IRISH MUSIC events triumphed at the European Festival Awards on Wednesday night with the Electric Picnic, Oxegen and the new Temple House Festival all winning awards.
The Electric Picnic in Stradbally, Co Laois, was voted best medium-sized European festival while Oxegen in Punchestown took the prize for the best European festival line-up.
Oxegen was also shortlisted for best major festival award while the Electric Picnic was shortlisted for the artists’ favourite festival award. One of the latest additions to the festival calendar – the Temple House Festival in Co Sligo – was named best new festival. The boutique music and arts festival, which was held on Temple House estate near Ballymote for the first time last September, had an eclectic line-up of music with more than 80 acts over three days.
Roderick Perceval of Temple House said the organisers were “absolutely thrilled”.
“It’s fantastic that everyone’s hard work has been recognised by festivalgoers.” The awards are decided by a combination of public vote and industry juries. More than 350,000 votes were cast by fans to decide the winners. All festivals are weighted by their attendance, to give smaller events a fair chance against ones that are much larger.
Conor O’Brien’s Villagers and Co Down’s Two Door Cinema Club were among the artists shortlisted for best newcomer act of the year, which was won by Florence and the Machine. The winners were announced on the opening night of Eurosonic Noorderslag in Groningen, the Netherlands.
FESTIVAL WINNERS
Best Major European Festival: Heineken Open'er – Poland
Best Medium-Sized European Festival:Electric Picnic – Ireland
Best New European Festival:Temple House Festival – Ireland
Best Indoor Festival: Rolling Stone Weekender – Germany
Best European Festival Line-Up: Oxegen – Ireland
