Queen's Park Spring Weekender

Glasgow, Scotland
May 4 - May 5

A joint endeavour from long-standing promoter Melting Pot and hometown heroes Optimo, Queen's Park Spring Weekender is a welcome addition to the Glasgow festival circuit. Taking place in a big-top tent, the two-day affair will continue its winning formula of pairing dance floor heavyweights (The Blessed Madonna, Todd Terje, Joy Orbison) with local favourites (Billy Woods, Ribeka) in 2024. The summer starts here.

RA Pick: The chance to see punk-funk innovators ESG doesn't come around too often.

Nuits Sonores

Lyon, France
May 7 - May 12

A festival that truly integrates its programme with its host city, Nuits Sonores offers many hidden gems. Beyond sets from some of clubland's most innovative names, the Lyon gathering presents a wide range of free events, plus conferences, debates and a broadcast journalism workshop hosted by Resident Advisor as part of Nuits Sonores Lab. The lineup is action packed, with this year's edition featuring the likes of Karenn, HiTech, Deena Abdelwahed, Marina Herlop and Vietnamese band Rắn Cạp Đuôi. Les Grandes Locos, a daytime site with four stages, will also debut this year. There's a lot to explore at Nuits Sonores, so come ready to move.

RA Pick: VTSS back-to-back Evian Christ will send the dance floor into a high-speed trance.

Horst Arts & Music

Brussels, Belgium
May 9 - May 11

After last year's Horst Arts & Music, we praised the Brussels festival for the way it marries cutting-edge electronic music with striking production. The 2024 edition should push this partnership further still, as the team returns to ASIAT Park, an industrial-yet-overgrown former military base, to celebrate the festival's tenth anniversary. Ravers from across Belgium, mainland Europe and beyond will descend on Brussels for three days of serious dancing. Featuring a broad mix of artists, as well as local stage hosts like Kiosk Radio, the lineup this year includes Juliana Huxtable & JASSS, Skream & Benga, Solid Blake, Lefto Early Bird and Octo Octa, who will play a drum & bass set. RA will return to host the Vesshcell stage, where we'll welcome sets from Two Shell, Zakia, C.FRIM and many more.

RA Pick: Don't miss Aurora Halal and DJ Nobu delivering a masterclass in spectral and hypnotic techno.

Wire Festival

New York, United States
May 16 - May 19

From May 16th through 19th, New York cultural venue Knockdown Center, including its subterranean layer BASEMENT, will become a fully fledged electronic music playground. House and techno is Wire Festival's bread and butter, and the third edition will welcome Berlin collective Mala Junta and Amsterdam's Vault Sessions, as well as a host of beloved local DJs like Devoye, Sterling Juan Diaz and The Carry Nation to the multi-room warehouse. Thursday and Friday will begin with a TBA discourse programme in collaboration with RA, so come early and stay late.

RA Pick: UK techno luminary Surgeon brings his live show to New York.

Lentekabinet

Amsterdam, Netherlands
May 18

Lentekabinet, Dekmantel's sister festival, takes place against a backdrop of grass polders, peat rivers and the vast meadows of Het Twiske. There's multiple musical worlds to fall into at this year's 11th edition: Reece basslines and '90s trance galore at Job Jobse's Strangelove stage; deep percussive techno from Deena Abdelwahed, DJ Plead and Azu Tiwaline; and classy, melodic house with Shanti Celeste, Hunee and Charmaine. Stage design and visual art is equally fundamental to the Lentekabinet experience. In collaboration with Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond, a host of Flemish and international artists will present installations across the site.

RA Pick: Volition Immanent, AKA Parrish Smith and Mark Knekelhuis, keeps the punk in dance music.

The Air House

Gangwon, South Korea
May 24 - May 26

South Korea's ppali ppali culture—which translates to "fast, fast" and is often used to encourage someone to hurry—is one of the country's defining characteristics. The Air House provides a welcome respite from this bustling pace—when asked to describe the festival in three words, the founders chose "respect, love, environment." Since debuting in 2018, the three-day event has grown into a 10,000-strong, twice-yearly gathering predominantly attended by locals. The 2024 edition will feature sets from regulars such as DJ Sin, Aphrodite and Xanexx, as well as international guests like fabric's Craig Richards, Berghain resident Efdemin and rising Belgian DJ Emily Jeanne.

RA Pick: Expect techno with a brooding, psychedelic touch from Rebolledo.

Baum Festival

Bogotá, Colombia
May 24 - May 25

Baum, Colombia's premier electronic music festival, returns to the concrete expanse of Bogotá convention centre Corferias. Running from Friday afternoon through Sunday morning, the event offers ample opportunity to experience Colombian DJs such as Funk Tribu, Nosssia and j-roux alongside the likes of Jeff Mills, Seth Troxler and Sama' Abdulhadi. RA's latest cover stars, the Berlin label Live From Earth, will also make an appearance. This is a lineup full of acts who approach techno from unique angles.

RA Pick: When DJ Gigola performs, the full scope of her colourful, high-energy selections come out to play.

GALA

London, United Kingdom
May 24 - May 26

Since launching in 2016, GALA has become a key fixture in London's festival calendar. The strength of the three-day event stems from the reliability of its programming, which brings together a genre-traversing collection of trusted party-starters–think Job Jobse, Novelist, CARISTA, Peach and John Gómez–across the bank holiday weekend. Aside from that, slick production and a dedication to working cooperatively with the local community has ensured GALA continues to thrive amid the capital's bulging festival offerings.

RA Pick: Interplanetary Criminal's bouncy UK garage is made for big festival moments.

Movement

Detroit, United States
May 25 - May 27

As the birthplace of techno, ghettotech and more, Detroit is a musical Mecca—and Movement is one of the best ways to experience the city's rich electronic lineage. Easily North America's most important dance music festival, the 24-year-old gathering is an annual pilgrimage for heads and the technocurious. The official festival and the many off-site parties are renowned for genre-spanning sets (Detroiters are famous for ultra-fast mixing) and serious dance battles (Detroit's style is the Jit, distinct from Chicago's footwork). World-class music aside, Movement has some of the friendliest crowds you'll ever encounter–testament to the American Midwest charm–and is truly an experience in community.

RA Pick: Juan Atkins and Moritz Von Oswald, two of techno's most lauded game changers, performing as Borderland.

Lighthouse Festival

Lanterna, Croatia
May 29 - June 2

Over the past decade, Lighthouse has delivered more than 20 festivals around the world. The team's flagship is Lighthouse Croatia, on the Lanterna peninsula down the coast from Novigrad. Lighthouse's tagline is "electronic music on vacation" and for good reason: the location, the sun and the sparkling sea make for a festival that combines the musical experience with a beach holiday. This year's edition includes a crew of dance music's most in-demand artists, such as Bashkka, Sedef Adasï, S-candalo, Job Jobse, Marlon Hoffstadt and JakoJako. And a unique added bonus? You can take all your own drinks into the festival site.

RA Pick: Regularfantasy's bright, bubbly selections should be a perfect fit for the surroundings.

Find our full festival listings for May here