Worldwide
Christian music festivals now exist throughout the world. The Greenbelt Festival, founded in 1974 in the United Kingdom, was at one time one of the largest recurring Christian event in the world. Germany is host to several festivals; two of the most notable are Freakstock and Christmas Rock Night. In greater Europe notable festivals include Flevo and EO-Youth Day in the Netherlands, Seaside Festival in Norway, the Big Boss' Festival in Switzerland, the Song of Songs Festival in Poland, and Frizon Festival in Sweden.
A sanctioned Christian festival was held in 1989 in Tallinn, Soviet Estonia. The festival featured performances by American artists such as Sheila Walsh, Bruce Carroll, Paul Smith, and Scott Wesley Brown, and had an attendance of 15,000. This was reported to be the first such festival. In 1992, after the Fall of the Iron Curtain, a Christian music festival was held in St. Petersburg, Russia. Dubbed as a "Christian arts festival", the event included acts to appeal to all ages from a variety of styles, largely representing greater Europe and North America. Bands represented included No Longer Music (Holland), Bloodgood (USA), Double Edge (Canada), and Graham Kendrick. The event also included orchestras from the UK and Russia, and Russian headliner Boris Grebenshchikov. The shows, which were organized by Youth With A Mission, sold out 10,000 tickets well in advance.
New Zealand hosts the Southern Hemisphere's largest Christian festival, the annual Parachute Music Festival. It attracts nearly 30,000 a year, including a large number of non-Christians. It is one of New Zealands largest music festivals and is sponsored and covered by most mainstream television and radio networks in the country.
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