Very, very good list and analysis. Given how thoroughly you've lain out your case, any critics who merely respond with outraged rhetorical questions like "How could you put [X festival] there?" are contributing nothing. To these people, I challenge you to refute Chris's analysis with an analysis of your own.

However, this list isn't really a list of the best festivals, musically speaking. You've baked in two bits of methodology that really make it Chris Glushko's Favorite Festivals, According To The Following Rules. The list is personalized to the point that I don't think it's the universal, clear-headed analysis it would be otherwise. (The old, crucial difference between "this is my favorite" and "this is the best."

1) For reasons that are unclear, you've chosen to ignore the set from each festival that many fans would consider the *best music of the event*

2) You say "replay value," but don't seem to acknowledge that replay value is affected by bad playing. A horrendously played "Drowned" has Low Replay Value, rather than being data that is not counted, which seems to be how you've dealt with it.

I'd love to see you go through the "Extra" sets and create a definitive list! I know I have no idea how I'd rank Tower, Storage, Ambient and Drive-In (Disco at least is last), and they largely blur together in my memory.

Again, great work.