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Top 5 Must-Go-To Bay Area Music Festivals

(credit: Bob McClenahan/BottleRock Napa Valley)

Outdoor music festivals, top talent, sunshine mixed with the San Francisco Bay Area has been making headlines with headliners for decades. It all happens once again between May through October in 2015.  San Francisco's has free concerts on 10 summer Sundays at the Stern Grove Festival in its 78th year, the Fillmore Jazz Festival over the Fourth of July weekend, big name performers at Outside Lands in August, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and more. These festivals around the Bay Area are growing in popularity year after year.

BottleRock Napa
575 3rd St.
Napa, CA 94559
(707) 253-4900
www.bottlerocknapavalley.com
Dates: May 29 through 31, 2015

In the heart of Napa Valley, this star-studded stage packs more than 70 artists into a three-day music, art, food, brew and wine festival to close out May. The third annual event is headlining Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, former Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant, Imagine Dragons, No Doubt, Snoop Dogg, Michael Franti & Spearhead, The Avett Brothers, Moonalice, Preservation Hall Jazz Band from New Orleans and many more.

(credit: Live 105.com)

Live 105's BFD
Shoreline Amphitheater
One Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
(650) 967-3000
www.live105.com/bfd
Date: June 6, 2015

This Silicon Valley summer kickoff festival attracts a capacity attendance of 20,000-plus people. Now in its 21st year, this year's main stage lineup includes Modest Mouse, Of Monsters and Men, Panic! At the Disco, Cold War Kids and Atlas Genius.

Mendocino Music Festival
45035 Main St.
Mendocino, CA 95460
(707) 937-2044
www.mendocinomusic.org
Dates: July 11 through 25, 2015

Combine a drop dead gorgeous setting at the ocean's edge with the fabulous sounds of orchestra, big band, jazz and chamber music. Add in 29 years of a deservedly top notch reputation and you can begin to describe the atmosphere of this festival. For two weeks in July, the festival fosters a wonderful sense of a community of musicians and music lovers. Orchestra rehearsals are open to the public and visiting bands are served home cooked meals. The two venues are Tent Concert Hall and Preston Hall.

(credit: Robert Birnbach/San Jose Jazz)

San Jose Jazz Summerfest
Plaza de Cesar Chavez Park
S. Market St.
San Jose, CA 95113
(408) 535-3570
www.summerfest.sanjosejazz.org
Dates: August 7 through 9, 2015

Twenty-six years ago, this event was a one-stage affair. Now the San Jose Jazz Summerfest is considered one of the nation's premier music festivals with an important strength in Latin jazz. More than 100 performances cover jazz, blues, R&B, funk, New Orleans, zydeco, hip hop, electronic and more genres. The festival offers 12 indoor and outdoor stages plus salsa dancing, outdoor film screenings, a wine and brew fest, kids and teens zones and much more over the three days.

(credit: Live 105)

Treasure Island Music Festival
Avenue of the Palms
Treasure Island
www.treasureislandfestival.com
Dates: October 17 through 18, 2015

Treasure Island Music Festival started in 2007 and it's become a fixture on the festival scene just two months after Outside Lands. Noise Pop and Another Planet Entertainment present a smaller, manageable festival that fans applaud for its bus shuttle transportation, the evenly spaced out acts without overlap, plenty of food trucks, a ferris wheel, silent disco and superb sunsets. The lineup will be announced in late spring. Hip hop and electronica happen on day one and rock and indie are on day two.

Laurie Jo Miller Farr loves walkable cities. A tourism industry professional and transplanted New Yorker by way of half-a-lifetime in London, she's writing about the best of the bay and beyond for Yahoo, USA Today, eHow, and on Examiner.com.


 

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