The best music festivals of summer 2014

As most of us college students know by now, summer is a time of endless opportunities and plans formed around May that become less and less ambitious come August. At the beginning of the summer it feels like the possibilities are infinite. But as the summer grind comes along and everyone is occupied with things like internships, summer jobs and working at the carnival, it can be hard to carve out time for the things that you didn’t have the time or energy for during the school year. In order to make sure you get at least some of the things you want to do during the summer in, it’s important to start planning early.

If you really want to hit six music festivals, take that cross country road trip with your buddies from your fraternity, high school, sleepaway camp, church group, etc. and learn to play the banjo, it’s best you get it together now; Start planning now before it’s late July and all you’ve been doing is playing on your computer at that stuffy internship that your uncle hooked you up with.

Music festivals are a great summer activity. They happen all over the country so you shouldn’t have to travel too far, are mostly over weekends meaning you don’t miss out on work, and are probably your best bet for having the wildest experience in the shortest amount of time. Below are some of the must-see music festivals of Summer 2014 just to give you a sense of what’s out there…

1. SASQUATCH Music Festival

• This dope festival takes place amongst the rolling mountains of Gorge, Wash. from May 23-25. Some of the headliners for this year’s lineup include Outkast, MIA, Kid Cudi, Foster the People and tons of other great acts. The festival was originally supposed to be held over two weekends this year but was cut to one, so if you’re in the Pacific Northwest don’t miss out! The landscape is beautiful and the music is an eclectic mix of some of the industry’s bigger names, so it is sure to be very legit.

2. Electric Daisy Carnival

• After Miami’s Ultra Music Festival in the spring, this is easily the most anticipated EDM festival in the nation, and it comes in two parts that you can hit on either coast! The two day warm-up (if you can even call it that) takes place in NYC from May 24-25 and includes major acts such as Avicii and Calvin Harris. The real party, however, takes place in beautiful Las Vegas from June 20-22. The atmosphere here is live. An interesting thing about EDC is that it holds its Vegas acts from sunset until sunrise as opposed to the other way around in order to combat the nasty summer heat.

3. Bonnaroo

• The festival of all festivals, fans travel from all corners of the country to Manchester, Tenn. and camp out from June 12-15 to see one of the largest and most diverse line ups in the country. If you’re not afraid of roughing it, Bonnaroo is the ultimate festival experience. The lineup this year includes names like Kanye West, Skrillex, Frank Ocean, Vampire Weekend and many more.