoor setting. And sure, , half of whom you likely won’t recognize. But that’s Lollapalooza: a blitzkrieg of musical acts new and old, spanning genres and generations with equal abandon. It can inspire excitement and exhaustion at the same time. Do you find yourself enervated by the thought of days on the pitch, yet curious about the experience? Theodore Adorno, in Minima Moralia, tells us, “True thoughts are those alone which do not understand themselves.” It’s okay to sit in contradiction, or confusion; it might be the other state of being left that hasn’t been coopted by capitalism in some way.

Day In Day Out is a brand-new festival that had its first go-round in 2021, meant to give Pacific Northwest acts a chance to shine alongside bigger national artists. That means you get a weekend of intriguing pairings like Mitski and Muna, Mac DeMarco and Turnstile, The National and Animal Collective headlining over Shabazz Palaces, La Luz, and more. You can check out , and then wonder if it’s finally time to make that trip to Seattle. You’re not getting any younger; your friend got sick last year, reminding you just how easy it is for all of this to go away in an instant. You’ve put it off for years now—what’s the excuse this time? Why do we do this to ourselves? Is it so hard to seize control of our own narrative, to stake a claim on guiding our own futures? Do not go gentle into that good Netflix-and-chill.

It was supposed to happen in 2020, and then 2021, but My Chemical Romance is finally headlining the weekend-long celebration of punk, emo, hardcore, and nostalgia that is Chicago’s Riot Fest. The band will be joined by The Misfits, Nine Inch Nails, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sunny Day Real Estate, Portugal. The Man, Ice Cube, Bad Religion and many more. Also, the constant ennui that does battle in your brain with every other emotion should not be allowed to win; it’s too easy to give up. Try to at least maintain a sense of engagement when you’re tempted to allow irony the final say; most of the big decisions in life may be out of your hands, but rejection of the outside is always your one true form of exercising control. You can’t always say, “I will” and be allowed to do it, but no one can deny your right to say, “I will not.”

Have you ever been at a crowded, messy music festival and thought to yourself, “This could use 100% more camping?” No? Well, then, best pass on Firefly, whose big draw is the chance to roll out a sleeping bag after a long day of musical performances, and stare up at the sky in a hastily erected tent, wondering if the Port-A-Potties will be cleaned overnight or if you’ll be walking into a literal shitshow the next morning. Dua Lipa, Halsey, Green Day, and My Chemical Romance are headlining, with Weezer, Big Sean, Gunna, and the comeback tour of Avril Lavigne all supporting. It’s , alternating steadily between names that provoke a reaction of “Oh, cool!” and those inducing an internal shudder. But more importantly, it arrives at the tail end of summer, one last hurrah before the leaves turn, fall beckons, and we re-enter a more thoughtful, less sun-dappled time. If you’re not happy where you are, do what you can to make a change. Whether it’s finding a new job or moving somewhere new, go ahead and take the plunge. We all deserve a brief respite from the avalanche of pain this life affords. Yes, the reaper will come for you—but make him fucking work for it.