Hot Summer Concerts and Music Festivals in Europe

Budapest's Hajógyár Kikötö (Shipyard) on the Danube River's Óbudai Island becomes its own tent city for the Sziget Festival, Hungary's massive music blast with tons o' stages featuring fun from mainstream to madness starting August 10 in 2011. The Sziget Festival will feature five days of bands like Dizee Rascal, Flogging Molly, Gogol Bordello (start wearing purple!), Interpol, Smash Mouth and The Chemical Brothers (and you can request a band!). Off the main stage, wander to the World Music Main stage (wow), Rock and Metal Stage stage, Wan2, or Burn Party Arena. Festival tickets include a week's camping (starts 8/09) amid at least 50,000 folks.

Read more on the Sziget Festival or keep scrolling for more concerts...

Everything from metal bands to Scandinavian punk takes center stage for this four-day world party featuring music, cinema, skate and art kicking off June 30 in Roskilde, Denmark (warmups start June 26). The usual suspects like Arctic Monkeys will be on hand at 2011's Roskilde Festival along with interesting new names and other old faves like Iron Maiden, Kings of Leon and Mastodon -- and you can request band appearances through the Roskilde Festival's website, too. Partiers exceed 90,000, and camping is the thing; you can even rent a tent if you ask early. Tickets are 240 euros -- not bad for parking, camping, luggage storage, 160 acts and a gazillion activities.

Dublin plays host to over 100 acts and 80,000 rockers at this sells-out-fast event featuring confirmed concerts for 2011 from Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys, Coldplay, The Strokes, My Chemical Romance, The National, Paolo Nutini and The Strokes (more to be announced!). Overnight camping at Punchestown Racecourse, Naas, County Kildare for those doing all three days (and everyone does) for this Irish festival starting July 7. Tickets for the Oxegen Festival go quickly as the countdown to craziness commences, and scalpers thrive here: may the force be with you if you forge on to Dublin ticketless (you can always commiserate with other hopes-dashed travelers in Temple Bar, Dublin's downtown pub-hopping place to be).

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Placebo, Iron Maiden, Queens of the Stone Age, Snow Patrol, Blink 182, Limp Bizkit, The Flaming Lips, Bad Religion, The Black Motorcycle Club, Fake Blood and one of our faves, Gogol Bordello, are among the approximately 200 excellent names who entertained 100,000 folks last year, and you can expect a similar lineup in 2011 at this three-day summer music festival featuring eight stages, including the "Chateau Crapule" for some interesting acts. The fun starts August 18 in 2011 and $145 covers camping, concerts and train or bus tix from anywhere in Belgium. No booze or free water at Pukkelpop, but plenty of food and drink to buy. Start wearing purple.

This summer's usual suspects (Arctic Monkeys, Kings of Leon, My Chemical Romance) join juicy acts like Arsenal, Goose, Ke$ha, The Pretty Reckless, TV On The Radio (love love them), The Hives and Queens of the Stone Age as some of the acts headlining Belgium's 2011 Rock Werchter, a fantastic four-day music festival literally beside the road 15 kilometers from Leuven June 30-July 3. Buses run to the festival, and those under 26 ride Belgian rails free; everyone rides free with a concert ticket. 76€ daily tickets (which are going to sell out -- don't delay or you'll have to waitlist) don't cover 18€ onsite camping.

Seinajoki, Finland will come alive June 17-19 with "The Party of the People" as Social Distortion, Wolfmother, The Vaccines, Volbeat and Miss Li plus many up-and-comer Euro acts take the riverbank and island stages for this three day scene. Bars on site and friendly folk highlight the Provinssirock music festival, one of Europe's finest and funnest summer concerts. Weekend concert passes are 95€ single day passes available. Man the bridges!

T in the Park sells out instantly -- chances to buy new (and usually progressively more expensive) tickets will keep popping up through the spring, though. Big stages, big steel fence, and big names are the reasons T In The Park is already sold out for 2011: Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters, Coldplay and Pulp will be headlining for scores of hot-now names including Plan B, Swedish House Mafia and Brandon Flowers plus may-be-hot-again bands, like Blondie, at this July 8-10 music festival at Balrado, by Kinross, in green, green Scotland. No concert tickets at the gate (don't bother trying -- serious security). Bring campervans (like VW Westfalias -- no trailers, though) and tents -- this is the biggest camping party in Europe.

The Mediterranean beach in summer and music, music, music -- that's the four-day Benicassim Festival in Spain July 14-17. My Bloody Valentine, Babyshambles (hmm), The Rumble Strips, Arcade Fire, Tinie Tempah, Chase & Status, Elbow, and The Streets round out an eclectic FIB (Festival Internacional de Benicassim) concert lineup that will probably feature a few oldies but goodies (The Psychadelic Furs last year). Free-spirit camping in fields for nine days. Get the whole skinny on the Benicassim Festival, including some videos and concert footage for previews of the place to be, and get thee to the beach.

The Hultsfred Festival is, alas, no more. We'll be replacing it on this list with another of Europe's best summer concerts -- and the choices are many and wonderful! What's your favorite?