These days, festivals come in all shapes and sizes. Whether it's the world's largest fest (that would be Kumbh Mela in India) or a neighborhood block party just beyond your front door, the global festival phenomenon has spawned a million ways and reasons for people to come together and celebrate. The spirit of community at festivals also extends to roving, mobile party palaces known as festival buses, which are fixtures on the scene and offer a party within the already party-like festivals they attend.

Below are some of our favorite festival buses making their marks on the festival scene.

Further

We've got to tip our hats to the festival bus that started it all: Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters' Further juggernaut. Kesey purchased the 1939 school bus for $1,250 for his gang of counterculture heroes and named it "Further," as inspiration to keep pressing on each time the psychedelically painted clunker broke down. Their intent was to drive cross-country (Further was driven by beat icon Neal Cassady), use a ton of psychedelic drugs, lead the counter-cultural revolution, and film everything along the way. Dozens of participants rotated in and out of the first road voyage in 1964, including Ken Babbs, Lee Quarnstrom, and Kesey's siblings. They threw LSD parties with novelists Robert Stone and Jack Kerouac, Timothy Leary and Allen Ginsberg. Their wild antics, partying and adventures inspired the first acid tests with the Grateful Dead, and Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. The bus attended Woodstock, and the Smithsonian Institute sought to acquire the bus, but Kesey refused.

The footage recorded on the trip was finally gathered into the documentary Magic Trip, released in 2011. Kesey and the Pranksters, fueled by Further, created a community around fearlessness and railing against what they dubbed "The Establishment" and liberate people from their stifled, vanilla existences and change the world.

Robot Heart

Photo by Jonandesign/Flickr

Renowned first for its commanding presence at Burning Man and now for a continued legacy at its very own fledgling festival, Further Future, the Robot Heart bus boasts 85,000 watts of crystalline sonic power and espouses a doctrine of inclusion, giving, environmental responsibility and mutual respect. Anchored in New York, Detroit, San Francisco, Hong Kong and the playa, Robot Heart's tricked-out sound system is now iconic on the festival scene for the way its tastemaking beats bring an entire community of people from all over the world together through music.

Interstellar Transmissions

The interior of the bus. Photo courtesy of Interstellar Transmissions

A group of riff-playing, cosmically-minded nomads inhabit the bus known as Interstellar Transmissions. The bus, purchased from a church in 2005, travels from city to city (though its home base is in Austin, TX), is a psychedelic, mobile venue that invites anyone and everyone who's down to experience something completely different through exotic rock fusion melodies and dynamic, primal rhythms provided by the bus's band. There is also a fully interactive light show that is controlled by the instruments the band members play. Hop on, rock out, then hop off a more enlightened person – that's what Interstellar Transmissions is all about. This bus exemplifies the kind of spontaneous energy you can only find in a festival setting.

BlackBird Bus

Photo courtesy of BlackBird Squadron

Currently rolling across the US on its Renegade Magic Tour, this sonic powerhouse is a jet-black school bus laden with a precision-built 30,000 watt sound system blowing eardrums with its bombastic performances. The Blackbird is a real life transformer, sporting panels that slide in and attach to a monolithic roll cage; what was once a road raging school bus transforms into an all-out, hi-fidelity concert stage.

Walter

Photo by Mr. Anathema Photography/Flickr CC

Walter began life as a 1963 rescue vehicle at an airport in Arizona. He has since been reborn as the world's largest VW; among many of his impressive specs, Walter weighs in at 19,500 lbs, and holds an impressive 10,000-plus LED lights, a VIP room, and a 330-gallon water tank for his onboard misting system. Walter attended his first Burning Man in 2009, and he's brought the party every year since. Be sure to give him a shoutout on the playa this year!

High Sierra Music Festival's Bus on a Bus

Honorable Mention: The Infamous Stretch VW Bus

This beautiful franken-bus was just fully tricked out months ago – it has only 1600 miles on the odometer and you can see the entire world through its 33 windows – and it is ready for epic adventures. Wouldn't you kill to arrive at a festival in this thing (it fits 12 people)?

We know there are so many other iconic festival buses out there. Please post your favorite in the comments!