SonneMondSterne

SMS, as everyone calls it, began in 1997 with about 2,500 people on the shore of the Bleilochtalsperre, a long reservoir in Thuringia. It had reached about 35,000 by 2011 and listings put it around 40,000 now. It runs over the second weekend of August in most years. There are two main stages and four club tents, a party boat, bars and restaurants, a supermarket, and camping included in the ticket, with a choice of quiet or loud fields. The numbering is a small piece of nerdery: since 2007 the festival names use an X for the Roman ten, so that year's was SMS.X1. Past headliners run from Seeed to deadmau5, Fatboy Slim, Calvin Harris and The Chemical Brothers, which gives you the scale and the range. It is an event for people who like their dance music large and their weekends wet. House fans will find what they want in the club tents rather than on the main stage. No 2027 dates have appeared on the festival's own site that we could find.