Features
First ETEP 2019 Results: Already 10 Confirmed Festival Slots For Fontaines D.C.
Siese Veenstra – Fontaines D.C.
Performing at Vera in Groningen during ESNS 2019
The 2019 edition of Eurosonic Noorderslag proved once again, how valuable its European Talent Exchange Program (ETEP) is for up and coming artists across the continent.
129 festivals now take part in ETEP. Each year, their promoters visit Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS) in Groningen, Holland, check out as many of the 342 acts as they can and pledge to book their favorites for the upcoming festival season.
Two months after the lates ESNS edition 51 of the 129 ETEP festivals have revealed (parts of) their lineup. Already, 143 ETEP shows have been confirmed.
With 10 confirmed shows, Irish rock band Fontaines D.C. leads the ranking of ETEP bookings. Confirmed festivals include Dour Festival, End of the Road Festival, Haldern Pop, Immergut Festival, TRNSMT, Truck Festival, Vida festival, Vieilles Charrues, Y Not Festival and Ypsigrock.
Sarah Besnard, the band’s agent at ATC Live, first saw Fontaines D.C. at Hard Working Class Heroes festival in Dublin a couple of years ago, “in a tiny bar that could hold not more than 50 people. I followed their progress for a while and when they released Boys in the Better Land / Chequeless Restleless, I was by then totally hooked.”
She told Pollstar, that “the band’s live show became stronger and stronger over the months, Grian has the ability to captivate any crowd. They are just brilliant.”
London based band Black Midi secured the second-most ETEP bookings with seven in total, followed by South London MC Flohio with six.
Clémence Renaut, Black Midi’s agent at ATC Live, told Pollstar:
“I first heard about the band in January 2018 when they were playing their first shows at the Windmill in London. The promoter Bird on the Wire told me about them and showed me a short live video filmed with a mobile that was circulating.
“And when I first saw them play, I was like everybody else, standing there, completely mesmerized. They’re such good musicians, so young and yet so mature!
“Their music just doesn’t sound like anything else. It is so subtle and powerful at the same time, that it has this strange catharsis effect on you, and it surely explains why you want to see them again and again. Not to mention that there’s not much out yet, and on vinyl only, which adds to the mystery!”
Knelis – Flohio
Performing at the Platformtheater in Groningen, Holland, during ESNS 2019
Aiming to promote European music across the world, ETEP supports the booking of emerging European talent at festivals in 37 countries. Alongside working closely together with these festivals, ETEP also actively cooperates with 16 export offices and the European Broadcasting Union, which results in a lot of airplay for ETEP artists.
The following festivals have confirmed the most ETEP 2019 shows so far: The Great Escape (20 ETEP acts), by:larm (7 ETEP acts), Les Nuits Botanique (7 ETEP acts), MENT Ljubljana (6 ETEP acts), Best Kept Secret (5 ETEP acts) and Lollapalooza Berlin (5 ETEP acts).
“ETEP selection results are always a surprise – No one can predict the ten most booked acts. I am really pleased to see how ETEP is helping the circulation of European artists in the live sector already so early in the year. The first results also prove that festivals across the world are interested in putting on a wide variety of different styles/genres by European artists on their events,” said Robert Meijerink head of programme & program manager EU talent at ESNS.
Bart Heemskerk – Black Midi
Performing at Vera during Eurosonic Noorderslag 2019 in Groningen, Holland
The current top 10 of ETEP bookings:
1. Fontaines D.C. (IE) – 10 shows
2. Black Midi (UK) – 7 shows
3. Flohio (UK) – 6 shows
4. Pip Blom (NL) – 5 shows
5. The Murder Capital (IE) – 4 shows
6. Iris Gold (DK) – 4 shows
7. Yegor Zabelov (BY) – 3 shows
8. Whispering Sons (BE) – 3 shows
9. Lewsberg (NL ) – 3 shows
10. Whenyoung (IE) – 3 shows