USA Music Festivals 2023

Posted on Oct 24, 2022 in Festivals, Lists and Bests

USA music festivals 2023

USA Music Festivals 2023

Over 1000 Events

USA music festivals 2023

Welcome to the 2023 and EIGHTH annual edition!

The past two years have been tough for live music and events that don’t have a lot of wriggle in the bottom line for an enforced sabbatical and have therefore felt the COVID sting. We have kept a heavy number of events as ‘to be announced’ since 2019, not knowing whether they have permanently submerged or just awaiting enough virus-free air to resurrect themselves.

This list of events in the USA published on Listening Through The Lens has grown steadily until 2020 when most festivals after the global COVID outbreak in March were thrown into disarray. To illustrate, even though there were two-and-a-bit months COVID-free, over 25 per cent of all events did not even post dates in 2021 with about half of those conceding at some point that their events were not proceeding. Other organisers tried to postpone until later in the year hoping for better times before ended up doing the same thing. Plenty of events posted dates but did not proceed and a lot of them turned into virtual events only. The following year has been much better but still not at the levels of 2019.

So how are we placed at the time of writing for 2023? It should prove, hopefully, to be a fresh start.

The first run-through of checking each and every event (done over the week leading to the publication of this article) has revealed almost thirty per cent of festivals have announced 2023 dates, which compares with the previous year of less than twenty per cent at the same time. Encouraging? We think so.

Importantly, for the next twelve months we will be checking in monthly with every un-dated event to add dates where they have been published. So keep checking this spot, as we journey through the year!

If there’s a line through a date, that means that formal dates have at some stage been announced but organisers subsequently have had to cancel. A line through 2023 means organisers have revealed that the event is cancelled and should recommence in the following year. If there’s a line through tba (to be announced), the event has been cancelled prior to any dates being published.

We started this list as we found it hard to find a single location that has a sufficient number and details of the many music festivals that take place in America each year.  We also like a simple list with relevant website links for easy connection, plus in some sort of intelligible order.

The genres we used initially were under the loose banner of ‘roots music’ but, as we have progressed, found any genre definitions to be overly restrictive and requiring the wisdom of Solomon.  So we have branched out into any event where music is showcased we could find.  Often most of these gatherings have a wide range of artists and styles anyway.  Let you, the reader, be the judge when you look at the line-up as to the level of attraction attending a specific event.

Any corrections or omissions, please drop a comment below or email us at team@listeningthroughthelens.com

This list UPDATED 8 August 2023