The National have been chosen as Festival Act of the Year 2019. A record number of 13,131 votes were cast for Festileaks’ annual competition. The top 3 is complete with The Cure and Tame Impala.

The National are the sixth winner of our yearly Festival Acts Top 100 competition. Past winners are Pearl Jam (2018), Radiohead (2017), De Staat (2016), Muse (2015) and Arcade Fire (2014).

1. The National

The National outdid themselves this summer. Whether it was at Mad Cool in Spain, Sziget in Hungary, or one of the many other European festivals. For their previous album, Sleep Well Beast (2017), The National received a Grammy, and this year’s I Am Easy to Find also contains instant classics like ‘Rylan’ and the beautiful ‘Light Years’. The setlist is really more complete than ever. The band received one ecstatic review after the other, but now there is the well-deserved crown: The National are the Festival Act of the Year 2019.

2. The Cure

They played at about forty festivals this summer, including nearly all of Europe’s biggest. Glastonbury, Rock Werchter, Pinkpop, NOS Alive – the show was spot on every time. They are not the average festival headliner: without fireworks, no CO2 cannons or even real festival anthems. Still, their marathon sets of 2,5 hours blew everyone away. Active for more than forty years, and still on top of the world. The Cure are a deserved second place in the Festival Acts Top 100 of 2019.

3. Tame Impala

The expected new album did not come when planned, so we were wondering: will Tame Impala be able to surprise? Answer: yes. The setlist built on old gems, completed with the occasional new work, always did an excellent job. Massive opener ‘Let It Happen’, many many lasers, and a guest appearance by A$AP Rocky at Lowlands were the formula for success. A trip without drugs. We are already looking forward to the proper festival tour of 2020.

Festival Acts Top 100 of 2019

The National The Cure Tame Impala De Staat Balthazar Muse Thom Yorke Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes Rowwen Hèze Vampire Weekend Foals New Order Foo Fighters Mumford & Sons Fleetwood Mac Editors Janelle Monáe Tool Billie Eilish Royal Blood Underworld Franz Ferdinand IDLES Twenty One Pilots Elbow The Good, the Bad & the Queen Robyn The 1975 Fontaines D.C. Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals White Lies Tenacious D Nothing But Thieves Bon Iver Bastille Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig Parcels Within Temptation Navarone Bring Me the Horizon Armin van Buuren Florence + the Machine Slipknot Rosalía Indian Askin Heideroosjes Weezer Kraantje Pappie Oscar and the Wolf Lenny Kravitz Dropkick Murphys Kraftwerk Slayer Ed Sheeran Ry X The Raconteurs Joost Greta Van Fleet Johnny Marr YUNGBLUD Jungle Big Thief Stormzy Weval Die Antwoord Macklemore dEUS plays ‘The Ideal Crash’ Maribou State Eels Jon Hopkins Interpol Modeselektor Live P!nk MY BABY Prophets of Rage James Blake A$AP Rocky Inhaler The Chemical Brothers Tamino Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls Paul Kalkbrenner Danny Vera Slash ft. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators Bear’s Den Jorja Smith Skunk Anansie Khruangbin Krezip John Fogerty The Vaccines Lizzo Whispering Sons Christine and the Queens Richard Ashcroft The Smashing Pumpkins Sabaton The Strokes The Opposites DeWolff

Thank you for voting for the Festival Acts Top 100 of 2019. See you again next year!