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Country 2 Country 2020 Lineup – My View

During the London Country Music Week, Country 2 Country traditionally presented the lineup for the festival. Every year, fans pray for Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton and maybe Dierks Bentley supported by all the other big names. To make the story short: they have to pray another year – and maybe even some more years. The festival is just too cheap – and even if the acts likely do not cash in at their best during the London, Glasgow and Dublin weekend, you still have to pay them. Since last year, the European country music community is having a look what the lineups for Berlin and Amsterdam will look alike. Here is my analysis.

 

Country 2 Country (London / Glasgow / Dublin) – The Lineup

I am focussing on the London schedule, Glasgow and Dublin will be permutations of those. The festival will be opened in the O2 Arena by an Introducing Nashville round of Abby Anderson, Eric Paslay and Tenille Townes. Berlin did the same last year and I felt it was a great way to start the the German debut. Other main acts will be Charles Esten and the Cadillac Three, before Eric Church will finish off the night.

Saturday will more or less have two headliners for me: Darius Rucker is the nominal top act of the day, but Old Dominion are a big act as well. Runaway June are back in London, this time on the main stage.

The “classic country” slot on Sunday will be taken by Tanya Tucker. Jordan Davis will open the main stage, while it reads as if Brett Young be the one to heat up the arena for Luke Combs.

 

Country 2 Country – My Artist Analysis

As written above, I feel if you look at realistic economic constraints, the lineup is very good. It will be harder and harder to get the megastars on European stages. My brief thoughts on each artist in alphabetic order:

  • Abby Anderson: Great spirit. She is a great on-stage artist, liked her in London on the minor stages as well as in Nashville. Will be interesting to see how she handles the big stage, especially in the round.
  • Eric Church: Nominally, likely the biggest nomination. I never saw him on stage (so I am really looking forward to that…), he will travel with a bunch of top hits to Europe.

  • Luke Combs: To me, likely the best pick. He dominated the country music charts and broke multiple records this year. He will blow the roof off The O2, I am sure!

  • Jordan Davis: He recently supported Old Dominion on their European tour, now he is back on the big stage People love him, they will appreciate what he does on stage.
  • Charles Esten: Likely one of the most popular Nashville (TV series) stars. I am not that much into his music, but people will like it.
  • Old Dominion: I am maybe not the greatest fan of their music – but they are of course a strong nomination. Many Europeans enjoyed their recent tour.
  • Eris Paslay: Great guy! Feel a bit sad “just” to have him in the round. His show in Aschaffenburg I visited this year was awesome!
  • Darius Rucker: Wow! I just read great reviews about his shows. He will definitely be a great act. His Wagon Wheel has over 200 million views on YoutTube only. Cool nomination!

  • Runaway June: I like these girls, though I was not absolutely happy with their debut album. Surprising to me – it always feels a bit too early to me if acts receive main stage status after one long-player…
  • The Cadillac Three: They did not have too many really great hits, but they rock. To me, the biggest surprise of all nominations. But I could imagine that they are great in cheering up the people.
  • Tenille Townes: Another Canadian act. She had a country charts topper in Canada in 2018 and his last singles were quite successful there. Quite experienced in the business, though – so she might match nicely in the round.
  • Tanya Tucker: her 2019 album is so good, she is so powerful… It will be a blast – I am that sure!
  • Brett Young: In case you didn’t know… What a song! What a debut album! But his 2019 Ticket to L.A. was not that good in my point of view. On the other hand, I saw a couple of his live performances and liked them.

Overall, a nice nomination. However, I would have loved to see an European act (which likely means: a British one) on stage. The Shires or maybe Twinnie? The Wandering Hearts? The organizers should dare to support their locals in big scale (maybe in the round?)!

 

C2C in Berlin and Amsterdam

What about Berlin and Amsterdam? They are majorly fed by the same country music feed – here is Berlin:

Yes, the Germans will miss Eric Church, Old Dominion and Tanya Tucker (which I feel is big loss), but therefore you get a more intimate venue (with practically no seating…), cheaper ticket prices and likely also cheaper hotel and accommodation. While last year, Berlin and Amsterdam were surprising additions, this time Berlin seems to be a strong option. Lindsay Ell is at least not doing the major stages in the UK and Ireland. Also being on the non-Brexit side of European life may be another argument to more and more go for the Verti Music Hall instead of The O2. Currently, the side events in London are maybe too strong, but C2C Germany is growing rapidly. It might not be realistic to move to the larger arena next door soon (and they would compete with hockey playoffs likely), but the Mercedes Benz-named big oval is definitely a threat for the phone company-branded one in London.

Amsterdam lists the same names, just condensed to two days. The Dutch capital is maybe not the best place to find a cheap hotel, but is also a very popular tourist destination and well connected to Europe. The AFAS Live was seated in 2019 and could give additional comfort.

 

C2C 2020 – The Dates

Here is the overview of dates of the C2C Festivals 2020. I will try to report from Berlin with full Flyctory.com service and give some insights (non-press, just attendant) from London:

from to City / Venue
Fr 06.03.2020 Su 08.03.2020 Berlin, Verti Music Hall
Sa 07.03.2020 Su 08.03.2020 Amsterdam, AFAS Live
Fr 13.03.2020 Su 15.03.2020 London, The O2
Fr 13.03.2020 Su 15.03.2020 Glasgow, SSE Hydro
Fr 13.03.2020 Su 15.03.2020 Dublin, 3Arena

There is also a C2C in Australia, which I do not handle in this posting. C2C Logos and program graphics are copyrighted by the organizers

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