Wide Awake wins The Festival Award at the Rolling Stone UK Awards 2024 and calls for independent sector support: ‘If you have the power you need to be there’
The celebrated South London one-dayer has emerged triumphant
By Nick Reilly
Wide Awake Festival has won The Festival Award at the Rolling Stone UK Awards, after a hugely successful year for the South London one day event.
The festival, which recently announced Kneecap, CMAT and English Teacher for its 2025 edition, beat the likes of 2000trees, Download Festival and End Of The Road to pick up the gong.
Accepting the award, Wide Awake booker Keith Miller said: “Being an independent festival is pretty weird these days and the way that the music industry works it’s pretty hard to survive. We need to change that, I’ve seen two people come through Moth Club here tonight, Jamie Demetriou and Confidence Man. But we need these small places to build into something. We’ve built a 25,000 capacity all dayer and we need that to keep happening and to be allowed. If you have the power you need to be there.”
The second Rolling Stone UK Awards kicked off earlier tonight with a performance from Leeds band English Teacher, who stunned attendees with a powerful rendition of ‘You Blister My Paint’ taken from their Mercury Prize-winning debut This Could Be Texas. This was followed by JADE’s stunning, stripped back rendition of ‘Angel of My Dreams’.
You can check back here for all the latest coverage of the Rolling Stone UK Awards throughout the evening.