T in the Park named top international festival

SCOTLAND’S biggest music festival, T in the Park, has been named one of the world’s top events at a major awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

• T in the Park named international festival of the year by LA awards ceremony

• TITP voted ahead of festivals in Australia, Spain, Sweden, Belgium and England

The Balado extravaganza, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this summer, was crowned “international festival of the year” at the Pollstar Awards.

Readers of the live music industry website voted the event ahead of festivals in Australia, Spain, Sweden, Belgium & the V Festivals in England.

Among the other winners at the event, held in Los Angeles’ Club Nokia, were the famous Madison Square Gardens arena and the Hollywood Bowl, as well as Pink Floyd star Roger Waters.

T in the Park, which was won a string of UK festival awards in recent years, is set to unveil its full 20th anniversary line-up next week.

Already confirmed are headliners Mumford & Sons, Rihanna and The Killers, as well as Emeli Sande, The Script, Two Door Cinema Club, alt-J, Paloma Faith, Jake Bugg, Of Monsters & Men, and Azealia Banks.

Festival director Geoff Ellis said: “We were over the moon to have been nominated for such a prestigious award, so to win is amazing.

“This award is testament to the entire team who work tirelessly year-round on T in the Park.

“We’ve grown from a small festival for 17,000 people to 85,000 music fans a day.

“We’re really proud of what we have created - as well as bringing some of the biggest names worldwide to Scotland, we work hard to enhance the overall fan experience year on year.”

The next batch of T in the Park tickets go on sale on 22 February, with a sell-out expected to be reported well in advance of this year’s festival, which will run from

George Kyle, head of sponsorship at T in the Park sponsors Tennent’s Lager, said: “As founding partner of the festival, we are exceptionally proud to have put the T in T in the Park since 1994.

“We are delighted to hear that T in the Park has won international festival of the year at the Pollstar Awards – it’s a great honour for the festival and the perfect start to the 20th year celebrations.”

DF Concerts, promoters of T in the Park since its inception, last month unveiled plans for a major new festival to be held over several days in Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park in August.