5 of the Best Dance Music Genre-Only Festivals: A 2018 Travel List

Excluding the Obvious Festivals!

Anyone who googles music festivals will come across the usual suspects; the larger festivals like EDC, Ultra and Tomorrowland have been on everyone’s radar a long time. Furthermore, when it comes to those festivals the lineups are huge, diverse, and always multi-genre. The dance music community is all about coming together, however, from time to time it is nice to visit your roots. By this, we mean getting down to your number one love and rediscovering your passion for the genre that started it all.

Festivals by Genre Focus

1. Rampage: Drum&Bass/Dubstep – Belgium – approx. 150,000 attendees. March 2nd-3rd, 2018: Europe’s largest bass festival just became a little bit bigger, because for the first time Rampage will become a weekender! Fans describe the energy at the event as high octane.
2. Defqon1: Hardcore/Hardstyle – Australia – approx. 25,000 attendees. Sept. 15th, 2018:  Added in 2009 to the Defqon1 list by Q Dance, Defqon1 AUS became a hot topic for hardcore/hardstyle fans. Smaller than its parent in the Netherlands, Defqon1 AUS holds its own in many ways. Most noteworthy being their debut of the first Q Dance Psytrance stage. In addition to being in such an amazing location, AUS also has a strong hardcore/hardstyle community.
3. Luminosity: Trance – Netherlands – approx. 5,000 attendees. June 28th-July 10th, 2018: Affectionately known by its attendees as Lumi, this event is known around the world as the ultimate trance festival. Especially relevant this is a 3-day intimate beach party in the Netherlands! Venues and nightclubs on the beach help host the event.
4. Movement: Techno (some house) – Detroit, Michigan U.S. – approx. 100,000 attendees. May 26th-28th, 2018: Celebrating techno in its birthplace makes Movement the best choice for all those techno lovers! With artists who may cross over into other adjacent genres like house, this festival is a music lovers dream.
5. Dirtybird Campout: House – East/West locations, U.S. – approx. 5,000 attendees. Feb. 2nd-4th, 2018 (East): Claude Von Stroke has done something pretty special with his Dirtybird brand. Hence its growth in the Dirtybird Campout event to 2 locations this year (SoCal+Florida)! As a result, fans have twice the opportunity to make it out and soothe their souls with a little bit of house music.

For more information on each festival, click the links above. What are your favorite genre-only festivals? Let us know in the comments!