Expendable income, we knew ye well.
Ride Festival – (CO)
Date: June 11-12, 2015
Site: RideFestival.com
Price: $175
Camping: Yas! $60-$200
Location: Telluride, CO
Drive time from Denver: 6 hr 7 min
Headliners: Widespread Panic and Gov’t Mule
Our picks: Moon Taxi, Dorothy and Baskery
Best band name on the bill: Trigger Hippy
Festival style: Comfortable, folksy and a shit load of good ol’ mountain styled music. With the always-breathtaking town of Telluride as a host, how can it go wrong?
Customers who bought this item also bought: Upcycled home decor, not particularly strong weed and anything else but shoes.
Sonic Bloom – (CO)
Date: June 18-21, 2015
Site: SonicBloomFestival.com
Price: $204- $420
Camping: You betcha! $84
Location: Hummingbird Ranch – Rye, CO
Drive time from Denver: 2 hrs 30 min
Headliners: STS9, Shpongle and Emancipator
Our picks: Random Rab, Krooked Drivers and Bluetech
Best band name on the bill: That 1 Guy
Festival style: Mindfucking electronic music in a quasi spiritual/transformational festival setting. Get ready to smell that sweet, sweet patchouli the entire time.
Customers who bought this item also bought: A bunch of LSD and/or DMT, hemp sandals, several meaningless hatpins and an Alex Grey giclee.
Westword Music Showcase – (CO)
Date: June 20, 2015
Site: Microapp.Westword.com/MusicShowcase/2015/
Price: $35-$85
Camping: Why not just go home?
Location: Golden Triangle – Denver, CO
Drive time from Denver: Only as long as it takes to park.
Headliners: Flume, The Black Angels and MisterWives
Our picks: Too many talented local acts to name.
Best band name on the bill: Kitty Crimes
Festival style: A full-day, community-wide rager in the dead of summer means the entire experience is scorching — both literally and figuratively. Prep for the self-induced dehydration appropriately.
Customers who bought this item also bought: T-shirts/albums/stickers from local artists, unfinished tattoos and an artisanal small-batch oak barrel-aged sense of self-worth.
Loudwire Music Festival – (CO)
Date: June 26-28, 2015
Site: LoudwireMusicFestival.com
Price: $89-$469
Camping: Yep! $95-$180
Location: Jam Ranch – Grand Junction, CO
Drive time from Denver: 3 hr 54 min
Headliners: Linkin Park, Weezer and Rob Zombie
Our picks: Chevelle, Halestorm and Hoobastank
Best band name on the bill: 3 Pill Morning
Festival style: Blistering, mosh-heavy rock with speckles of Nu metal. There aren’t many festivals like it in the area, so expect the fans to be living on the edge of insanity.
Customers who bought this item also bought: Black t-shirts, extra socks and an appropriate amount of Band-Aids.
Wanderlust Festival – (CO)
Date: July 2-5, 2015
Site: Wanderlust.com
Price: $60-$460 (Many options for various events)
Camping: No festival camping, but it’s Aspen in the summer, so feel free to get creative
Location: Snowmass Village – Aspen, CO
Drive time from Denver: 3 hr 26 min
Headliners: MOBY, MC Yogi and DJ Drez
Our picks: Lee Fields and the Expressions and HANNAH
Best band name on the bill: beatgypsy
Festival style: This isn’t so much a music festival as it is a perspective experience. Featuring yoga workshops, meditation groups, outdoor events and more, the Wanderlust Festival just about has it all.
Customers who bought this item also bought: Free range Green Tea, flashy workout attire with large company logos and IKEA shelving units.
Global Dance Festival – (CO)
Date: July 17-19, 2015
Site: GlobalDanceFestival.com
Price: $210- $300
Camping: No, don’t do it.
Location: Red Rocks – Morrison, CO
Drive time from Denver: 30 min — give or take …
Headliners: Tiësto, Kaskade and Flosstradamus
Our picks: Above & Beyond, Lane 8, Datsik and Goldfish
Best band name on the bill: Trippy Turtle
Festival style: It’s a rave … errr … dance party on the rocks! Since its inception, the Global Dance Festival has been one of the biggest weekends of the year and for good reason. Turn up!
