German music festival Love Parade 2010 hit the headlines recently after a panicked stampede resulted in the deaths of 21 people. This added to the notorious image of music festivals, already seen as hotbeds for drug-taking and over-drinking.
Despite their notoriety, music festivals are increasing in popularity. The world's largest is Summerfest in Milwaukee, in the United States, which attracts up to a million people each year. The trend is driven by people desperate to have the 'festival experience' - a few days of muddy fun listening to rousing sets from the year's hottest bands.
Festival-goers pay to get into a festival site, where they can choose from different stages where bands showcase hits and latest songs. As many of them take place in temperate climes, fans often have to face heavy downpours that turn sites into swamps.
The Glastonbury Festival in the UK is probably the most famous example; this year marked its 40th anniversary. In 1970, 1,500 hippies paid ? (HK$12.40) to gather and listen to music at a dairy farm. This June, an estimated 170,000 people attended the festival which was headlined by Gorillaz, Muse and Stevie Wonder.
But the forerunner of Glastonbury was the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in 1969, which was attended by 500,000 people. Advertised as '3 Days of Peace & Music', the festival made history as rock legends such as Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix took the stage. Woodstock was hailed as the epitome of community spirit and the perfect expression of the 1960s mood.
The experience does not stop at great music. For example, Glastonbury has themed areas - 'secret' venue The Rabbit Hole takes inspiration from Alice in Wonderland, and is reached by crawling through a tunnel - and many events feature pyrotechnic displays.