This year Prague seems to be catching on to the global trend of pulling summer rock festivals out of the backwoods mud and replanting them in manicured city parks. Last month there was Music in the Park and Blues v lese; this month it's Love Planet, staged in Prague's grand Stromovka Park, which may be the most ambitious urban rock festival yet.

Taking cues from world-class festivals like London's Wireless (Hyde Park) and Chicago's Lollapalooza (Grant Park), Love Planet will deliver two nights of continuous big-name acts on two stages, combined with an all-night rave at nearby Křižíkuv Pavilion. Love Planet's plans for handicapped access and quality food kiosks suggest that roughing it at rock festivals may be a thing of the past.

Headlining Friday night will be Ministry, those notorious masters of industrial rock; art-punk rockers Franz Ferninand; and the extravagant electro-pop wizards Pet Shop Boys, whose recent stage shows include architecturally designed stagecraft that seeks to compete with the likes of Pink Floyd.

Over the past two years, the Pet Shop Boys have played venues ranging from London's Trafalgar Square to Moscow's Red Square. And they're refining their sound, getting help with arrangements from former Yes member and Frankie Goes to Hollywood producer Trevor Horn. After decades of dance floor-tested hits, the Pet Shop Boys seem to be returning to their earlier influences, such as New Order. It may take all of Ministry's rumored special guests from Primus, Prong and Nine Inch Nails to match the Boys' gravity on Friday.

Such fun speculations aside, after a stunning Friday night rock show, the action will move to a rave. Spinning techno in the dance zone will be an array of transcontinental DJs including Argentina's Hernan Cattaneo, Japan's Satoshi Tomiie and the UK's Dave Seaman.

With that segment ending at 7 a.m., hardy festival-goers have a good nine hours to stretch and rest up for a Saturday of musical contrasts. Australia's didgeridoo-driven techno band Loonaloop, formerly known as the trance unit Tribal Drift, will be followed by the straight-out-of-South-L.A. nu-metal band Body Count, fronted by rap's most crucial pioneer, Ice-T. After Body Count, the Finnish alt-metal unit known as Rasmus will polish and thrash the air. Then Belgium's Hooverphonic and IamX, the newly founded U.K. Sneaker Pimps spinoff, will close the night with denser yet no less danceable electronic rock visions.

Among this year's surprises is the neo-punk group Art Brut, a band that has no pretensions about its music. "It is far easier to understand 'My little brother just discovered rock 'n' roll' than it is to work out what some songs are about," Art Brut frontman Eddie Argos told The Prague Post over the phone from his London home. Though he insists that his group "is not an angry punk band," he characterizes his band's refreshingly naive approach to lyrics by adding, "Some [rock] songs are really complicated and really aren't about anything. ... Our songs have a point."

The universally dramatic and joyful story lines of Art Brut's lyrics combine with a punk intensity reminiscent of Jonathan Richman or The Ramones. It's a style that Argos admits is similar to Franz Ferninand, who will also be at the festival. Art Brut is known to draw a crowd with a good sense of humor, and the band's gig at Abaton earlier this year still has people in Prague talking. As Argos says, "A load of people showed up and it was mad fun."

Along with all the shining international headliners and emerging wonders, Love Planet will showcase regional acts like J.A.R., Gaia Messiah, Priessnitz, Vypsaná Fixa, Nierika and Polemic. The Czech groups selected for the festival have been to known to match some of the better thrash, ska, agit-rock and neo-grunge that the planet has to offer.