This past week, Billboard hosted their annual at their Live Music Summit and Awards, formerly known as the “Billboard Touring Conference and Awards.” The awards portion of the proceedings took place on November 13th at the Montage in Beverly Hills with comedian Roy Wood Jr. serving as the evening’s host.
While many of the award categories focused on mainstream pop acts and business-side achievements, one category in particular, “Top Festival,” is of particular interest to fans of live jams. This year, San Francisco’s Outside Lands Music Festival, took home the “Top Festival” honor. The event, produced by Superfly (Bonnaroo, Grandoozy) and Another Planet (Monterey International Pop Festival, Clusterfest, Life Is Beautiful), beat out two other nominees, Las Vegas’ Life Is Beautiful Festival and Lollapalooza Brazil, for the distinction.
As Superfly notes in a post about the award, “We’ll be going for a repeat August 9-11, 2019.”
Other award categories included “Breakthrough Artist,” “Top World Tour,” “Top U.S. Tour,” “Top Draw,” “Top Comedy Tour,” “Top Agency,” “Concert Marketing and Promotion,” “Top Manager,” “Top Arena,” “Top Venue (Under 10,000 Seats),” “Top Venue (Under 5,000 Seats),” “Top Club (Under 2,000 Capacity),” “Top Amphitheater,” “Top Promoters,” “Top Independent Promoter,” and “Top Boxscore.” For a full list of 2018 Billboard Live Music Award winners, head here.
In addition to the regular award categories, the 2018 Billboard Live Music Awards awarded John Mayer with their top honor, the “Legend of Live” award.
Congratulations to Outside Lands and Superfly on the “Top Festival” honors, and to the rest of the winners on their respective recognitions!