Country Superstars & Newcomers Alike Gather For C2C Festival 2018
The great and the good of country music, from headlining superstars to fast-rising international acts and home-grown prospects, are gathering for 2018’s sixth annual Country to Country (C2C) Festival in London, Glasgow and Dublin over this 9-11 March weekend.
Tonight (Friday) sees the ever-expanding festival kick off in London with the traditional daytime mixture around the 02 complex of free stages and special events, then a host of stars in the evening’s Arena and Spotlight Stages in the 02 Arena. During the day, there’ll be much attention on Decca’s up-and-coming Wandering Hearts as they play the BBC Radio 2 Stage this afternoon, just before their labelmates the Shires unveil their upcoming third album Accidentally On Purpose in a fan-only playback event.
Attractions on other daytime stages on Friday include Big Machine artists Danielle Bradbery and Delta Rae, who along with labelmates Midland impressed at a label media showcase event at London’s Century Club on Wednesday. Local UK talent such as Jeannine Barry and Holloway Road play the Big Entrance stage and there are three slots over Friday and Saturday for US-Israeli duo O&O. Friday night’s arena attractions in London include Old Dominion, Kelsea Ballerini and a first-ever C2C appearance as a duo by country royalty, husband and wife duo Faith Hill and Tim McGraw.
On Saturday (10), Kacey Musgraves returns to C2C to headline the Arena Stage just ahead of the release of her new Golden Hour album. Sugarland mark their return to performing and recording with C2C shows and there are notable performances by two offspring of country greats in the form of Ashley Campbell, who will play a tribute set to her late father Glen, and Lukas Nelson, son of Willie, with his band Promise Of The Real.
Sunday’s London fare is topped by Little Big Town, who create a C2C record by performing on the main bill for the third time since the festival’s 2013 inception. Emmylou Harris graces the main stage alongside Margo Price and Midland, and other visiting US country chart names visiting over the weekend include Russell Dickerson, Lindsay Ell, Walker Hayes and Ashley McBryde.
Many of the UK’s up-and-coming artists will be performing and talking about their work in one of the festival’s new features, C2C Close Up, hosted by this writer and featuring Andy Brown, Catherine McGrath and Twinnie on Saturday morning and Liv Austen, Una Healy, Katy Hurt and Jake Morrell on Sunday morning.
Explore our Kacey Musgraves Artist Page.
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