When: Nov. 3-5
Where: Reykjavik, IL

With its music conference and evening showcase hybrid model, Iceland Airwaves might seem like the Scandinavian South By Southwest on the surface. But there’s a palpable push to explore the city and surrounding areas while you’re visiting Reykjavik.

There’s a healthy blend of Icelandic artists to discover while also seeing surging indie names from around the world like London’s poetic Arlo Parks, Pakistani singer Arooj Aftab, the Turkish psych-funk of Altin Gün, and Australia’s shock-punks Amyl & The Sniffers. The main Iceland Airwaves Center is the festival’s heartbeat, but shows are spread out in Reykjavik’s unique concert venues like the Reykjavik Art Museum, Fríkirkjan (a church), or mid-sized halls like Gamla Bio.

When: Nov. 3-6
Where: Torino, Italy

Now in its 20th year, C2C Festival was born as an homage to Torino’s turn-of-the-millennium club culture. The Northern Italian city plays host to two primary venues for the fest in 2022: the sweeping two-stage Lingotto Center and OGR Torino, an expansive 19th-century industrial complex that was once used for repairing trains.

What unifies the music at C2C is that they all live in the avant-garde realm. 2022 features Jamie xx’s crate-digging electronica, Arca’s visceral performance art, Makaya McCraven’s future jazz, Pa Salieu’s afro drill, Nala Sinephro’s ambient jazz, Caribou’s full-band IDM, Bicep’s dancefloor breaks, and more. Coming out of the pandemic, C2C wants to further an ethos of movement and the body and mind’s propensity to dance, hear, learn and enlighten. The pieces are certainly in place.

When: Nov. 5-6
Where: São Paulo, Brazil

For over 20 years, Primavera Sound has been putting on one of the best, expertly curated festivals in the world at their flagship Barcelona location. A decade ago saw Primavera expanding into Portugal and along with this past September’s Los Angeles fest, three new editions in South America are debuting in 2022.

Primavera Sound São Paulo is yet another example of Prima’s incomparable curation. Arctic Monkeys and Bjork headline, while tropicalia Queen Gal Costa gets her flowers on Saturday. Then on Sunday, Travis Scott and Lorde take the front seat at the expansive distrito Anhembi footprint. There’s also five days worth of Primavera night shows in the city focused heavily on Brazilian acts,

Meanwhile, similar lineups will grace the stage at the inaugural Buenos Aires and Santiago editions the following week.

When: Nov. 5
Where: San Diego, CA

2022 will mark the third annual Dia De Los Deftones music festival and the Sacramento alt-metal band’s booking history for this fest shows that they know how to find both established and ascending talent about to blow up. Case in point: Doja Cat played the fest as an undercard in 2018 and Megan Thee Stallion played in 2019.

“We take a ton of pride in curating it,” Deftones singer Chino Moreno said in a statement. Each year, Deftones have put together a blend of rock, hip-hop, punk, and more and this year’s lineup features Freddie Gibbs, Turnstile, and Phantogram joining Deftones atop the bill. But don’t overlook the acts below the top line like Korean-American rapper and R&B songstress Audrey Nuna and NorCal punks Destroy Boys. It all goes down at Gallagher Square at Petco Park, a park within the park in the heart of SD’s bustling Downtown.

When: Nov. 9-13
Where: London, England

Pitchfork London is as much a showcase for the artists on the bill, as it is for the diverse array of fourteen venues in London that it takes place in. Think unique spaces like Village Underground, which is built around the insides of old subway trains and a turn-of-the-century industrial warehouse. There’s also the converted Hackney Church and famed electronic music hotspot Fabric.

Put on by the influential music criticism site, the fest has a sleek crop of indie artists from top to bottom. Courtney Barnett and Faye Webster are among the most recognizable, along with risers and cult faves like afro jazz collective Kokoko, Chicago post-punks Dehd, ambient producer William Basinski, and Norwegian avant-pop singer Jenny Hval.

This year will also mark the first edition of Pitchfork’s Berlin festival from November 4 – 6th.

When: Nov. 10-13
Where: Utrecht, Netherlands

There are artist curated-festivals and then there’s the full-on approach that Le Guess Who? employs. A number of different “projects” are curated by acts from different cultural pockets of music from around the world and it makes for an experience unlike any other. 2022 features full showcases curated by Daveed Diggs’ Clipping project, as well as other left-of-center electronica leaning picks from Ugandan uptempo electronic label Nyege Nyege, Hyperdub Records producer Batu, and DJ Fitz, who has introduced the Le Guess Who? audience to new, eclectic sounds for each of the fest’s fifteen years.

Historic Utrecht is the fourth largest city in the Netherlands and dozens of its venues form the grounds for four days of music from over 150 acts at Le Guess Who? Tickets are also relatively reasonably priced, at 158 euros for access to four days of shows.

When: Nov. 11-13
Where: Austin, TX

Highlighted by a 15,000-square-foot main room on a seven-acre plot of land, The Concourse Project is the scene for Austin’s new wave of electronic music parties. Now also home to promoter RealMusic’s Seismic Dance Event, three stages pop up over the 3-day weekend rave that tabs itself as, “A boutique music festival curated specifically for house, techno & underground music enthusiasts.”

Almost 5,000 people will descend upon The Concourse in 2022 for acts like Fatboy Slim and Jamie xx, to the deep house thump of DJs like Shiba San, LP Giobbi, and Dixon. Seismic is an indoor/outdoor function, which also features a slate of local DJs. But it’s the top-notch soundsystem and furiously flashing lights shining every which way in a venue that’s on the gritty edge of the Austin airport’s south terminal that give Seismic that quintessential underground vibe.

When: Nov. 18-20
Where: Mexico City, Mexico

Since it first began in 2010, Corona Capital has become like Mexico’s version of Coachella. The most notable rock and pop music fest in the country, it goes down 10 minutes from the city center at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez; a massive motorsports racing complex. And 2022 looks like yet another year of close to 200,000 people relishing in an insane lineup of stars.

My Chemical Romance, Miley Cyrus, and Arctic Monkeys lead the charge on the 3-day lineup. But there are a ton of other acts on the bill that could easily be headlining a festival around the world themselves: Paramore, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Lil Nas X, and The 1975, plus a #rare appearance from Oasis’ Liam Gallagher and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.

Corona Capital has grown so much over the years, that it has also expanded to the Corona Capital Guadalajara festival in the state of Jalisco every May.