A History of Music Festivals
Music festivals are nothing new, but the popularity of events like Bonnaroo and Glastonbury has grown even larger in recent years. The alternative, countercultural spirit of festivals has evolved into more mainstream, all-encompassing events. And although 1969's Woodstock may be the most talked-about music festival in history, it wasn't the first of its kind.
Over the years, iconic acts like Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Miles Davis hit the stage, and although the festival moved to New York for a five-year span in the '70s, it
The Newport Jazz Festival
In 1954, the Newport Jazz Festival in Newport, RI, marked America's first annual jazz festival. That year, the event brought more than 11,000 people to the East Coast resort town for a mix of academic panels and live performances.
The Newport Folk Festival
Founded by George Wein, the same man behind the jazz version, the Newport Folk Festival is known for bringing major folk stars like Joan Baez and Bob Dylan into the national spotlight.
Commonly linked to the blues revival of the 1960s, the festival featured Johnny Cash and Howlin' Wolf during that decade, then added reggae, rock, and indie artists in the '80s and '90s.
The Monterey International Pop Festival
The 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival is known as the first-ever major rock festival. Held at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, CA, the three-day event was planned in just six weeks. Hoping to create a lineup with a variety of genres from eras past, present, and future, the Board of Governors — which included music icons like Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney — agreed that all acts would be treated the same, with first-class travel and accommodations.
The festival featured some of the biggest names in the industry: Otis Redding, The Who, Simon & Garfunkel, The Mamas and the Papas, Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix, who famously set his guitar on fire while playing "Wild Thing."
Woodstock
Isle of Wight Festival
Located on the Isle of Wight in England, the original festival took place in 1968. The event grew rapidly in the following years, featuring big-name performers like Bob Dylan, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Chicago, The Doors, and Joni Mitchell. After the popular 1970 festival, though, Parliament passed an act that required a license for gatherings of more than 5,000 people.
In 2002, the festival returned — this time at Newport's Seaclose Park — and in the past decade, it's brought artists like David Bowie, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, and Coldplay to the stage.
Glastonbury Festival
Originally called the Pilton Festival, the first version of the event took place near Pilton, England, in 1970. In its second year, it became known as the Glastonbury Festival, and David Bowie took to the Pyramid Stage, a smaller version of the Great Pyramid of Giza that's become linked to the festival.
More so than other popular festivals, Glastonbury is known for incorporating several types of art: dance, poetry, theater, and more. Although it started small, the festival now sells out in hours, and the 2011 festival — with Beyoncé and Coldplay among the headliners — broke TV viewing records for the BBC.
Lollapalooza
Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell first planned out the Lollapalooza festival as a farewell touring festival for his band. The first tour in 1991 featured mostly alternative rock along with a variety of other genres, with performers like Ice T, Nine Inch Nails, and nonmusical vendors for art, politics, and the environment. The tour ran through 1997 and returned in 2003, but it wasn't very successful, so in 2005, Farrell decided to turn it into a destination festival at Chicago's Grant Park.
Coachella