C2C 2025 Saturday
Whilst I was very pleased with my Charli XCX inspired effort for day 1 and #fashionfriday the Saturday morning return to the O2 brought the opportunity to recycle one of my favourite t-shirts which graced the German event the previous weekend and fortunately the London community appreciated me honouring Sabrina Carpenter much more.
The night bus home from Friday nights after party resulted in a morning journey on the struggle bus to return to C2C: Country to Country for the second day of the festival. Most elements of my life are a complete trainwreck at the best of times so bad decisions come as no surprise but fortunately spending some time chatting with Zach John King really helped me get into the zone for the day and assisted me getting through my hangover. Zach was the first of 4 interviews I did on Saturday where Graham Barham, Callie Twisselman and the absolutely adorable Abby Anderson (much more about this sweet little thing from Texas later on) also had the kindness to keep me company, whilst Ian came to join me after running the line at his daughter's football match in the morning where he spent time speaking with Maya Lane and Cory Marks.
Cory was one of five Canadian artists to perform at the festival and around all of our interviews, the early part of my day revolved around seeing three of them back-to-back-to-back including two of the festival's most unique acts. Jake Vaadeland and The Sturgeon River Boys brought their own radio programme all the way from Saskatchewan to the Bobbi Pryor hosted BBC Radio 2 stage. There are three facets to what makes these guys so wonderful to see live, firstly how unique their live show is where they effectively recreate a radio broadcast on stage, secondly it is high calibre bluegrass music played so clean and perfectly and finally it is such a fun, polished machine. We were instantly hooked on what they do at last years The Long Road festival and have done our best to spread the gospel and I think after this event we won't be the only ones to be doing so.
Next, we travelled east to Canada's smallest province of PEI or Prince Edward Island to give it the full title and London got to welcome one of the best friends we have as a site. I met Alli Walker in Berlin last year and whilst she may still be the "catfish girl" or the "bagpipe girl" in Nashville, she is not just one of the coolest people that I get to call a friend but her mix of what she calls "Bra Country" with rock elements and some really powerful songwriting is so enticing. Oh, and then she brings out her dudelsack! Bagpipes and country music is a combination which you will not see very often but when she started playing her new single "Ride It Out" which only dropped on Friday, not only was the CountryLine in the Town Square full quicker than I have ever seen it but that room was literally bouncing and the floor was shaking. Like in Germany, the word will spread and all of her stages will be rammed for her sets on the final day then she is already confirmed to be returning in summer to play Country Calling in Chelmsford.
Meghan Patrick took the anchor leg for Team Canada where alongside her guitarist Nick, brought a slither of the sunshine that we experienced in Berlin as the golden orb in the sky came out to play as she mixed up her set to keep me on our toes and pulled a harmonica out of her bra to kick off the sixth time that we got to catch from her over the last week. That sounds excessive but paraphrasing something that Maggie Antone said during our interview, country music will be at its best when good people who make good music are thriving and it's about damn time for MFP to have her chance to shine.
Before heading into the arena, after one of the most joyous interviews that I can remember, the sweetest and most wholesome girl from the great state of Texas; Abby Anderson sat behind her keyboard and showcased why she is not just a beautiful human being but such a special talent as both a songwriter and a vocalist. The way her warmth on stage transcends into a room is unrivalled, her ability to make an audience feel so safe is divine and after talking to her, she seems in the best possible place to be putting out new music and we are very excited to ride along with all that is coming through the rest of 2025.
The night bus home from Friday nights after party resulted in a morning journey on the struggle bus to return to C2C: Country to Country for the second day of the festival. Most elements of my life are a complete trainwreck at the best of times so bad decisions come as no surprise but fortunately spending some time chatting with Zach John King really helped me get into the zone for the day and assisted me getting through my hangover. Zach was the first of 4 interviews I did on Saturday where Graham Barham, Callie Twisselman and the absolutely adorable Abby Anderson (much more about this sweet little thing from Texas later on) also had the kindness to keep me company, whilst Ian came to join me after running the line at his daughter's football match in the morning where he spent time speaking with Maya Lane and Cory Marks.
Cory was one of five Canadian artists to perform at the festival and around all of our interviews, the early part of my day revolved around seeing three of them back-to-back-to-back including two of the festival's most unique acts. Jake Vaadeland and The Sturgeon River Boys brought their own radio programme all the way from Saskatchewan to the Bobbi Pryor hosted BBC Radio 2 stage. There are three facets to what makes these guys so wonderful to see live, firstly how unique their live show is where they effectively recreate a radio broadcast on stage, secondly it is high calibre bluegrass music played so clean and perfectly and finally it is such a fun, polished machine. We were instantly hooked on what they do at last years The Long Road festival and have done our best to spread the gospel and I think after this event we won't be the only ones to be doing so.
Next, we travelled east to Canada's smallest province of PEI or Prince Edward Island to give it the full title and London got to welcome one of the best friends we have as a site. I met Alli Walker in Berlin last year and whilst she may still be the "catfish girl" or the "bagpipe girl" in Nashville, she is not just one of the coolest people that I get to call a friend but her mix of what she calls "Bra Country" with rock elements and some really powerful songwriting is so enticing. Oh, and then she brings out her dudelsack! Bagpipes and country music is a combination which you will not see very often but when she started playing her new single "Ride It Out" which only dropped on Friday, not only was the CountryLine in the Town Square full quicker than I have ever seen it but that room was literally bouncing and the floor was shaking. Like in Germany, the word will spread and all of her stages will be rammed for her sets on the final day then she is already confirmed to be returning in summer to play Country Calling in Chelmsford.
