festival season : the hottest music festivals in bali you can't miss this year

Bali’s music scene is as alive and well as it’s ever been, with big international names and cool up-and-coming acts across a variety of genres—EDM, rock, jazz, indie, whatever you like—flocking to the island.

Six international, national, and local festivals of note will hit Bali in the coming months. Whether you live in Bali or you want to plan a memorable holiday to the island around a fun festival experience, check out our guide to what’s in store.

Here we give you the skinny: venues, dates, headliners, ticket prices, and what to expect.

Sunny Side Up Festival

A boutique festival set at one of Bali’s best known beach clubs in Petitenget, Sunny Side Up has got to be the trendiest, most ‘hip’ of the upcoming festivals. It’s going to be two days of partying right off the beach, from afternoon til late, with a variety of big and up-and-coming live acts and DJs—not to mention access to award-winning (and ofc expensive) cocktails at the venue. 

It’s not all drunk Aussies, we promise, but be prepared to overhear some interesting, earth-shattering statements like we did last year and scan our highlights of the 2016 edition for a better idea of what Sunny Side Up’s all about!

Headliners: Big Sean, Phoenix, Autograf, Snakehips, Charlie XCX

When: August 11 & 12Where: Potato Head Beach Club, SeminyakTickets: Range of packages available with GA and VIP, one-day and two day passes. Rp 900k – Rp 1.8 million

Hit this festival if… You don’t just keep up with the Joneses, you’re ahead of them. 

Ubud Village Jazz Festival

Since its inaugural event in 2013, jazz devotees, creatives, intellectuals, and artists have been coming together to jive for the Ubud Village Jazz Festival. It should come as no surprise that this festival is hosted not on the beach, but in the Balinese cultural heart of Ubud. One of the main points of the festival is community, bringing people together from around the special Bali jungle town and beyond. Another key element is education. The festival facilitates a workshop with local and national educators to brainstorm how to keep young people engaged with jazz—think La La Land, but less pretentious.

“We are dedicated to staying a jazz-only event. All the big and famous festivals have included other genres, including pop. So do small festivals. That’s why we gotta be different,” the festival’s founder, Yuri Mahatma, previously told Coconuts Bali.

Headliners: Benny Brown, Glenn Buschman Jazz Academy, Gerald Clayton Trio, Ricad Hutapea, Yuri Mahatma

When: August 11 & 12Where: ARMA, UbudTickets: Rp 440k for day pass, Rp 660k for two-day pass

Hit this festival if…  Jazz is your genre and understated sophistication is your game. 

Soundrenaline

Self-proclaimed as Indonesia’s biggest music festival, Soundrenaline is returning to GWK for another weekend packed with performances from across the archipelago.

Unlike other festivals hosted in Bali that specialize in targeting big international acts, the appeal of Soundrenaline—at least in the past—is that it boasts a pretty comprehensive line-up of local bands, some of Indonesia’s best groups across a variety of genres. And most of the crowd is actually made up of Indonesian people, rather than the herds of foreign tourists you’ll find at most other festivals. It’s a pretty special gathering. That said, there’s always at least one or two big international acts headlining the thing. In recent years, that’s been Simple Plan, Bloc Party, and Wolfmother.

Check out our review of last year’s Soundrenaline for a full rundown of the festival, from the music and the venue to the event’s organization.

Headliners: Stay tuned as more artists get confirmed since it’s kind of early in the game, but some posted so far on the Soundrenaline website include JET, Sheila on 7, Tulus, Elephant Kind, Lolot