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Also, music celebrations of any type in this country – outdoor discos at fiestas, nightclubs, festivals and concerts – are frequently patronised by revellers of every age. Nobody bats an eyelid at children born in the 80s, 70s, 60s or even the 40s and 50s hitting the dancefloor, indoors or out.
And if you're too mature to bother roughing it under canvas, Spain is not short of hotels. Practically every town and village has at least one, including those which hold music festivals, so you can be right in the heart of the action without worrying about sleeping on lilos or guy-ropes going slack in the night.
Best of all, many of Spain's biggest music festivals – and lesser-known ones – take place on or right next to a beach, so if they're held in summer, you can cool off in the sea after getting sweaty strutting your stuff to the beats.
Some are themed, with specific musical styles, and others are more eclectic – Dénia, Ondara and Jávea hold summer jazz festivals, and Cullera's Rototom Sunsplash is a mix of reggae and ska, for example.
Whilst many include at least one highly-international act, sometimes a blast from the past making a musical comeback, most will feature a line-up of bands and solo artists you've never heard of. But don't let that put you off – they wouldn't make it onto the stage unless they were exceptionally good, and many of them do the rounds of festivals and also live concerts at summer fiestas across the country.
Here's a guide to some of the biggest, although there are always plenty of small ones throughout the year that may be more local to you, and cheaper.
The ones you can still catch this year
Most major festivals start in early spring – around mid- to late March – and continue until about the end of September, so there are still plenty left on the calendar you can head for this summer.
One of the best-known in and out of Spain is the Arenal Sound (second picture, from the festival website) in Burriana (Castellón province) – it starts in two days (July 30), carries on until August 4, and despite its proximity in time and popularity, tickets are still on sale – starting from €50 for a day pass.
Always a diverse mix, with pop, rock, electro and lots more, this year's Arenal Sound acts include the nationally well-known rockers Vetusta Morla (fourth picture, by ALSA coach company) along with Oliver Heldens, Martín Garrix, C. Tangana, Karol G., and Iván Ferreiro.
Fans of club music, dance, electronic beats, and all the stuff you get in Ibiza will love Dreambeach in Villaricos, Almería – right on the shores, as the name suggests – which runs from August 7-11. Hugely-famous and with a cult following in Spain, DJ Steve Aoki is one of the main acts, along with Armin van Buuren, Don Diablo and Paul Kalkbrenner, and urban or street-style music comes in the capable hands of Dellafuente and Bad Gyal.
Far from the nearest beach but with lots of hotels with swimming pools nearby, the next three are in some of the most picturesque parts of the country and a good excuse for some off-the-beaten-track sightseeing. Sonorama (third picture, from the festival website) runs from August 7-11 in Aranda del Duero in the province of Burgos, a major wine region in the centre-northern community of Castilla y León, and a short drive from Burgos city, whose stunning, ornate and spectacular cathedral will ruin all your future experiences of the world's places of worship: for the rest of your life, you'll be comparing cathedrals in every country you visit to that of Burgos, and these will never measure up.
Festival Gigante is exactly what it says on the tin, and gives you a great opportunity to explore one of Spain's most beautiful, but most-overlooked provinces, Guadalajara. You may be too late to catch the Lavender Festival here, but its buildings and countryside are breathtaking, and the festival from August 29-31 is another great chance to catch Zahara, nationally-famous rockers La Habitación Roja ('The Red Room'), radio chart regular Rozalén, and the prolific Sidecars, along with Rayden, Second, We Are Scientists and Shinova. All this at the Fuente de la Niña stadium in Guadalajara city.
Last of the year is Weekend City Madrid, at the massive IFEMA trade fair centre where the gigantic international FITUR tourism exhibition is held at the beginning of every year. Close to the metro, you can get from the IFEMA to the city centre in 20 minutes and spend your non-partying hours visiting the 'big three' art museums, the El Prado, Thyssen-Bornemizsa and Reina Sofía, the elaborate and mesmerising Royal Palace, and shopping until your purse runs dry off the Puerta del Sol and on the C/ Colón. Meanwhile, some of Spain's largest chart-toppers are among the line-up between September 20-21, including Mala Rodríguez and Macaco, plus other soft-rock/hard-pop bands and artists such as the festival and fiesta regulars Los Zigarros, Fyahwboy, Nach and Miguel Campello.
Globally-famous 1980s' electro-pop band New Order will get the World in Motion, or Spain's capital at least, on day one as the curtain act.
