Sizzle Time

It’s summer—which means its summer festival season! To help you sort through SoCal’s ridiculous array of traveling tours, fabulous festivals and musical marvels, we’ve distilled everything down for you here.

VANS WARPED TOUR

What’s Up With This: America’s finest traveling punk circus returns with a vengeance, pulling out the stops to appease the surf-skate-snow crowd. They’ve got no Katy Perry pop acts this year, but more of the punk, metalcore, alt-rap and hardcore acts the fans have come to love as well as a half-pipe for skaters selected by local shops.

Mark Your Calendar: June 22.

Location, Location, Location: Pomona Fairplex, 1101 W. McKinley Ave., Pomona, (909) 623-3111.

Who’s Playing: Yellowcard, Rise Against, All Time Low, Streetlight Manifesto, New Found Glory, Taking Back Sunday and Mayday Parade.

Info: vanswarpedtour.com.

HARD SUMMER

What’s Up With This: L.A.’s best and safest dance festival returns to downtown with four stages, electronic artists at the height of their game and the return of the 2am curfew. Housed at a historic 32-acre park near several metro stops, HARD is an 18+ party with special drinking areas and four stages for your dubstepping delight.

Mark Your Calendar: Aug. 3-4.

Location, Location, Location: Los Angeles State Historic Park, 1245 N. Spring St., downtown Los Angeles, (323) 441-8819.

Who’s Playing: Skrillex, Chromeo, Boys Noize, Bloc Party, Miike Snow and Nero.

Info: www.hardfest.com.

THE HOOTENANNY

What’s Up With This: A crazy hoedown with some of the wildest acts in rockabilly, punk, and alt-rock that has a little bit of everything. While the main event will be honoring 20 years of Rancid, there’s plenty of excitement to go around. The event promises a car show with over 300 vehicles, Miss Hootenanny and an all out battle of the bands. This isn’t your grandma’s barnyard bash.

Mark Your Calendar: July 7.

Location, Location, Location: Oak Canyon Ranch, 4700 Santiago Canyon Rd., Silverado Canyon, (714) 740-2000.

Who’s Playing: Rancid, Lucero, 3 Bad Jacks and festival regulars The Reverend Horton Heat and Supersuckers.

Info: www.thehootenanny.com.

KCRW’S WORLD FESTIVAL

What’s Up With This: Now in its 14th season, the Hollywood Bowl is breaking out its indie cred and letting its hipster side show. While Glen Campbell is returning for his last L.A. show, acts like Wilco and Animal Collective are providing a new kind of night the Bowl hasn’t seen in awhile.

Mark Your Calendar: June 24, July 1, 8, 15, Sept. 9, 23, 30.

Location, Location, Location: Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 850-2000.

Who’s Playing: Glen Campbell, apl.de.ap, Ben Harper, Maxi Priest, Animal Collective, Ziggy Marley and Wilco.

Info: www.kcrw.com/events/world-music-festival-2012.

KJAZZ BLUES BASH

What’s Up With This: The last bastion for blues fans on the radio, Cal State Long Beach is bringing the music back to the stage with its Blues Bash. This festival features free concerts and a street fair during the day, but only the ticket holders will fill the performing arts center at night for the main event.

Mark Your Calendar: September 3.

Location, Location, Location: Carpenter Performing Arts Center, California State University Long Beach, 6200 Atherton St., Long Beach, (562) 985-7000.

Who’s Playing: James Cotton (w/Robbie Krieger), Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials, Sugaray, Ana Popovic and Shawn Pittman.

Info: www.longbeachbluesfestival.org.

LA RISING

What’s Up With This: Rage Against the Machine is back, and while it’s not exactly a proper hometown show it’s a damn good way to empty your aspirin. Headlining the Coliseum, the festival is shaking things up this year, branching out to acts like Ms. Lauryn Hill and El Gran Silencio. But the question still stands: “Are you gonna do what they told ya?”

Mark Your Calendar: July 30.

Location, Location, Location: L.A. Memorial Coliseum, 3911 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, (213) 741-1338.

Who’s Playing: Rage Against the Machine, Muse, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Rise Against, Immortal Technique and El Gran Silencio.

Info: www.lacoliseumlive.com/joomla.

MAKE MUSIC PASADENA

What’s Up With This: Downtown Pasadena brings something new to Old Town with this free, all-day, all-ages music festival. New acts, veteran acts, local performers and out-of-towners make for a diverse line-up, while having an Indie Rock Stage presented by titans of the net Google provides the irony.

Mark Your Calendar: June 16.

Location, Location, Location: Sixteen different stages located throughout Pasadena.

Who’s Playing: Grouplove, Grimes, honeyhoney, Cults, Dengue Fever, Soko, Electric Guest, Dam Funk, Gustavo Galindo, Ozma and many more.

Info: www.makemusicpasadena.org/program.html.

REGGAE ’PON THE MOUNTAIN

What’s Up With This: Billed as L.A.’s No. 1 homegrown reggae festival, ’Pon the Mountain enters its third year as one of the most exciting things to ever happen to the city of Topanga. Don Carlos headlines the event with proceeds benefiting the Topanga Community Club.

Mark Your Calendar: June 30.

Location, Location, Location: Topanga Community Club, 1440 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., (310) 633-3033.

Who’s Playing: Don Carlos, Quinto Soul, Arise Roots, Bodhi Rock and Riddi-Q-Lites.

Info: reggaeponthemountain.com.

ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK MAYHEM FESTIVAL

What’s Up With This: Because California isn’t crazy enough, Rockstar is providing us with an event the kicks up the mayhem. Slipknot headlines this event that creates enough chaos to last until the next political scandal (Missing you already, Arnold). Let’s hope San Bernardino survives the night intact.

Mark Your Calendar: June 30.

Location, Location, Location: San Manuel Amphitheater, 2575 Glen Helen Pkwy., San Bernardino, (909) 880-6500.

Who’s Playing: Slipknot, Slayer, Motörhead, Anthrax, The Devil Wears Prada, White Chapel, and As I Lay Dying

Info: rockstarmayhemfest.com.

THE SUNSET STRIP MUSIC FESTIVAL

What’s Up With This: Bummed about Sunset Junction being cancelled? Hey, you’ve still got this five years running, this three-night fest going on. This event pays tribute to the musical heritage of Hollywood’s Sunset Strip and kicks off with a night honoring Mötley Crüe’s contributions to music (and sex tapes). The party concludes Saturday with an outdoor party right on the Strip. Performers have yet to be announced, but festival alums include Ozzy, Slash and Fox News target Common.

Mark Your Calendar: Aug. 16-18.

Location, Location, Location: Sunset Strip between San Vicente and Doheny (Friday night in the clubs, Saturday on the outside stage), Los Angles, (310) 659-7368.

Who’s Playing: TBA.

Info: www.sunsetstripmusicfestival.com.