Sonic Teutonic: Top 20+ Music Festivals in Germany [2020]

By Vito Valentinetti / January 12, 2020

Since its inception in 1991, Lollapalooza has continued to grow from it’s U.S. based festival circuit to additional cities in countries across the globe. As the first European city to host Lollapalooza outside of the U.S., Berlin began its entrance into the Lollapalooza festival tour in 2015, and has since grown to over 70,000 attendees.

It's been dubbed The Mecca of Heavy Metal Culture. For three days in August, the population of the tiny town of Wacken swells from 2,000 to 75,000 for this annual gathering of German metalheads. This monster of a festival started off small in 1990 as a showcase for local bands, but has become a juggernaut of the metal festival scene.

It's one of Germany's most popular 3-day festivals, but MS Dockville isn't as well known outside the country. The non-profit event mixes up a combination of music and art along the edges of the River Elbe. The avant-garde event offers plenty of events to keep you surprised along with the year's top touring artists.

The simultaneous Rock Am Park/Rock Im Ring is Germany's largest mega-festival with a combined attendance of 150,000 at both festivals. The same artists play two different locations during the first weekend in June. Festivals may evolve and change over the years, but rock music will always remain the core of these festivals.

World Club Dome is a massive electronic music festival that takes place at the Frankfurt Arena in Germany. It's called the 'Biggest Club in the World' with more than 200 DJs playing on 20 stages over 3 days pumping out 1.8 millions of watt. Radio station BigCityBeats, who puts on the festival, also organizes a winter edition and one in South Korea.

The 3-day Ikarus Festival is a camping fest that takes place on the grounds of a former military airfield. Techno, house, psy-trance, deep house, hard techno, and more are represented by more than 100 international acts on 6 individual stages. The mix of nature and concrete gives this festival a unique backdrop.

The twin sister festival of Hurricane to the north, Southside wrestles up an identical roster of talent over the same three days. Expect plenty of indie rock, mainstream acts, and some of the top names in German music to perform.

There's more to Sea You than just two full days with more than a 100 artists playing on 7 stages. There's chilling on the water with views of the Black Forest. There's free wake-boarding. There's dancing in and on the water. It's Germany's largest beach club and you're invited.

After taking a year off, Love Family Park returns to Rüsselsheim am Main in Mainz in Germany. The single day festival is a techno lover's dream with music running from morning until sunset, dipping into all the sub-genres along the way. Huge names lead the lineup, but festies have a chance to see some of the real up and comers of the scene at Love Family Park.

For their 25th anniversary, Nature One in Germany is going even bigger than ever with 350 DJs and live acts on over 20 stages. Their 100 hectare campsite promises to be just as insane. Massive stage production, the best talent in the world, German sized campgrounds -- what more do you want out of your summer?