Berlin's festival year starts in the dead of winter with CTM and runs through the summer: free street concerts on the longest day, Lollapalooza at the Olympiapark in July and Pop-Kultur at the end of August.
Festivals · Berlin
The calendar opens in late January with CTM, a festival for adventurous music and art that fills stages such as HAU with experimental electronics, sound art, club music and talks. It is a very Berlin idea of a festival: indoors, cold outside, curious crowd, and a programme that mixes concerts with discussion and exhibitions. Dress for sub-zero walks between venues and plan your nights around the U-Bahn. Then, on 21 June, the Fête de la Musique turns the whole city into a stage, with free concerts on squares, in courtyards and on street corners across every district - the easiest festival in Berlin to stumble into.
In July, Lollapalooza Berlin brings a big open-air weekend of pop, rock, hip-hop and electronic acts to the Olympiastadion and the Olympiapark in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, on the western edge of the centre. It is the city's large-scale festival: several stages, a young crowd, long days in the sun. Take the U-Bahn or S-Bahn to the Olympiastadion stops rather than a car, bring water and sunscreen, and expect queues at the gates in the early afternoon.
Late August belongs to Pop-Kultur, a week of concerts, DJ sets, commissioned works and talks backed by Musicboard Berlin and spread across several venues, including the Kulturbrauerei. It is less about headliners and more about discovery - new artists, collaborations made for the festival, and panels on how the music world works. Beyond these, many of Berlin's festival-style nights happen in its clubs, and a lot of the bigger summer weekends take place outside the city in Brandenburg and beyond. The list on this page shows the festivals and festival events we currently have on sale in Berlin.
CTM in late January, Fête de la Musique on 21 June, Lollapalooza Berlin at the Olympiastadion and Olympiapark in July, and Pop-Kultur across several venues in late August. See Mood for the festival editions currently on sale in Berlin.
Lollapalooza Berlin takes place at the Olympiastadion and the surrounding Olympiapark in the west of the city, over a weekend in July. The easiest way there is the U-Bahn or S-Bahn to the Olympiastadion stops. Check Mood for tickets when the next edition is on sale.
Yes. The Fête de la Musique on 21 June brings free concerts to squares, parks and streets in every district of Berlin, with local bands and DJs playing from the afternoon into the evening. For ticketed festivals, see the current listings on Mood.
