Popular summer festivals in Netherlands and its Viking neighbors: Norway, Denmark, and Sweden

Summer Carnival Rotterdam, Rotterdam (Netherlands)

July 20, 24 & 25, 2009

Summer Carniva Rotterdaml is an annual three-day Caribbean Carnival in the city centre of Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Photo by french_rip/flickr)

Similar to the carnival in Rio, it is a huge event where about 900,000 visitors come from all over Europe to celebrate Latin culture through dance and costume parade. On the day the Summer Carnival Rotterdam starts, Saturday, the lavish big Street Parade begins in the city centre. At night the live performances take places on two city stages to continue the festivities and celebrations “the Brazilian Way” until the wee hours.

Roskilde Festival, Roskilde (Denmark)

July 2 – July 5, 2009, with a warm-up beginning on June 28

Roskilde is one of the largest rock festivals in Europe that attracts and features everything from metal bands to Scandinavian punk over the four-day of the festival, which other performances include cinema, skating and art. The other three of-close-merit festivals are Sziget Festival, Glastonbury Festival and Rock Werchter.

This year the party kicks off on July 2, expecting the ‘usual suspects’ of Nine Inch Nails, The Pet Shop Boys, Eagles and Death Metal.

The festival’s administration offers rents of a tent, if you ask in advance, and the tickets, which are not cheap, cost 240 euros, but include everything from parking and camping, to luggage storage, all performances and other related-to-festival activities.Founded by two high school students in 1971, Roskilde Festival is held south of Roskilde, Denmark. In 1972, the festival was taken over by the Roskilde Foundation, which has since run the festival as a non-profit organization for development and support of music, culture, and humanism.

It was Denmark's first real music-oriented festival. Originally targeted to hippies, today mainstream youth from all over Scandinavia and other parts of the world attend the festival. It is especially popular with Germans, Australians and British.The festival stretches over a few days, giving and allowing enough time before the festival starts to settle and warm up.

For tickets, click here.

Hultsfred Festival, Hultsfred (Sweden)

July 8 – July 11, 2009

The Hultsfred Festival (Hultsfredsfestivalen) is an annual music festival held at the lake Hulingen in Hultsfred, Sweden. Founded in 1986, the festival features five different stages where more than 150 bands a year from all over Scandinavia and other parts of the world perform.

You can get $250.00 tickets online here, or locally in Norway, Denmark and Finland. The cost of a ticket covers camping and concerts.

Gary Moore, Kent, The Cure, Bjork, Ozzy Osbourne, Alicia Keys, Pet Shop Boys, 50 Cent, and Erasure – all these artists have performed at this festival in the last two decades.

And the following artists have been confirmed to perform at this year’s festival: ’The Killers, Kings of Leon, Franz Ferdinand, Regina Spektor, Dropkick Murphys, Lars Winner Back, Takida, Thastrom, Timbuktu, Anna Ternheim, The Sounds, Madness, The Gossip, White Lies, Klaxons, Hello Saferide, Markus Krunegard, Maia Hirasawa, Cult of Luna, John Me, Frida Hyvonen, Lenka, Yo Majesty, The Heart Strings, Dan Black, Marnie Stern, Sonic Syndicate, Lillasyster, Dead by April, Emmy The Great, Invincible, Baddies, Victims, Cilhili, Convoj, Pilgrimz, Graveyard, Henok Achido, Simon Norrsveden, Pretty Whores, Twiggy Frostbite, Meleeh, Walking with Strangers, The Koo Koos, and The Sacred Sailors

For tickets, click here.