New fests planned for Italy, Mexico, Saudi, Macau
A fresh wave of new festivals have been confirmed around the globe as the 2025 international schedule continues to expand.
Electronic music record label and event series Afterlife has announced two Afterlife Festivals across North America and Europe, taking place in Mexico and Spain.
Each day of the two-stage event – set for Hipódromo de las Américas, Mexico City (9-10 May) and Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (13-14 June) – will be curated by Anyma and MRAK, respectively, and focus on “the essence of Afterlife’s music, artists and community”.
Also in the electronic music sphere, Stufish Entertainment Architects have been unveiled as the stage designers for the inaugural Adriatic Sound Festival, which is set to take place at Fano Airport, Italy, from 13-14 June. Acts will include Sven Väth and Armand Van Helden and Stephan Bodzin.
Saudi-based promoter MDLBeast has also revealed another addition to its portfolio in the form of 1001 Nights. Scheduled for 24-25 April, the festival will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Billed as “a festival like no other, where music and stories come together, journey through a realm of grooves, rhythm and our tales reimagined”, the gathering will be open from 4pm to 4am. Lineup details are yet to be announced.
“We’re creating an unprecedented experience for Asian music fans”
Elsewhere, global experiential entertainment company Allied Gaming & Entertainment (AGAE) has announced the launch of RythmX x Strawberry Music Festival in partnership with Beijing Modern Sky Cultural Development Co. and Macau Elite Fun Entertainment. Billed as a “first-of-its-kind co-branded music festival”, it will take place in October at Macau’s new 50,000-capacity outdoor music venue.
The three-day event will feature an exclusive pre-night concert followed by two full days of performances from international and Asian artists.
“This festival is a major step in expanding AGAE’s entertainment footprint,” says AGAE CEO Yinghua Chen. “By bringing together our RythmX brand with Modern Sky’s 16-year well-established Strawberry Music Festival, and hosting it in Macau’s largest outdoor venue, we’re creating an unprecedented experience for Asian music fans. Our goal is to establish this as a must-attend annual festival that draws music lovers from across the region.”
And in the UK, longstanding festival venue Chai Wallahs is bidding to bolster the struggling independent music sector with the launch of Grassroots Rising from 18-21 June 2026.
The event will invite independent festivals, venues and promoters to create a collaborative event over one weekend, cutting costs while enabling audiences to discover new artists. The “pioneering” new model will offer audiences a voice in shaping lineups when they buy membership via a crowdfunder.
“We believe this idea is a solution for our whole industry”
“We believe this idea is a solution for our whole industry,” says Chai Wallahs creative director Si Chai. “By joining together as a ‘Community Benefit Society’ we can massively reduce our independent running costs and bring down ticket prices to a more affordable level. It’s an alternative model that won’t cost partners anything, but will allow them to generate an income and keep their audiences warm and content.
“Grassroots Rising not only offers a solution to the financial challenges the industry faces but, as a celebration of strictly ‘independent music and grassroots culture’, will also address the imbalances between commercially supported and non-supported artists.”
Secret Garden Party (SGP) landowner Freddie Fellowes will host the event at the SGP site in Abbots Ripton Estate, Huntingdon.
“Having made a stand last year, with our last Secret Garden Party, about the importance of grassroots support and the worries about multinational companies’ influence on the live music scene, I am thrilled to be working with Chai Wallahs on this all important event to highlight the rich wonders that the now overlooked grassroots music scene holds,” says Fellowes.
Venues across the UK have already signed up to run a stage at the festival, which has also been endorsed by the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), Save Our Scene and the Music Venue Trust (MVT).
“It’s an important opportunity to bring together independent musicians, venues, promoters, bookers, festivals, and the whole ecosystem in which grassroots culture exists,” says MVT chief Mark Davyd. “It’s this kind of initiative that will foster multiple platforms for emerging artists to perform but also provide great spaces for some of the country’s best loved grassroots venues to present the breadth and depth of their programming.”
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