For next year's diary
The northern coastal region of Asturias, native stamping ground of the Royal family, is emerald-green, rural and very central-European looking with its rolling hills and wooden chalets, grazing sheep and cows, dramatic shoreline, Celtic culture and pretty, quaint architecture – it will blow all your pre-conceived ideas about 'typical Spain' right out of the water. This year in the pretty town of Avilés, Rock in Town brought a star-studded line-up including Nat Simons, Nikki Hill, Ana Popovic, Tarque, Burning and The Soul Jacket, and is held normally over March 22-24.
Benicàssim (Castellón province) rarely enjoys beach weather in early spring, but is still usually sunny and pleasant, meaning the Easter SanSan Festival is a brilliant way to spend the long holiday weekend – this year's acts included Love of Lesbian, boy band Miss Caffeina, C. Tangana, Fuel Fandango and Xoel López.
Another overlooked inland province is that of Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha, just west of the coastal province of Alicante, and Viña Rock in Villarrobledo, normally a three-day event right at the start of May is ideally placed for exploring. Big names performing this year included Soziedad Alkoholika, Boikot, Rozalén and Ska-P.
By early May the weather in Murcia is starting to warm up and is very balmy and springlike, so you might be in luck and get to go for a dip in its trademark inland sea, the Mar Menor, if you head for the Warm Up Estrella Levante festival. Next year's is on May 1-2 and tickets are due to go on sale shortly, although as yet the artists taking part are not known. Oasis' Noel Gallagher, Two Door Cinema Club and Teenage Fanclub performed this year, along with Eurovision star Amaia, La Casa Azul and the ever-present Vetusta Morla and Zahara.
Vetusta Morla, Amaia and the Two Door Cinema Club were also at Mallorca Live this year along with mid-90s' Britpop household name Jamiroquai – next year's, in Palma, is on May 15 and 16.
Back in Madrid, the Tomavistas festival in the Enrique Tierno Galván Park was on May 24-25 this year, although dates have not been released for 2020. A wide mix of rock, electro and pop were brought to this open-air two-day party by Beach House, Cass McCombs, Friendly Fires, Digitalism and other lesser-known, up-and-coming and highly-promising acts.
Almost as famous as Glastonbury, Primavera Sound in Barcelona featured Cardi B, James Blake and Spain's top artist-of-the-moment, flamenco-hip hop soloist Rosalía. An international affair that also takes place in Los Angeles, Porto and Benidorm, the largest is in Barcelona and tickets are already on sale for the next one, from June 4-6, 2020.
Later in the year are Rock the Coast in Fuengirola (Málaga province) in mid-June, which featured Europe and Scorpions in 2019, Azkena in the heart of the Basque Country in Vitoria in the third week in June, with the B-52s among this year's acts, A Summer Story in Arganda del Rey, an easy-to-reach commuter town to the east of Madrid in the third week in June, whose programme included DJ Nano and DJ Carl Cox for 2019, and Download in Madrid over the last three days of June with big names such as DJ Slipknot and Scorpions.
The ones you've just missed
At least you have a full year to plan and to make sure you get tickets at launch prices. Heading north, the green and scenic region of Galicia, often compared with Scotland or Ireland, hosts the Resurrection Fest in early July in Viveiro (Lugo province), normally with at least one international act (DJ Slipknot was on the schedule for 2019).
At the other end of the mainland, in Torre del Mar on the Costa del Sol, Weekend Beach Festival once again presented Vetusta Morla, Ska-P and chart-topping easy-listening singer Luz.
In the second week of July, you missed Rosalía, The Cure and The Smashing Pumpkins at Mad Cool in Madrid's IFEMA centre, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Strokes, The Prodigy and Primal Scream at Doctor Music Festival in the Pyrénées of Lleida province, Catalunya and The Strokes and Rosalía at Bilbao BBK Live.
Back in Benicàssim, the FIB needs little introduction – the last seven International Festivals have been run by Brit Melvin Benn, who is also behind Glastonbury and other huge UK events. Franz Ferdinand, The Kings of Leon and Fatboy Slim were some of the global artists on the main stage.
Barcelona's Sónar festival is one of the more avant-garde on the calendar, and certainly the most creative - you missed it by just 10 days, and would have caught up-and-coming names such as A$AP Rocky, Disclosure DJ Set, Paul Kalkbrenner and Underworld on the stage.
Hitting the beach on the Costa Blanca capital, Benidorm, the Low Festival (first picture, from the festival website) – so-called because of its low-price tickets – is one of the most eagerly-awaited on Spain's Mediterranean coast (especially as it includes a pool-side stage, so you can swim and dance at the same time), and the last of its three days of top tunes ends today – although a small handful of end-of-line reduced-cost tickets are still out there in cyberspace if you're nearby and have nothing planned for tonight. You missed New Order last night, but today from 20.30 until nearly 05.00 tomorrow morning you can still catch The Vaccines, Fangoria, Vetusta Morla and La Casa Azul, in that order.
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