Customers who bought this item also bought: Glowsticks by the pound, an ounce of Colorado’s finest pregame herb and luminescent booty shorts for males.
Underground Music Showcase – (CO)
Date: July 23-26, 2015
Site: TheUMS.com
Price: $25-$75
Camping: Nope.
Location: South Broadway District – Denver, CO
Drive time from Denver: It’s in Denver, dummy!
Headliners: STRFKR, DIIV
Our picks: Until The Ribbon Breaks, Rose Quartz and Brick + Mortar
Best name on the bill: STRFKR
Festival style: Often referred to as “Denver’s South by Southwest,” The Underground Music Showcase isn’t far off. Plenty of music fills the endurance-tesing weekend and freckles the burgeoning — and energetically popular — strip of South “man buns” Broadway.
Customers who bought this item also bought: Nostalgic childhood memorabilia, jean vests and anything everyone else buys for a stranger’s affection.
ARISE Music Festival – (CO)
Date: Aug 7-9, 2015
Site: AriseFestival.com/2015
Price: $159
Camping: Indeed. $79-$295
Location: Sunrise Ranch – Loveland, CO
Drive time from Denver: 1 hr 17 min
Headliners: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and The Polish Ambassador
Our picks: Turkuaz, Lily Fangz and The reMINDers
Best band name on the bill: Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad
Festival style: A complete metaphysical shift from the bore of daily life towards a brightly drenched world of conscious alliance. In other words: Shit be positive.
Customers who bought this item also bought: Healing gems, a ranch in the wilderness and enough hula-hoops to build another Large Hadron Collider.
Gentlemen of the Road Stopover – (CO)
Date: Aug 21-22, 2015
Site: GentlemenOfTheRoad.com
Price: $199
Camping: FREE Four Camper Site w/ each ticket
Location: Salida, CO
Drive time from Denver: 2 hr 35 min
Headliners: Mumford & Sons and The Flaming Lips
Our picks: James Vincent McMorrow, Jenny Lewis, The Vaccines and Blake Mills
Best band name on the bill: tUnE-yArDs
Festival style: Salida is a brand new stop for the Gentleman Of The Road Tour thanks to Mumford and all of his sons. The festival looks to fulfill its quota of good vibes and memory-creating moments of enjoyment.
Customers who bought this item also bought: Urban Outfitters vinyls complete with shoddy record player and an assortment of filter apps for the perfect Instagram-brag.
Riot Fest – (CO)
Date: Aug 28-30, 2015
Site: RiotFest.org
Price: $69.98 (Early Bird) – ???
Camping: No. No. No.
Location: National Western Complex – Denver, CO
Drive time from Denver: Exactly 0 minutes
Headliners: N/A (Full lineup is expected on or around May 13)
Our picks: We don’t like Zach Braff. There, we said it.
Best band name on the bill: James Franco is kind of an idiot, too.
Festival style: It’s like when the old school you meets the new school you and they have a weird, existential bond driven by the love of the “fuck-everything” kind of music.
Customers who bought this item also bought: A co-workers extra vacation time, Ibuprofen in bulk and a babysitter.
OUT-OF-STATE MUSIC FESTIVALS
Punk Rock Bowling & Music Festival – (LV)
Date: May 22-25, 2015
Site: PunkRockBowling.com
Price: From $45-$120
Camping: Does passing out on the strip count?
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Drive time from Denver: 11 hr 19 min
Headliners: Rancid, Refused, Dropkick Murphys
Our picks: Swingin’ Utters, Anti-Flag, The Muffs
Best band name on the bill: Get Dead
Festival style: This festival has been going strong since 1999 as a way for like-minded individuals to convene at the party capital of the world to go bowling. Wait what?
Customers who bought this item also bought: Extra-firm hold hair paste, metallic studs and the “V for Vendetta” Two-Disc Collector’s Edition DVDs w/ Mask.
