Seattle-Area Music Festivals

Seattle is home to a slew of annual festivals, covering a range of topics from music to comedy to film to art and more. The best music festivals bring in top-notch performers in a great setting and offer other draws like food, crafts and more.

The biggest party of them all is the annual Bumbershoot festival, taking place over Labor Day weekend. While music is the centerpiece, there are also comedy acts and spoken word artists. Headliners are international stars, and it all takes place under the famous Space Needle.

Taking place on the streets of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood is the annual Capitol Hill Block Party. Bars and restaurants in the area offer specials, and the streetscape is a fun urban twist on a music festival.

And though it’s a bit outside of Seattle, city-dwellers flock to The Gorge, an enormous, stunning natural amphitheater in eastern Washington’s high desert country. Each year, several concerts take place here, as it’s one of the country’s best outdoor music venues. The annual Sasquatch Music Festival involves tons of people camping out for days, listening to top performers.