Melvin Benn
On Wednesday 14th January 2015 the annual European Festival Awards will see one of the UK’s most distinguished event promoters receive the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’.
As the driving force behind Latitude and Reading & Leeds Festivals and overseas events including Electric Picnic, Benicassim, Hove and Berlin Festival, Benn’s vast experience of staging the best in entertainment events also made him instrumental in turning around the fortunes of Glastonbury Festival, as its licensee for a decade.
“If you think festivals you think Melvin Benn,” said Paul Latham, COO of Live Nation UK & Ireland. “No-one else is more synonymous with a genre of our business. He lives and breathes to deliver bigger and better for his audiences wherever they may be. Can’t think of a bad word to say about him (apart from his bloody football team!)”
In addition, Benn has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wembley Stadium since May 2011, sits as a representative on the Concert Promoters Association (CPA), was influential in re-writing the Guide to Health and Safety at Outdoor Events (‘the Pop Code’) and makes regular presentations to the Emergency Planning College, the police and other bodies.
Benn is one of only two Britons to have been honoured with this award, the other being Michael Eavis (in 2011). Other past recipients include Jan Smeets (Netherlands), Leif Skov (Denmark), Herman Schueremans (Belgium) and Marek Lieberberg (Germany).
“I’m very flattered and honoured to receive this prestigious award and join an incredible line-up of previous winners,” said Melvin Benn. “I work with the best in the business and couldn’t do what I do without a really strong team around me; my thanks go to all those individuals past and present who’ve helped to make our events what they are. I’m hugely passionate about our industry and every day continues to excite me as we push the boundaries of the festival experience and create lifelong memories for music fans and audiences.”
The European Festival Awards, presented in association with Europe and Eurosonic Noorderslag, will return in the New Year to celebrate the successes of Europe’s music festival industry. The gala award show will open Eurosonic Noorderslag in style on Wednesday 14th January 2015 at De Oosterpoort in Groningen, The Netherlands.
Throughout the evening titles spanning from ‘Best Major Festival’, ‘Artists’ Favourite Festival’, ‘Promoter Of The Year’ to ‘Anthem Of The Summer’ will be handed out to the great and good of the festival world.
Decided by a combination of public vote and industry juries, the European Festival Awards are the only pan-European body solely dedicated to recognising the contributions and achievements of the event organisers and performing artists that generate billions of Euros for local economies and brighten up the summer for tens of millions of festival-goers each year.
This year’s European Festival Awards featured over 350 festivals from 35 different countries, with over 1.2 million votes cast.
Published by FestPop Staff Writer Karli Jaenike Send Comments to: Press@FestPop.com