ESNS 2017 Shaping Up

As usual, the major, medium and small festival scene will be tackled in dedicated panels featuring Rock in Rio’s Ricardo Acto, Lollapalooza’s Fruzsina Szép, Wacken’s Thomas Jensen and many others.

Joining Pollstar UK’s Brij Gosai onstage for the presentation of Pollstar’s year-end figures are FKP Scorpio’s Stephan Thanscheidt, Mojo’s Kim Bloem, Stephanie Thomas of French venue associations Fedelima/Live DMA and IQ Magazine’s Allan McGowan. Traditionally, both the European Festival Awards and the European Boarder Breakers Awards are presented on ESNS’s opening night.

Eurosonic Noorderslag is Europe’s longest-standing showcase festival. More than 350 acts are to play the university town’s countless venues at night. Portugal, which is this year’s partner country, will field 21 acts.

Creative director Peter Smidt commented: “We feel not everyone is aware of the fact that the Portuguese music sector has a lot to offer to Europe and the world. They do not only have a large number of interesting new acts, but Portugal is also a country with an incredibly huge amount of festivals that offer great opportunities.”

Acts playing the festival are automatically eligible for the European Talent Exchange Program, a collaboration of 100 of Europe’s main festivals, the radio stations united under the European Broadcasting Union and international press partners.

Artists selected for the program are not only guaranteed festivals gigs, but also far-reaching media exposure.