17 Micro Music Festivals To Attend This Season

You could stand 200 rows back from the stage (and the toilets!) at a huge festival or you could try one of our fabulous micro festival tips.

By Fiona Brutscher and Anissa Tijani

17 Micro Music Festivals To Attend This Season.

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Sappy Fest, Canada: When entering the small town of Sackville, make sure to seek out its fine art deco cinema and the old church. A music pavilion is another welcome escape, especially during the unique Sappy Fest. Initiated by Sappy Records, what started as a buddy reunion has progressively became an incredible festival where regulars return year-after-year. Its winning formula? Welcoming high-energy bands and promoting local community activities through volunteering, craft brews and even a Sappy newspaper. sappyfest.com AT

[Photo © Evan Pooley]

17 Micro Music Festivals To Attend This Season.

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Tauron Nowa Muzyka, Poland: Unusually located at a former coal mine in the heart of the modern cultural district of Katowice, what better place for well-known and upcoming artists to run wild with their music in a post industrial background, while the crowd generates a great atmospher to complement incredible performances in genres ranging from electro to jazz. festiwalnowamuzyka.pl AT

17 Micro Music Festivals To Attend This Season.

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Træna Festival, Norway: Getting to Træna involves travelling over 1,000 km north from Oslo, then catching a boat to Husøya island in an archipelago straddling the Arctic Circle. A long journey – but where else do you get a festival within view of mountains, the ocean and a glacier… and 24-hour sunlight? trena.net FB

17 Micro Music Festivals To Attend This Season.

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Micro Festival, Belgium: The festival held in Liege by the Jaune-Orange Label celebrates its sixth anniversary this year. With a few punk-rock names already being heard, the programme seems to be broadening out to music of different genres and points of the compass. With two full days spent in good spirit, you are sure to feel at home – Liege has well earned its reputation of being a festival-friendly, party city. microfestival.be AT

[Photo © Martin Mailleux]

17 Micro Music Festivals To Attend This Season.

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Wonderfruit Festival, Thailand: Part of a new crop of music festivals that seek to harness the powerful feel-good vibes generated by a gathering of like-minded revellers, Wonderfruit relies on the appeal of sustainability, social responsibility and artistic variety more than on the draw of big-name artists. The wonderfully eclectic programme includes art installations, theatre performances, architect-designed pavilions, trapeze performances and yoga classes. wonderfruitfestival.com FB

17 Micro Music Festivals To Attend This Season.

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Meadows In The Mountains, Bulgaria: If fairy tales exist, one of them is played out every year in June in the heart of the Rhodopian Mountains. This beautiful backdrop seems to come straight out of your imagination and the festival organisers add to the theatrical mood with a wide-ranging programme where art, music, literature and sustainability flourish alongside each other in perfect harmony. Hold your neighbour’s hand and enter the community for what they call an incredible ‘social experimental adventure’. meadowsinthemountains.com AT

17 Micro Music Festivals To Attend This Season.

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Secret Solstice, Iceland: Party all night long – or rather, all day long, because technically, there is no night in Reykjavík in June. The festival takes its name from the solstice weekend during which it is held. The lineup is top-class, the setting scenic, and it’s certainly the only festival we know of that has its very own geothermal hot tub right on site! secretsolstice.is FB

17 Micro Music Festivals To Attend This Season.

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Standon Calling, UK: Prepare your cowboy boots and hat (yes, really) for this year’s special Wild West theme: ‘A Town of Two Faces’. Through art and theatrical installations next to independent musical artists such as Little Dragon and Roots Manuva, the festival will re-appropriate the western classic and tweak it into something highly creative. This engaging gathering has come a long way and is surely worth the trip. standon-calling.com AT

17 Micro Music Festivals To Attend This Season.

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Green Man, Wales: Wales is becoming something of a festival hotspot, with many of the most talked-about events happening between the coasts and the valleys. This one is set in a grand estate at the foot of the Brecon Beacons, where the eponymous Green Man, a towering giant made of wood and greenery, is erected each year. This year’s motto: The Future. greenman.net FB