Wakarusa – (AK)
Date: June 4-7, 2015
Site: Wakarusa.com
Price: $69 (Sunday Only) – $194 (Full Event) // $505-$705 (VIP)
Camping: All kinds! $59-$1000
Location: Mulberry Mountain – Ozark, AK
Drive time from Denver: 11 hr 56 min
Headliners: Major Lazer, The Roots and Thievery Corporation
Our picks: Portugal. The Man, Matisyahu and Krooked Drivers
Best Band Name On the Bill: Lindsay Lowend
Festival style: Tucked in the southern bosom of the Ozark Mountains, the Wakarusa festival celebrates both music and nature’s gift of beauty. Locals wouldn’t like for outsiders to know about this summertime vision, but, oops, word’s out.
Customers who bought this item also bought: Solar panel cell-phone charger, BPA-free camping equipment and Gold Bond — lots of glorious Gold Bond.
Contour Music Festival – (WY)
Date: June 11-14, 2015
Site: ContourMusicFestival.com
Price: $145-$850
Camping: Not officially. The closest campgrounds are roughly 30 minutes away.
Location: Jackson Hole, WY
Drive time from Denver: 8 hrs 1 min
Headliners: Thievery Corporation, Emancipator and The Polish Ambassador
Our picks: Deltron 3030, Sage Francis and Sweater Beats
Best band name on the bill: Cut la Whut
Festival style: We are without a doubt completely unsure of what to expect at Contour. As this is the festival’s inaugural appearance, the mayhem could get interesting, as first year’s tend to do.
Customers who bought this item also bought: Authentic cowboy boots, roadside assistance and sixers of Michelob Ultra.
Electric Daisy Carnival – (LV)
Date: June 19-21, 2015
Site: LasVegas.ElectricDaisyCarnival.com
Price: $750 (Only VIP passes left)
Camping: Sort of … if you get creative (not official)
Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Las Vegas, NV
Drive time from Denver: 11 hrs
Headliners: No official lineup yet (as of press time), but we’re guessing it will be every DJ ever. UPDATE: Tiësto, Avicii and Calvin Harris
Our picks: Alison Wonderland, Fatboy Slim, Keys N Krates and ATB
Best band name on the bill: Who knows, but we wouldn’t mind a DJ Fiddlenuts. UPDATE: Dr. Fresch
Festival style: EDC is a full-on, MASSIVE rave! Not for the faint of heart or first-time party animals. Welcome to the big leagues, people.
Customers who bought this item also bought: Several losing lottery tickets, neon/LED lingerie and a hotel room on the cheap end of the strip to cram 15 people into.
Electric Forest – (MI)
Date: June 25-28, 2015
Site: ElectricForestFestival.com
Price: $279-$1750 (Sold out)
Camping: Car, RV, log cabin and glamping packages — the works!
Location: Double JJ Ranch – Rothbury, MI
Drive time from Denver: 17 hrs 30 min
Headliners: String Cheese Incident, Bassnectar, Kaskade, Flume, Big Gigantic and Skrillex
Our picks: ODESZA, Slow Magic, Lettuce, G-Eazy
Best band name on the bill: Peking Duk
Festival style: The perfect combination of a serene hippie fest frappe’d with a down and dirty electronic show — all with a storybook backdrop.
Customers who bought this item also bought: String Cheese commemorative bumper sticker, bug bombs, tie-dye fanny packs and dreadlock wax.
Dancefestopia – (MO)
Date: Sept 11-13, 2015
Site: Dancefestopia.com
Price: $159- $259
Camping: Hells yeah! $38-$124
Location: Berkley Riverfront Park – Kansas City, MO
Drive time from Denver: 9 hrs
Headliners: Bassnectar, Porter Robinson (live) and Datsik
Our picks: Audien, Jack LNDN and Manic Focus
Best band name on the bill: SNBRN
Festival style: This is a classic midwestern type of dance party complete with big smiles, impeccable manners and the ugly-happy kind of bass face everyone gets when the drop goes boom.
Customers who bought this item also bought: Kandi dust masks, Camelbak or cuddly animal backpack and bedazzled ironic overalls with matching straw sunhat.
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