Drum And Bass Festivals In Europe
Drum and bass festivals have started to gain much more attention in the festival circuit as DNB fans across the world want see more of their favourite artists, enjoy a trip to another country and experience a rave that goes on for at least three days.
Festivals have always been popular but more niche festivals for specific music styles have cropped up over the years meaning that your festival experience and the people you meet are much more compatible with your expectations.
Some Drum and Bass festivals have been going for a decade, others a considerably newer, but the overall effect is very much the same. Loads of DNB fans enjoying their chosen genre of music having a big old rave in a field. Exactly the way it was meant to be.
Some of these festivals you may already be aware of. Rampage in Antwerp is the creation of Andy C and his Ram Records label and Let It Roll in Czech Republic are some of the biggest, baddest Drum and Bass festivals going, but there are several more that are sure to provide a killer drum and bass session.
Without further ado, we will list the festivals that we think are the essential visits as part of your wider drum and bass development.
Let’s start with something a little closer to home…
Hospitality In The Park
Whilst this doesn’t necessarily constitute a festival in the sense that it is only a one day event, it’s still definitely something that every raver worth their salt should attend. Think of it as a modern day right of passage.
Hosted and managed exclusively by London Elektricity and the Hospital records team, this Drum and Bass festival has seen massive growth over the past few years. So much so, it has now become a regular event on the DNB rave scene.
It boasts several stages from other labels and even the Let It Roll portal show. The finest Hospital talent is on display which pretty much guarantees you some of the best Dj’s in the world rolling out bangers.
Tickets: From £34
Location: Finsbury Park, London, England
SUNANDBASS
This Drum and Bass festival is for the purists. It’s also the oldest running festival in the scene at 15 years’ old, which also gives you an indication of how new these types of festivals are and how much more room there is to grow.
Based in Sardinia this week long drum and bass session brings people from all over Europe to enjoy the beats, the bass and the beach. The lineup is full of liquid from all labels so you’re sure to have a blissful time enjoying the sun set as soulful liquid drum and bass rolls out from the speakers.
Getting there is quite tricky and getting a ticket is even harder, but on all accounts from festival goers who have partaken, it’s well worth the hassle.
Tickets: £136
Location: Sardinia, Italy
Rampage
The second oldest festival on this list. Headed up by Andy C and his Rampage label, this is simply one of the most hardcore raves you will get to. A weekend long riot of heavy jump up DNB and dubstep, all of the heavy hitters from the Ram label ensure that this is a non-stop party from start to finish.
Situated in Antwerp, it’s not too difficult to get to but tickets sell out incredibly quickly. I mean, why wouldn’t they? It’s Andy C and his gang so it’s basically a guaranteed good time! Whilst this festival is mostly Drum and Bass, it also has something for the Dubstep lovers too, which is fine by us. Sometimes after jogging on the spot for six hours, you need a little bit of break. With heavy-hitters like Excision and Funtcase, when we say break, we simply mean not DNB…
Tickets: Starting at £34
Location: Antwerp, Belgium
Nu:Forms
One of the newest Drum and Bass festivals on the circuit, but that doesn’t make it less appealing. Started up by the super-duo of Camo and Krooked this weekend long rave is probably the biggest DNB session that you’ve never heard of. Based in Wiesen, Austria there is an eclectic mix of DNB styles played.
The organisers of this event want to keep it intimate and as a result, tickets are extremely limited. The great thing about it though is most people won’t have heard about it yet, so you can snap yourself and your mates’ up a great experience, all whilst getting to see the beautiful countryside in Austria.
Tickets: £96
Location, Weisen Austria
Innovation In The Dam
Anyone fancy a 3 day bender in Amsterdam? Innovation In The Dam could well the excuse you’ve been looking for! Innovation has become something of a chain of events of the years with multiple events being hosted, not just in Holland, but all over Europe. There’s event a summer session in Spain.
Mostly jump up DNB, there’s plenty of high energy music being played out and the Innovation brand has been going since 1995 and has been a major player in the rave scene ever since. You will find a mix of the old heads and the new ravers at this one with nothing but love and positive vibes rolling out.
Tickets: Starting from £14
Location: Amsterdam, Holland
Liquicity Festival
Another Drum and Bass festival set up and run by a record label, there’s no surprises as to who set this up and the music on offer. The legendary Liquicity Records label, organised by Dutch DJ and Maduk, offer a genuine rival to Innovation with this weekend long liquid DNB party.
Very much in its infancy, Liquicity is probably the newest on the Drum and Bass festivals on the scene. This evolved from the single nights that the label put on and the demand for more was such that the next logical step was to make it a larger event. 40 minutes outside of Amsterdam, it’s easy to get to and close to major public transport links.
Tickets : Starting from £46
Location: Oudkarspel, Holland.
Hospitality On The Beach
The guys at Hospital Records enjoyed so much success at their very first Drum and Bass event abroad they decided to make it a permanent fixture on their calendar. Albeit a slightly smaller event than their Hospitality In The Park events, Hospitality On The Beach is equally well put together.
All the regular acts for the Hospital and Med School labels appear, but unlike the UK events, you get a chance to hang out with and talk to the artists as they wander through the festival. Based in Tisno, Croatia, this is another great excuse for people to see other parts of Europe that you may not have otherwise thought about.
Tickets: Starting from £112
Location: Tisno, Croatia
Let It Roll
This is the big one. Based in the Czech Republic on an abandoned soviet airfield, this truly is the biggest Drum and Bass festival on the circuit. Anyone who’s anyone and then everyone else you’ve never heard of will be at this event.
Situated 40 minutes outside of Prague in a small village called Milovice, the usually calm and serene setting of the Czech forest descends into chaos as the DNB community arrives.
3 days of non-stop drum and bass of all genres blasts out until the early morning as the location has basically no restrictions on sound means you’ll be getting little to no sleep. Seriously, if you’re camping at the festival you can feel the bass from the main stage through the earth, even at 4am. If there’s one Drum and Bass festival you go to this year, make it this one.
So there you have it. The top Drum and Bass festivals across Europe. There are , of course, many other music festivals that also include DNB but we wanted to talk about the genre specific one’s in the article. Dance music has permeated human culture and you can find all kinds of electronic music at almost every festival and just because they aren’t on this list, doesn’t mean they aren’t worth going to.
Tickets: Starting From £95
Location: Milovice, Czech Republic
Thinking of heading out to one of these festivals this year? Make sure you have the right gear to stand out and make the most of your festival experience.
Browse our range of festival-ready gear now!