17 Micro Music Festivals To Attend This Season.

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Week-end au bord de l’eau, Switzerland: This festival is not about seeing big international acts on a massive stage, but rather spending a chilled-out weekend at the water’s edge, listening to quality music (by the likes of Bonobo and Nightmares on Wax). It may also involve enjoying the Alpine scenery, admiring street art or being entertained by petanque competitions, pedal boat trips and balloon-modelling demonstrations. aubordeleau.ch FB

17 Micro Music Festivals To Attend This Season.

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Les Siestes Électroniques, France: City-dwellers of the ‘North’ and ‘South’ of France should join in delight – the siesta is for everyone! Cultural access is democratised in a series of open air concerts – free of charge – taking place in a sumptuous park in Toulouse and at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in Paris respectively in June and July/August. Their motto: an invitation to dream and travel through the discovery of experimental music from elsewhere and all played by the most talented of musicians…. and in complete peace. les-siestes-electroniques.com AT

17 Micro Music Festivals To Attend This Season.

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Haldern Pop Festival, Germany: The festival has a long history in North Rhine-Westphalia with the first event dating back to 1984. Since then, Haldern’s Pop-Rock-Indie mix – if we want define all its musical genres – has seen waves of visitors and artists, but still strives to stay small, accommodating just five thousand happy souls. Don’t miss the Haldern Pop Bar for a more intimate ambience. Today, newer festivals in Germany and abroad are looking to follow in Haldern’s footsteps, imitating its ‘small is beautiful’ philosophy. That philosophy is perfectly summed up in its slogan: “Be True, not better!”. haldernpop.com AT

[Photo © Stefan Daub]

17 Micro Music Festivals To Attend This Season.

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Field Trip, Canada: Giving the floor to the collective, this Canadian event is dedicated to its visitors in so many ways. This year’s line-up is more than exciting: from the peerless roots-rock rhythms of the Alabama Shakes through to electro pop with Marina and the Diamonds and many more. You can also have a good laugh when stopping by The Laugh Barracks Presented By Mailchimp, admire the Analogue Gallery Sound Image exhibition and discover special culinary delights. Music at its best, but much more besides. fieldtriplife.com AT

17 Micro Music Festivals To Attend This Season.

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Secret Island Nation Festival, Sweden: Berlin is rightly considered one of the best cities for partying all night long to deep and electro minimal sounds. Imagine the surprise, then, to discover a 4 day musical feast where most of the team and artists abandon the capital and head off all the way to a lovely, lonely island in Sweden. Your golden ticket will be an honorary passport as a citizen of Sweutschland! Marking its 10th anniversary this year, expect big celebrations. secret-island.eu AT

17 Micro Music Festivals To Attend This Season.

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Lost Paradise, Australia: Just over an hour’s drive from Sydney, the five thousand capacity community event has everything you could dream about to lose yourself in: a Shambala area to enjoy a yoga session, while the sunlight breaks through the lush Glenworth Valley, excellent food, art installations, a dance tent, and, most importantly, the opportunity to be there in person for live performances of bands playing at their very best. lostparadise.com.au AT

17 Micro Music Festivals To Attend This Season.

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High Sierra Music, USA: Taking place since over 20 years, this free-spirited festival has never detached itself from its original aim of running a unique event lead by a community of artistic volunteers and music-lovers all pouring their heart into proceedings. This season, expect the John Butler Trio and other showmen delivering astounding live performances in a lovely mountain town – the perfect time to put on your dancing shoes. highsierramusic.com AT

[Photo © HSMF]

17 Micro Music Festivals To Attend This Season.

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For Festival, Croatia: A festival that is boutique in every sense of the word: small, held on the trendy island of Hvar, with luxurious beachside accommodation and a lineup that is very in-the-know and diverse. The third edition of FOR has been postponed at very short notice, and will now be held in September, but details are to be announced any day now. for-festival.com FB

17 Micro Music Festivals To Attend This Season.

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