To kick off the summer, the three-day Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival took place in Southern California from April 12 through 14 with many celebrities and artists in attendance.

In past years, Grammy award artists such as Paul McCartney, Kanye West and Prince have performed. The festival has always provided a diverse line-up of artists from The Dropkick Murphys to 2 Chainz to Harwell.

This year, many old school bands like Britain’s The Stone Roses headlined the event. Coachella is straying away from the mainstream charts, featuring more rock and alternative music for the audience’s pleasure.

The band Phoenix played on Saturday, and Red Hot Chili Peppers closed out the festival on Sunday. Alex Clare, Baauer, Benny Benassi, Bassnectar, Passion Pit and The Lumineers also performed.

In total more than 150 bands performed on six separate stages. The same line-up will be featured across two consecutive weekends of April 12-14 and 19-21. Coachella is also known for its major surprises, with world renowned artists such as Madonna and Beyoncé showing up unexpectedly in previous years. R. Kelly has already made a guest appearance with Phoenix on April 13.

The International Lollapalooza festival is sold out this year and will take place Aug. 2-4 in Chicago, Ill. The festival, which has also recently taken place in Chile, will feature more mainstream artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Lana Del Rey, 2 Chainz, Mumford & Sons and Ellie Goulding.

Because of the popular lineup, the Early Bird passes sold out within hours. The official lineup had leaked 12 days before the announced date. The huge variety of artists and bands has audience members awaiting the epic festival. 80’s punk band The Cure will be headlining the festival this year.

“It’s going to be amazing,” said junior Brendan Farrell. Farrell and a few Iona friends have tickets to attend the Chicago festival this August.

Farrell cites the festival’s diversity as a major selling point.

“I get to see artists from all genres in one place,” he said.

New Jersey’s popular Bamboozle Festival will not be returning in 2013, but the state will have the Skate and Surf Festival. The two-day music festival will take place May 18 and 19.

Headlining will be the much- anticipated return of Fall Out Boy, along with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Timeflies and A Day to Remember. This two-day festival will take place in Freehold, N.J. and will feature five stages, four of which are outdoors.

For those looking to leave the United States for their music fix, the Glastonbury Festival in England is scheduled for June 26 through 30. Unfortunately, patrons will have to buy tickets for next year’s festival because the 2013 tickets sold out in October.

Other music festivals to look forward to this summer include the Electric Daisy Carnival from May 17-18 in New York and June 21-23 in Las Vegas and Bonnaroo from June 13-16 in Tennessee.