Gadling

Roskilde Festival, July 5-8, Roskilde, Denmark. Second only to Glastonbury Festival in size, the Roskilde festival is one of Europe's largest, with over 100,000 attendees last year alone. The festival also features a "Naked Race" each year, where an even number of guys and gals strip off their clothing and run laps around a track. Why? Why not? Two winners -- one male and one female -- are comped at next year's festival. Musically speaking, Muse, The Who, Beastie Boys, The Killers, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Queens of the Stone Age and Björk will all be in attendance. Nude people and great bands -- what else do you need? [Official website]

Evolution Festival, July 7, Florence, Italy. Who knew Italians loved metal so much? With Gods of Metal in June, and Evolution in July, metal-heads have no reason to leave Italy this summer. Fans of Sebastian Bach, this is your lucky day -- literally: Evolution takes place on 7/7/07, and aside from seeing everyone's favorite Skid Row, the festival is bringing in underground metal acts from all over the world, including Nevermore, Sodom, Cynic, and Virgin Steele. Be afraid. [Official website]

Oxegen, July 7-8, County Kildare, Ireland. Oxegen is another fest sponsored by Heineken (Open'er in Poland also serves the green-bottled goodness), only this one is in Ireland. This makes you wonder why they don't have a certain other beer company's support. Guinness, where ya at? Turns out, Guinness used to sponsor the show. I'm sure there's a good story as to why Heineken took over. Anyway, the festival boasts six stages, camping areas, and carnival rides. And the music, right -- the music! Air, Bright Eyes, Muse, Interpol, Bloc Party, Daft Punk, and a TON more will be making an appearance. [Official website]

Dour Festival, July 12-15, Dour, Belgium. Pronounced dow-er (don't lose any scene points for saying the name wrong!), this huge music fest in Belgium saw upwards of 130,000 people over four days in 2006. This year Andy C, Hot Chip, Wu-Tang Clan, and DJ Shadow are included in the list of headlining acts.

Masters of Rock, July 12-15, Zlín, Czech Republic. Look, another heavy metal festival in Europe. This one's big, though -- real big. Masters of Rock is the second largest heavy metal fest (out of 10,000, it seems!) with almost 30,000 headbangers in attendance in 2006. Motörhead, Children of Bodom, Rage, and Sepultura are on the bill, along with a ton of smaller Czeck heavy metal bands.

EXIT, July 12-15, Novi Sad, Serbia. Head a little further east, and you'll run into the 7th annual EXIT summer fest in Novi Sad, Serbia. Watch out, Heineken. Beck's has their hands all over this one. "Held in the picturesque setting of an eighteenth century fortress by the Danube," the festival boasts the hottest names in the electronic and dance music scene, including Basement Jaxx (another personal favorite of mine), John Digweed, and Richie Hawtin, along with pop music mainstays like the Beastie Boys, Wu-Tang Clan, and Robert Plant. [Official website]

Pitchfork Music Festival, July 13-15, Chicago, Illinois U.S.A. US-based Internet music mag Pitchfork has turned their snarky online success into one of Chicago's hottest summer festivals, featuring a bunch of bands whose fans hope you've never heard of. I kid, I kid! The bill includes Sonic Youth, Slint, GZA, The New Pornographers, Iron and Wine, Of Montreal, and a few others. [Official website]

Metalcamp, July 16-22, Tolmin, Slovenia. Another -- cough -- European metal fest. Metalcamp is no walk in the park. Hard-hitters such as Motörhead, Blind Guardian, Immortal, Hatebreed, and Sepultura will be there to disturb the peace. [Official website]

Earthshaker Fest, July 19-21, Kreuth, Bavaria. Motörhead, Within Temptation, Cradle of Filth, Testament, Kreator, Sepultura, J.B.O., Gamma Ray, U.D.O., Unleashed, Korpiklaani, Legion of the Damned, God Dethroned, Freedom Call, Norther, Dew-Scented, Keep of Kalessin, Hatesphere, Graveworm, Threshold, Mystic Prophecy, Eluveitie, Melechesh, and last but not least: Beatallica! Haven't heard of Beatallica? Start with their entry on Wikipedia, and then do what you can to see them live. [Official website]

Paléo Festival, July 24-29, Nyon, Switzerland. Named afer a successful racehorse (seriously), The Paléo fest is one of Switzerland's biggest. Located on the shores of Lake Geneva, over 3 million people and 250 artists have attended the fest since its inception in 1976. 2007 brings the Swiss artists like Björk, Arctic Monkeys, Muse, and Arcade Fire. [Official website]

Fuji Rock Festival, July 27-29, Naeba, Japan. Our one and only Asian festival to make the list, the Fuji Rock Fest began its days in 1997, when a typhoon struck the Mt. Fuji area and nearly demolished the entire event. Meanwhile, hardcore fans stuck around like there wasn't a frickin' hurricane going on. Amazing. Even so, the second and third day of the festival had to be canceled. Hopefully this year the weather will hold, because they've got a killer line-up. Artists include The Chemical Brothers, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Shins, and Blonde Redhead. [Official website]