Do you ever wonder what really is the biggest music festival in the Country, or even the world? The problem with this question is what really constitutes a 'music festival'. Are we talking about large camping festivals where most people stay onsite, such as Bonnaroo in Tennessee? A large street fair with live music, like the Big E in New York? A multi-venue musical experience that basically takes over an entire city, such as South by Southwest in Austin Texas? The answer is... it's complicated.

However we know that some of the largest music festivals in the world take place right here in the United States. Perhaps the heart and soul of Music Festival culture, during the 60s and 70s dozens of large scale music festivals dominated the scene in the USA, including the notorious Woodstock Music and Arts Festival. While this became the most famous festival ever, other events were reported to have been even larger than Woodstock 1969, for example 'Summer Jam' in Watkins Glen was reported to have over half a million attendees show up to see the Grateful Dead, the Band, and the Allman Brothers Band in 1973.

These days, some lesser known festivals might be the largest to exist. Summerfest in Milwaukee is reported to have close to a million patrons attending the event over the course of a couple weeks with major headliners and all the venues in the city being packed out. Since 1968, the festival has featured a diverse array of headliners includingKnow Which is the Largest Music Festival in the Country | Culture Cross the Red Hot Chiili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Brittany Spears and Dolly Parton.

New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Essence Festival (also in New Orleans), Austin City Limits, and Lollapalooza in Chicago all claim to have over 400,000k attendees as well, making these three of the largest scale festivals as well. Packing the cities with eager fans ready to dance, these festivals are condenders to be second place. However because Summerfest last for several weeks, Summerfest will be recognized as the largest. 

However some people would only consider camping festivals to be truly counted here. In the United States, we have so many large camping festivals that we have really split the crowds and kept them all relatively small compared to some of those in Europe. The 'Pol' and 'Rock' Festival in Poland is perhaps the largest camping festival in the world. Free to the public, and attracting well over a half a million people, this one probably smashes the attendance records of any of the camping festivals in the USA. However, Coachella festival in California has attracted over half a million people. Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, a raver paradise, has been known to attract over 400k over the weekend, however camping is limited. 

It's hard to tell who would claim victory by throwing the largest music festival in the USA, but one thing is for sure... when the crowd reaches tens of thousands of folks ready to party, it doesn't really matter as you will be lost in the sea roaring music and dancing fans.