Bugg Comes Back To The Field

Jake Bugg still leads this year’s European Talent Exchange Programme but the chasing pack appears to be closing in on him.

A month ago Bugg, dubbed the “East Midlands Bob Dylan” by The Independent, had secured 10 festivals – three more than his nearest rival – but the gap’s now down to one and six acts are within three festivals of him.

Dutch bass and drum maestros Skip & Die have bagged three festivals in the last month, while Bugg has added only one to his total.

He’s now picked up 11 festivals including Rock Werchter (Belgium), Rock Am Ring (Germany), Lowlands (The Netherlands), Roskilde (Denmark), Open Air St. Gallen (Switzerland), and Benicassim (Spain), but now Skip & Die has 10 and Irish band Kodaline and the UK’s Palma Violets have nine apiece.

English electronic music duo AlunaGeorge, Danish rockers Efterklang and Irish folkies Villagers each have eight festivals.
Apart from looking like another record-breaking ETEP, with 30 more festivals booked than at the same stage last year, this year’s programme may also produce one of its closest finishes.

So far 73 acts from 18 countries have secured 219 slots total. Last year at this stage, 66 acts from 16 counties were sharing 188 shows.

Much of the euro 2.1 million grant the European Union gave it to develop ETEP has gone on the Central Eastern European Talent Exchange Programme.

If acts from Eastern Europe were struggling against their western neighbours when it came to getting the ETEP slots, CEETEP has at least given them the chance to pick up shows in their own patch.

Macedonian electro wizard Kiril Djaikovski and fellow countrymen Shutka Roma Rap have a couple of festivals each.