Glastonbury Cooler Than ‘The Simpsons’

There was no festival this year and therefore no chance of the event picking up one of the U.K. Festivals Awards, but Michael Eavis may draw some compensation from the news that Glastonbury is cooler than “The Simpsons.”

This information comes courtesy of a “Cultural Cool Brand” survey commissioned by The Sunday Times, which had the world famous festival second to the Tate Modern gallery, but still ahead of the dysfunctional cartoon family from Springfield and modern landmarks like the Design Museum and London Eye.

“A cool brand needs to live in its customers’ lives, it needs to be for, and by, its particular consumers,” was how Reiner Evers from consumer monitor Trendwatching.com explained cool to Sunday Times readers.

Cynics might question the survey’s authenticity and point out that the only two publications to appear in The Top 100 Cool Brands were The Sunday Times and its daily sister paper.

After resting the site for 2006, next year’s Glastonbury is set to be its biggest year yet, with a proposed 20,000-capacity increase and some huge names being lined up, including Kylie Minogue and The Killers. It’s scheduled for June 22-24.

Although the event itself didn’t get one of the Virtual Festival gongs handed out at London’s Islington Academy October 19th, festival organizer Melvin Benn was recognized for his outstanding contribution to festivals.

The Mean Fiddler exec, who runs Reading and Leeds acts as a consultant for Glastonbury and this year launched the company’s new Latitude Festival in Suffolk, attracted thousands of votes for the impact he’s made on the U.K. outdoor market.

During three weeks of polling at virtual-festivals.com, more than 1 million votes were cast as people registered their opinions on what they like most about the British festival season.

Scotland’s T In The Park was voted best major festival, with other awards going to Monsters Of Rock (best one-day festival), End Of The Road (best new festival), Guilfest (best family festival), Isle Of Skye (best fan-friendly festival), Beautiful Days (best grassroots festival), Sunrise Summer Solstice Celebration (Shelter Award for most socially responsible festival), The Summer Sundae Weekender (best small festival) and Bestival (best medium-to-large festival).

Salisbury’s 4,000-capacity Larmer Tree Festival took the wonderfully named “Portaloo Sunset Award” for having the best toilets.

– John Gammon