Meghan Patrick took the anchor leg for Team Canada where alongside her guitarist Nick, brought a slither of the sunshine that we experienced in Berlin as the golden orb in the sky came out to play as she mixed up her set to keep me on our toes and pulled a harmonica out of her bra to kick off the sixth time that we got to catch from her over the last week. That sounds excessive but paraphrasing something that Maggie Antone said during our interview, country music will be at its best when good people who make good music are thriving and it's about damn time for MFP to have her chance to shine.
Before heading into the arena, after one of the most joyous interviews that I can remember, the sweetest and most wholesome girl from the great state of Texas; Abby Anderson sat behind her keyboard and showcased why she is not just a beautiful human being but such a special talent as both a songwriter and a vocalist. The way her warmth on stage transcends into a room is unrivalled, her ability to make an audience feel so safe is divine and after talking to her, she seems in the best possible place to be putting out new music and we are very excited to ride along with all that is coming through the rest of 2025.
Credit: Anthony Mooney
Saturday night in the arena was the one which both Ian and I were most excited about, I think Dierks Bentley is not just one of my favourite people to ever see live and has a plethora of absolute BANGERS but anyone you speak to in Nashville, they talk about how he is the man. He is a killer songwriter who has put out ten studio albums with multiple number one hits that puts on an amazing show but the number of times you hear about how Dierks Bentley is not just a wonderful advocate for the entire country music community but how well he treats the people around him.
He is one of the most naturally born showmen in country music and he has the best of the best that Nashville has to offer joining him on stage. I think this is the best headline set I have seen at the festival since its inception, it was filled with wall-to-wall bangers covering 10 albums, perfectly placed covers and a well-deserved encore
Prior to Dierks being back on a stage in London for the first time in nine years, it was a complete all killer' no filler night where in addition to a long overdue return from Tyler Hubbard for a rowdy 50-minute set full of bangers including the realms of his days in Florida Georgia Line which the crowd really took to, we had 2 long awaited London debuts.
If we are being picky, Niko Moon had technically already played a show in London at my LEAST favourite venue in town, but that was a Sir Rosevelt show. He sadly fell victim to the C2C that never happened due to the dreaded C word so to finally have him over to bring a Good Time and take us down to the lake was so uplifting. Both on recordings and on stage, he is so positive and the full-on up-tempo set was far too short, which I guess is the downside to having 5 performances on the stage rather than 4, but I think it won't be long before the demand is there for him to take us to the water once more for shows of his own over here.
Lastly but by no means least, Chayce Beckham blew us away in Berlin where it was our first opportunity to hear songs from his stunning 2024 "Bad for Me" record and we have been looking forward to seeing him in London ever since he was victorious in American Idol and he certainly did not disappoint.
He is one of the most naturally born showmen in country music and he has the best of the best that Nashville has to offer joining him on stage. I think this is the best headline set I have seen at the festival since its inception, it was filled with wall-to-wall bangers covering 10 albums, perfectly placed covers and a well-deserved encore
Prior to Dierks being back on a stage in London for the first time in nine years, it was a complete all killer' no filler night where in addition to a long overdue return from Tyler Hubbard for a rowdy 50-minute set full of bangers including the realms of his days in Florida Georgia Line which the crowd really took to, we had 2 long awaited London debuts.
If we are being picky, Niko Moon had technically already played a show in London at my LEAST favourite venue in town, but that was a Sir Rosevelt show. He sadly fell victim to the C2C that never happened due to the dreaded C word so to finally have him over to bring a Good Time and take us down to the lake was so uplifting. Both on recordings and on stage, he is so positive and the full-on up-tempo set was far too short, which I guess is the downside to having 5 performances on the stage rather than 4, but I think it won't be long before the demand is there for him to take us to the water once more for shows of his own over here.
Lastly but by no means least, Chayce Beckham blew us away in Berlin where it was our first opportunity to hear songs from his stunning 2024 "Bad for Me" record and we have been looking forward to seeing him in London ever since he was victorious in American Idol and he certainly did not disappoint.
Credit: Anthony Mooney
After Dierks finished his encore, the real headliners appeared as Doug Douglason and the Hot Country Knights somehow got their rickety old van across the pond and gate-crashed the party and took us to back to the most magical period in the history of time because we went back to nineties! Everything about Dierks and the HCK set (complete with the Jim Lauderdale cameo in the entrance video) is so polished but in a really natural way. It was so cool to see everyone leaving the bowl with such a buzz like we have never seen before - Cody Johnson really has his work cut out to compete with this tomorrow!
The second #sundayfunday of the festival experience beckons for Nate Smith to set the "World on Fire" before the first ever English show from CoJo and three sisters from Georgia are going to rock your world on The Chris York Main Stage.
The second #sundayfunday of the festival experience beckons for Nate Smith to set the "World on Fire" before the first ever English show from CoJo and three sisters from Georgia are going to rock your world on The Chris York Main Stage.
