LONDON, UK (Top40 Charts/ Global Publicity) - The Best European Festivals, Artists and Organisers Unveiled. The awards were presented at a gala ceremony which took place at the Grand Theatre in Groningen, The Netherlands, as part of the Eurosonic Noorderslag Conference and Showcase Festival which featured special live performances from upcoming UK rockers Band Of Skulls and acclaimed Swedish rock singer Adiam Dymott.
The awards are the first poll of their kind, voted for by a combination of public vote and industry jury and more than 100,000 votes were cast by fans on European festival portal Virtual Festivals Europe.
And the Winners Are...
Best Major Festival: Heineken Open'er Festival (Poland)
Best Medium-Sized Festival: Dour Festival (Belgium)
Best Small Festival: Cactusfestival (Belgium)
Best New European Festival: Openfields Festival (Belgium)
Best Line-Up: Rock Werchter (Belgium)
Festival Anthem Of The Year (in association with EBU): Coldplay - "Viva la Vida"
Best Artist Newcomer (in association with Eurosonic): White Lies
Best Headline Artist: The Prodigy
The following winners were chosen by an industry jury which included prominent journalists, booking agents, managers, artists and promoters:
Green 'N' Clean Festival (in association with Yourope): O"ya Festivalen (Norway)
Artists' Favourite Festival: Rock Werchter (Belgium)
Promoter Of The Year: Herman Schueremans (Live Nation, Belgium)
Lifetime Achievement Award: Jan Smeets (Pinkpop, The Netherlands)
The European Festival Awards are a joint venture between Festival Awards Ltd. (producers of the highly successful UK Festival Awards since 2004) and Yourope (The European Festival Association) - intended to both provide an opportunity for the pan-European festival industry to unite under one roof and a platform for fans to set the continuing standard of the marketplace on a continental level.
Steve Jenner, Festival Awards Ltd. co-director, comments:
"We are delighted to affirm that the inaugural European Festival Awards has been a great accomplishment for us in terms of the volume of interest and participation generated on a pan-European level by both the public and industry, which surpassed our expectations for year one. We look forward to building on this initial success and taking it to great heights in future with our partners Yourope and Eurosonic Noorderslag."
Christof Huber, Chairman, Yourope adds:
"It's fantastic that we were able to realize the 1st edition of the European Festival Awards within a year after the launch of Virtual Festivals Europe. Eurosonic Noorderslag is the biggest gathering of European Festivals and it's perfect to celebrate the award show in Groningen with our friends. For Yourope as an association, it was just the perfect next step to represent the European Festivals."
Peter Smidt, Creative Director EuroSonic Noorderslag, comments:
"We look forward to this first edition of the European Festival Awards. As our conference is often called the festival conference this is a welcome adjustment in our line of Awards during our event. We are used to our a very cooperative and nice working relation with Yourope. Virtual Festivals / Festival Awards is the ideal partner and we are looking forward to a long and constructive partnership."
The Shortlists...
Best Major Festival
Exit Festival (Serbia)
Glastonbury Festival (UK)
Heineken Open'er Festival (Poland)
Les Vieilles Charrues (France)
Nature One (Germany)
Pinkpop (Netherlands)
Pukkelpop (Belgium)
Rock Werchter (Belgium)
Roskilde Festival (Denmark)
Sziget (Hungary)
Best Medium-Sized Festival
Bilbao BBK Live (Spain)
Coke Live Music Festival (Poland)
Couleur Cafe Festival (Belgium)
Dour Festival (Belgium)
Melt! Festival (Germany)
Paleo Festival Nyon (Switzerland)
Pinkpop Classic (Netherlands)
Spirit of Burgas (Bulgaria)
Taubertal-Festival (Germany)
T-Mobile INmusic Festival (Croatia)
Best Small Festival
Astropolis (France)
Avo Session Basel (Switzerland)
Be2gether (Lithuania)
Cactusfestival (Belgium)
Haldern Pop Festival (Germany)
Hartera Festival (Croatia)
Life Festival (Republic Of Ireland)
Mach1 Festival (Germany)
Openfields Festival (Belgium)
Zeverrock (Belgium)
Best New Festival
Openfields Festival (Belgium)
ParkLive (Bulgaria)
Sonisphere (Netherlands)
Sonisphere (Spain)
Sonisphere (UK)
Best Line-Up *
Rock Werchter (Denmark)
Glastonbury Festival (UK)
Lowlands (Netherlands)
Primavera Sound (Spain)
Pukkelpop (Belgium)
Electric Picnic (Republic of Ireland)
T in the Park (UK)
Gurtenfestival (Switzerland)
OpenAir St.Gallen (Switzerland)
Melt! Festival (Germany)
Best Newcomer (Artist) *
Fever Ray
Buraka Son Sistema
White Lies
Boniver
Ebony Bones
King Blues
Phoenix
Black Lips
Gossip
Paloma Faith
Best Headline Artist *
Blur
Bruce Springsteen
Radiohead
The Prodigy
Faith No More
NIN
Metallica
Neil Young
Fatboy Slim
Bloc Party
Anthem of the Year *
Lilly Allen - "Fuck you"
Mando Diao - "Dance with somebody"
Coldplay - "Viva la Vida"
Kings of Leon - "Use Somebody"
White Lies - "Farewell to the Underground"
Compiled by public vote except * compiled by industry jury, including: (varies between categories)
Greg Parmley - IQ Magazine, Christopher Barrett - Music Week, James Drury - Audience Magazine, John Gammon - Pollstar, Steve Jenner - Virtual Festivals, Thierry Langlois - Unit Productions, Jean Louis Brossard - Les Trans Musicales, Markus Grosse - Four Artists, Eric van Eerdenburg - Mojo, Stefan Lehmkuhl - Melt!, Robert Meijerink - Eurosonic Festival, Steve Zapp - International Talent Booking, Mike Greek - Creative Artists Agency, Peter Elliott - Primary Talent, Helter Skelter - Paul Bolton, Ivan Kush - Tour Manager Various Artists, Geoff Meall - The Agency Group, Jan Sneum, DR Music Denmark, Juhani Kansi - YLE Finland, Ben Hodijk - 3 FM The Netherlands, Laurent Marceau - EBU, Rikke Oxner - Roskilde Festival, Bernard Batzen - Azimuth
