(CNN) -- It doesn't matter that they can be feverishly hot. Or that crowds make for long food lines or the tickets may be hard to come by.



Bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding performed at this year's New Orleans Jazz Fest.



Music festivals worldwide attract thousands of fans wanting to hear their favorite artists live or discover under-the-radar musicians.



Each major festival has its own special twist, specific to the event and city that hosts it.



From the notorious mud baths at Glastonbury, England, to the breath-taking mountains surrounding Fuji Rock in Naeba, Japan, these are events that festival-goers wait for all year.  Experience the New Orleans Jazz Fest »



Our guide prepares music fans worldwide for the best festivals this summer and later in the year.



GLASTONBURY, Somerset, England June 24-28 ($255)



Glastonbury has been around since dairy farmer Michael Eavis first held a free two-day festival on his farm in 1970, and it's long been the festival in England for seeing the biggest and best bands in the world. It also may be the muddiest -- heavy rain in several years, most notably 1997, turned Glastonbury into a muddy bog. Everyone from Radiohead to Jay-Z has headlined the festival, and with more than 700 acts each year, there is something for everybody. Some of the proceeds from the festival go to Oxfam and Greenpeace. This year's headliners include Franz Ferdinand, Blur, and Bruce Springsteen.



ROCK AL PARQUE, Bogota, Colombia June 27-29 (free)



The Rock al Parque festival, launched in 1995, has become South America's biggest rockfest in recent years -- some 320,000 people traveled to Simon Bolivar Park in 2006 for a weekend of Colombia's top rock bands and renowned international headliners. Funded by Colombia's culture secretary, the free festival has included some of rock's biggest names, including Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Manu Chao, and Bloc Party. In the days leading up to Rock al Parque, the festival organizers host a series of panel discussions on music production, management, and the recording industry.



ROSKILDE, Denmark July 2-5 ($220)



Since 1971, the rock festival in Roskilde has hosted the top names in music, from Bob Marley to Bob Dylan. It is the biggest summer festival in northern Europe, and the "Arena" stage boasts a 17,000-capacity tent, the largest in Europe. The festival has a daily newspaper and a 24-hour live radio station and is also home to the annual "Naked Run," where the first naked person to cross the finish line receives a free ticket for next year's festival. Some 80,000 will travel to Roskilde to see headliners including Coldplay, Oasis and Nine Inch Nails.



EXIT, Novi Sad, Serbia July 9-12 ($105)



Created in 2000 by three university students as a protest against former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, the electro-focused festival in the heart of Serbia was named Europe's best festival in 2007 by fans voting in the UK Festival Awards. Over 200,000 people attended Exit last year, dancing at all-night raves in the gorgeous surroundings of Petrovaradin Fortress, an 18th-century castle near the Danube River. Some of techno's biggest names will be on hand to celebrate Exit's 10-year anniversary, including Moby, Kraftwerk, and The Prodigy.



THISDAY, Abuja/Lagos, Nigeria Dates tba



The THISDAY festival in Nigeria -- launched in 2006 by the editor-in-chief of Thisday newspaper, Nduka Obaigbena, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the end of slavery -- is the biggest music and fashion festival in Africa. According to Obaigbena, the festival is meant to highlight the positive progress being made in Africa, and find sustainable solutions for the continent's problems. The theme of last year's festival was "Africa Rising," and it showcased some of the world's best-known artists including Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Usher. Stay tuned for this year's lineup.



FUJI ROCK, Naeba, Japan July 24-26 ($410)
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