17 Events That Make Fall Our Favorite Season For Music Festivals

Although we’re always sad to bid the season of open-air parties and big-time weekenders farewell, the fall air triggers memories of another kind of music festival experience. Compared to the summer calendar, autumn’s contains a higher proportion of experimental projects—and that’s in no small part due to the fact that the majority of events united under the International Cities Of Advanced Sound (ICAS)  network take place between September and January, including Kraków‘s annual Unsound week. So perhaps you’ll recognize that some names reappear frequently on fall festival lineups—and that’s often thanks to the SHAPE platform, an incubator that helps underground artists take full advantage of the ICAS network. Of course, some major events third-quarter events don’t focus on avant-garde sonics and art; one of the heavy-hitters of the season is Amsterdam Dance Event, which covers virtually the entire electronic music spectrum and industry. And there are many smaller events you may have missed, so we composed another handy interactive map of the festivals we recommend between today, the first day of fall, and December.

September 14-30: Bozar Electronic Arts in Brussels, Belgium
September 20-23: Reeperbahn in Hamburg, Germany
September 22-23: TodaysArt in The Hague, Netherlands
September 22-30: Unsafe + Sounds in Vienna, Austria
September 25-30: Sonica in Ljubljana, Slovenia
September 27-October 13: Avant Art in Wrocław, Poland
September 30: Nurt Open Air in Tyniec, Poland
October 1-8: UH Fest in Budapest, Hungary
October 2-11: Avant Art in Warsaw, Poland
October 4-8: Musikprotokoll in Graz, Austria
October 5-28: RIAM in Marseille, France
October 8-15: Unsound in Kraków, Poland
October 10-15: Maintenant in Rennes, France
October 13-14: Skaņu Mežs in Riga, Latvia
October 18-22: Amsterdam Dance Event in Amsterdam, Netherlands
October 26-28: Insomnia in Tromsø, Norway
November 1-7: Club To Club in Torino, Italy

Read more: We’re already excited about Unsound 2017’s lineup so far

Published September 21, 2017.