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"FacebookPinterest\n\n Photo: Miguel Pereira/WireImage\n\nJuly Fourth has come and gone: Have you booked your music festival tickets yet? If the answer is no, or maybe, or you were thinking about it but aren't sure about the logistics\u2026 stop waffling and do it now. Why? Because in an era where the platforms for discovering new music are so varied, convoluted, all-consuming, and incompatible, the best way to get yourself quickly plugged back into what's going on in music\u2014and to get some fresh new tunes for a barbecue playlist\u2014is to go see a shitload of bands.\n\nTake it from me\u2014I've been on both sides of the chain-link fence. In my twenties, I was a festival devotee. A true Bonnaroo believer. But somewhere along the way, I lapsed. Until this June, when I flew to Spain to host a panel discussion at a long-running music festival in Barcelona called Primavera Sound. On the flight there, I was kind of nervous about it, and I don't mean about hosting the panel. I was nervous about being too old, too sober, too married, too busy, and too spoiled to really go full-immersion again. I mean, these days, I'm not really trying to pay somebody for the privilege of standing in the heat with 50,000 fleshy, sunburned strangers. But you know what? The other side of the story is that, before I left, me and my iTunes hadn't been getting along. Me and my iPod weren't really talking, much less making sweet love. (Most recent gym playlist: 2013.) And my car radio? Bleh, it had nothing that turned me on. My music life needed to get goosed.\n\nAs it turns out, a few days spent cock-rocking with the hordes was exactly what I needed. And it's not like I wasted the weekend trying to live like a 23-year-old. My wife and I spent our days at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, the Fundaci\u00F3 Joan Mir\u00F3, and Gaud\u00ED's Sagrada Familia, and our nights bopping to the Black Lips. In town during the day, I had one long culture boner and a lot of good food; on site at the festival at night, I heard the electronic duo Darkside for the first time, realized I'd been overlooking the best song on the new St. Vincent album (\"Prince Johnny\"), and confirmed that I really don't share my wife's affinity for Cut Copy. That's another thing worth noting: a festival can be as much about checking buzzy bands off your list (Foals, you are not for me) as it is discovery (Haim deserves the hype, and sounds more like Madonna than indie rock. Who knew?).\n\nSo if scrolling through Pitchfork's latest news and reviews makes you feel old and out of touch, or if your beach playlists are looking rustier than an old barnacled dingy, don't give up. Don't surrender to the random function on your iPod or the Fleetwood Mac station on your iPhone's streaming app. Instead, book tickets to the best weekend festival near you before summer's gone and it's too late (see our suggestions below). Then throw yourself headlong into the fleshy masses and see what moves you.\n\n\u00B7\u00B7\u00B7\n\nSix Late-Summer Music Festivals That Will Restore Your Faith (and Revitalize Your iPod)\n\n by Sam Schube\n\nPitchfork Music FestivalUnion Park, ChicagoJuly 18 - 20thThe Vibe: The headliners sell the tickets, but it's the side stage acts that justify Pitchfork's \"meet your new favorite band\" rep\u2014and there's always a killer off-center reunion or two to boot.Key acts: Kendrick Lamar, Giorgio Moroder, St. Vincent, KelelaMerge 25Durham and Carrboro, North CarolinaJuly 23 - 26thThe vibe: Merge Records\u2014the North Carolina indie label that brought you Arcade Fire, Spoon, and Neutral Milk Hotel\u2014is throwing a festival to celebrate its 25th anniversary. The 90s never sounded so good.Key acts: Neutral Milk Hotel, Destroyer, Superchunk, the Mountain GoatsLollapaloozaGrant Park, Chicago8/1 - 8/3The vibe: Lollapalooza is the granddaddy of 'em all, and just might provide the most bang for your buck: established acts, a great location, and much-needed extras (food, infrastructure, a team that just knows how to run a festival).Key acts: Eminem, Arctic Monkeys, Lorde, Chance the RapperOVO FestMolson Amphitheatre, Toronto, Canada8/3 - 8/4The vibe: Drake is basically the self-appointed mayor of Toronto, so expect anything at his fifth annual homecoming bonanza. The one thing that sets it apart: Champagne Papi's rolodex.Key acts: Drake, Outkast, whoever Drake feels like calling.FYF FestExposition Park, Los Angeles8/23 - 8/24The vibe: This used to be called the F Yeah Fest, but it's grown up\u2014and has a killer, indie-heavy lineup befitting a (barely) more mature festival.Key acts: The Strokes, Haim, Blood Orange, Run the JewelsMade in AmericaLos Angeles, CA; Philadelphia, PA8/30 - 8/31The vibe: Think big. The Jay-Z Budweiser collaboration expands this summer to give the festival a simultaneous west coast wing, and the acts playing are suitably ginormous.Key acts: Kanye West, Kings of Leon, Pharrell Williams, Weezer"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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