European Festival Awards 2017 Winners Announced

European Festival Awards 2017
– European Festival Awards 2017
Tamino stole the show

The 9th European Festival Awards went down Wednesday night, Jan. 17, in Groningen, Netherlands. Pollstar was on site in the city’s Oosterpoort, to record the winners.

Naaz, a singer from the Netherlands, whose song „Catch Me“ with Yellow Claw & Flux Pavilion previously opened EDC Las Vegas, opened the EFAs with two songs. The mic was then handed to hosts Gordon Masson of IQ Magazine and Glastonbury’s Ben Challis, who started by picking some highlights from last year’s festival season.

15 award categories were handed out, including a new one, the Take A Stand Award, named after an initiative launched by Europe’s festival association Yourope, a campaign encouraging social cohesion in a divided world.

First up was the Best New Festival award, which went to Wacken Winter Nights from Germany. It was followed by the Green Operation Award, which honors festivals with a particularly clean and sustainable track record, and went to Slovakia’s Pohoda Festival. Its CEO Michal Kascak told the audience of fellow promoters: “We have stolen a lot of ideas from you. And now are welcome to come to our festival and take everything you want.”

Hungary’s Sziget won Line-up of the Year, which must feel particularly good after the festivals legendary booker Dan Panaitescu passed away in 2016, the man who really shaped the event in the past year.

The Slovenian showcase festival MENT Ljubljana, which is going to celebrate its fourth edition in February, took home two awards, for Best Indoor Festival and Best Small Festival. Pollstar spoke to one of the festival‘s founders, Matjaz Mancek, at the first edition of the East European Music Conference.

European Festival Awards 2017
– European Festival Awards 2017
ATC Live

Rag N Bone Man was crowned Newcomer of the Year, but wasn’t present to accept the award in person. ATC Live’s MD Alex Bruford was named Agent of the Year, a „well-deserved“ win, according to presenter Christof Huber. Promoter of the Year went to Goodlive Berlin, the new company name for a conglomerate of events and ticketing companies, which includes Lollapalooza Berlin, Melt! and Splash! – festivals, tj were formerly united under Hörstmann Unternehmensgruppe, which won in the same category in 2015.

The audience then joined together in a moment of silence for the many artists and industry professionals who passed away last year. And if that wasn’t enough to silence the room, the following performance by Belgian artist Tamino definitely was.

The Miele Powerwash at Dutch festival Lowlands won the Brand Activation Award. Miele erected a giant washing machine that allowed festival goers to get clean while dancing.

The Health and Safety Innovation award went to Roskilde Festival and Paléo Festival for their respecitve hostile vehicle mitigation systems.

European Festival Awards 2017
– European Festival Awards 2017
Fruzsina Szép accepting the award for Excellence and Passion

The Award for Excellence and Passion went to Fruzsina Szép, head of Lollapalooza Berlin, who had tears in her eyes when she said: „When I look at all of those names [of fellow nominees], all of them should be standing here,“ and then, addressing the audience: „I would not stand here, if I hadn’t learned from you all (…) I love you guys.“

European Festival Awards 2017
– European Festival Awards 2017
Paléo founder Daniel Rossellat

The final award of the night honored the Lifetime Achievement of Daniel Rossellat, founder of iconic Swiss festival Paléo. The award had been announced earlier, and when it was, Pollstar asked the man a couple of questions.

Rossellat shared the award with his colleagues, the 5,000 volunteers that work on the event each year and the visitors that have been coming to the event since its foundation 43 years ago. He also emphasized that did not plan on retiring for at least another 10 years. Alma from Finnland gave the final live performance of the night, before a toast was raised: to Yourope, which turned 20 this year.