This year’s Cambridge Folk Festival (July 27-30) will give fans an extra night of music included in the usual ticket price. Festival organiser Eddie Barcan explained that many of the event’s fans set up campsites a day before the weekend of music kicks off, so he felt it was a good idea to provide them with some entertainment. “So we are going for a fourth night of music,” he said. “It’s a nice way to say thank you to the regulars.” Barcan added that the festival is sticking to its small-is-beautiful policy with a capacity of 10,000 people per day.

This year, advance ticket sales are already 20 percent up on the same time last year, as the box office was opened a few weeks earlier than usual. Highlights of the bill include Dr. John, who has never played Cambridge before; Ani Di Franco, who will also be making her Cambridge Folk Festival debut; plus Joan Baez, Eliza Carthy, Billy Bragg, and Juan De Marcos’ Afro-Cuban All Stars, among others.

Switzerland

This year, from July 7-22, the 34th Montreux Jazz Festival will extend the boundaries of jazz once again with an eclectic mix of music that covers many different countries and styles. There are two main locations at the festival, the Auditorium Stravinski and the Miles Davis Hall, but the festival takes over the whole town of Montreux.

More than 100 artists will be taking part in the festival and some of the highlights include Lamb, Horace Andy, Ryuchi Sakamoto, Sonic Youth, Mos Def, Blackalicious, Groove Armada, Everything But The Girl, Keziah Jones, Luka Bloom, Emiliana Torrini, Les Negresses Vertes, Reprazent, Huey Lewis, Salif Keita, Meshell Ndegeocello, Macy Gray, Al Jarreau, Angie Stone, Ute Lemper, Lou Reed, Suzanne Vega, George Benson, Diana Krall, Rollins Band, and Deep Purple.

Spain

The Spanish festival season looks in danger of barely getting off the ground this year. The season opened with Esparrago Rock Festival in April, where freak storms caused the cancellation of the second day. More disasters followed with the cancellation of Festimad and the Dr. Marten’s Ska Festival.

Festimad, the independent music festival in Madrid, was due to take place in July. In 1999, the lineup boasted Metallica and The Black Crowes, among others, but this year has been surprisingly canceled due to lack of acts and sponsorship. Add to this the cancellation of the Dr. Marten Ska festival in June because of a lack of the proper permits and it certainly hasn’t been a good start. Festival-hungry fans are hoping the season turns favorable with the three remaining festivals of the year.

Dr. Music Festival is taking place in Asturias this year July 21 and 23, and will present Lou Reed, Beck, Paul Weller, and the Pet Shop Boys, among others, as the negotiations continue for the final lineup. Tickets went on sale in May and have been slow so far, due to the incomplete lineup.

The Benicassim International Festival will take place in Valencia August 4-5 and as of late May, the confirmed artists are Oasis, Primal Scream, Elastica, and Placebo, among others.

The Sonar electronic music festival in Barcelona is scheduled for June 15-17. Sonar’s rising popularity (Sonar ‘99 had more than 42,000 spectators) and its coastal location make it one of the most attractive offers of the summer. Confirmed DJs and acts include Death in Vegas, Luke Slater, Carl Cox, Marc Almond, and David Morales, to name a few.

Taiwan

Taiwanese pop queen Chang Hui-mei is the latest casualty of tensions between Taiwan and China. Better known to her huge fanbase in East Asia as Ah Mei, the singer has garnered the wrath of Beijing authorities for singing the Taiwanese national anthem at the May 20 inauguration of President Chen Shui-bian. The Sprite soft-drink advertisements featuring the star were pulled from billboards and TV. Her videos were also pulled from Chinese television.

According to local reports in Taiwan, Ah Mei has said of the ban: “Art is art, politics is politics, don’t politicise things.” President Chen, meanwhile, has expressed disdain at China’s reaction, saying that Beijing’s act was “beyond his comprehension.” Sixteen Taiwanese legislators have sent a letter to Chinese President Jiang Zemin asking him to withdraw the ban.

Taiwanese singer Wu Bai, who also performed at the inauguration, is scheduled to perform in China this year. Whether Chinese authorities will let Bai perform on the Mainland remains to be seen.

Japan

Tickets for the Summer Sonic rock festival went on sale last month. The festival is slated for August 5-6, the weekend after the Fuji Rock Festival takes place. Promoters will be watching ticket sales for both events carefully, anxious to see whether or not the festival drought has ended. Since the early ‘90s, Japan’s continuing economic recession has all but destroyed the summer festival business.

Summer Sonic is being carried out by Creativeman Productions to celebrate its 10th anniversary. Along with Smash, the company behind Fuji Rock, Creativeman, has done much to promote newer, more independent foreign rock artists in Japan, and in fact, many of the acts scheduled to appear at Summer Sonic appeared at Fuji Rock in past years.

Unlike Fuji, which is being held entirely at the Naeba ski resort in Niigata Prefecture, about three hours north of Tokyo, Sonic Summer will be held at two venues simultaneously – the Fujikyu Highland amusement park in the Kawaguchi Lake resort area about 90 minutes west of Tokyo and the WTC Open Air Stadium in Osaka. The artists that play in one venue August 5 will travel to the other venue, where they will play the next day. Each venue will feature two stages.

Among the artists announced so far are Green Day, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Ben Folds Five, Arrested Development, the Flaming Lips, Teenage Fanclub, the Eels, the Bluetones, Grandaddy, and Weezer. Creativeman said it will continue to add more artists as the festival dates approach.

Smash, likewise, continues to announce more acts for the Fuji bash. Elliott Smith, Beast, Captain Funk, Johnny Marr, the Trojans, Perfect Circle, Rammstein, a dozen DJs, and Japanese indie acts have been added to the roster. Metallica, however, canceled the day after its participation was announced to the press.