The C2C Sit Down with Max Jackson
Fresh off the release of her latest album, Dangerous in Denim, Max Jackson made her way over from Australia to Europe for the first time to experience the annual C2C Festival in both Berlin and London. Between her sets in the German capital, we sat down with Max to find out about what she was making of the festival experience so far.
Welcome to Germany.
Thank you so much. It's so exciting to be here.
Let’s start by comparing journeys to get here. I left work at three o'clock yesterday; got to Heathrow airport at 3.40; got on a plane at 5; landed at 7.30; got out of the airport by quarter past eight; and was in the arena by nine o'clock.
No way. I'm so jealous.
Do you want me to tell you?
So, we were supposed to be going Sydney to Doha, Doha to Berlin. Then obviously we had to get some new flights. We ended up going 13 hours, Sydney to San Francisco. We were supposed to go to New York - my bag went to New York, I didn't go to New York! We actually missed that flight and we had to then go to Munich. That’s 13 hours then 11 hours. Then we had one hour to fly to Berlin. I'm terrible at math, but I feel like it's 24, 25 hours of actual flying. Not even the in-between layover! It was a long time, but honestly, every time I sat on the next flight, I was like, we're one step closer to landing on the ground and actually meeting the fans and people that I've been speaking to online for a long time.
On top of all that, you’ve then got to work out what the time is anywhere with the time travel journey across the Pacific.
The weirdest thing was we had double breakfast and lunch on Wednesdays! We had the Wednesday in Sydney, which was my usual breakfast lunch. We then landed in San Fran and had breakfast and lunch again!
You're a few sets down already this weekend in Berlin, how have you found it so far?
The people I guess are way more reserved than Australians because Australians are like, ah, show us what you got. From the moment that you walk up there, they're very vocal and confident. People here have been so polite and are really listening to what you're playing. I think that's really, really cool. The crowds have been just great. It's so nice at my meet and greet, people were coming up and saying, I discovered you through your Dancing Queen cover, or I discovered you through your song Little More Country. It was really interesting being on the other side of the world and figuring out that how people had discovered me in a lot of different ways. A few people have said to me, oh, I didn't know who you were before this, but I really enjoyed your set. This is what it's all about. I want to meet so many people who've never heard of me before. That's the whole point of being here and doing this is connecting with new fans.
You talk about connecting and you certainly did that as at 11 o'clock this morning, you had them singing along. This is my fourth time coming to Berlin and I genuinely think that is one of the first times I think I've seen a daytime crowd sing along in one of the restaurant stages.
Really? I did it yesterday too at my first set. I asked them to sing along and they were sort of just like, oh, do I have to do something? We were just sort of hyping them up. My number one goal for a show is it’s a fun environment and community coming together where getting people involved and hopefully injecting some positivity and fun and light into their lives. Hopefully we've done that for some people this weekend who aren't used to that. We got a lot of people singing along, which was great.
Welcome to Germany.
Thank you so much. It's so exciting to be here.
Let’s start by comparing journeys to get here. I left work at three o'clock yesterday; got to Heathrow airport at 3.40; got on a plane at 5; landed at 7.30; got out of the airport by quarter past eight; and was in the arena by nine o'clock.
No way. I'm so jealous.
Do you want me to tell you?
So, we were supposed to be going Sydney to Doha, Doha to Berlin. Then obviously we had to get some new flights. We ended up going 13 hours, Sydney to San Francisco. We were supposed to go to New York - my bag went to New York, I didn't go to New York! We actually missed that flight and we had to then go to Munich. That’s 13 hours then 11 hours. Then we had one hour to fly to Berlin. I'm terrible at math, but I feel like it's 24, 25 hours of actual flying. Not even the in-between layover! It was a long time, but honestly, every time I sat on the next flight, I was like, we're one step closer to landing on the ground and actually meeting the fans and people that I've been speaking to online for a long time.
On top of all that, you’ve then got to work out what the time is anywhere with the time travel journey across the Pacific.
The weirdest thing was we had double breakfast and lunch on Wednesdays! We had the Wednesday in Sydney, which was my usual breakfast lunch. We then landed in San Fran and had breakfast and lunch again!
You're a few sets down already this weekend in Berlin, how have you found it so far?
The people I guess are way more reserved than Australians because Australians are like, ah, show us what you got. From the moment that you walk up there, they're very vocal and confident. People here have been so polite and are really listening to what you're playing. I think that's really, really cool. The crowds have been just great. It's so nice at my meet and greet, people were coming up and saying, I discovered you through your Dancing Queen cover, or I discovered you through your song Little More Country. It was really interesting being on the other side of the world and figuring out that how people had discovered me in a lot of different ways. A few people have said to me, oh, I didn't know who you were before this, but I really enjoyed your set. This is what it's all about. I want to meet so many people who've never heard of me before. That's the whole point of being here and doing this is connecting with new fans.
You talk about connecting and you certainly did that as at 11 o'clock this morning, you had them singing along. This is my fourth time coming to Berlin and I genuinely think that is one of the first times I think I've seen a daytime crowd sing along in one of the restaurant stages.
Really? I did it yesterday too at my first set. I asked them to sing along and they were sort of just like, oh, do I have to do something? We were just sort of hyping them up. My number one goal for a show is it’s a fun environment and community coming together where getting people involved and hopefully injecting some positivity and fun and light into their lives. Hopefully we've done that for some people this weekend who aren't used to that. We got a lot of people singing along, which was great.
The new album, Dangerous in Denim, came out just a few weeks ago. Has it made a 30-minute set quite tough to pick the songs as you’ll want to play new music but some people will want to hear older songs as it’ll be their first time seeing you live?
Actually, it really has. 30 minutes is so fast. We've definitely added a lot of the new songs to the set and we have had people here saying, oh, you didn't play insert song here. We are disappointing people every show, but it's really, really awesome to be able to play this new music. We're opening the show with Red Dirt Rock and Roll every time as that's the first song on the album and it's also the single. It's just really fun to set the tone with that. I sort of am like, are you all ready to Red Dirt Rock and Roll? And they're like, yeah! It's just such a good vibe. We've got some limited vinyl and the CDs here as well. Some people brought them up to me to personally sign to them today, which has been great.
You're going to have the people who are going to want the Little More Country cover tracks as well, aren't they?
Yeah, some people did come up to me and say we found you through Dancing Queen or Hey Baby. Hey Baby has been a really popular one here. When we were coming here, I said, do I do Summer of 69 or Hey Baby? We went Googling and we had no idea that Hey Baby was number one for like 20 weeks or something over here. It's so much fun. I don't I really mind if there's people coming to the shows just purely for that. That is awesome. If people have discovered me through doing those covers, I am so happy about that. That's so great that they found me that way. If they come because they want to hear my music, they're going to get a bit of everything at the show. We're not going to do the whole set covers. We're not going to do the whole set of the album, but it's just great to be able to have people discovering me so many different ways.
After Berlin, you head on to Cologne and then on to London next weekend.
Yes, we're getting trains as well. We're going to see a lot of the countryside on the way. It's my first time in Europe ever as a human and a musician. Doing this and then going to London is going to be just so, so cool. We just got tattoos to mark the occasion of being here and how special it is for myself and my husband, Jeremy who plays guitar with me, and my manager, Brogan, as well. We got matching tattoos to mark the occasion because it really is so super special. It was probably the least painful tattoo I've ever gotten!
Actually, it really has. 30 minutes is so fast. We've definitely added a lot of the new songs to the set and we have had people here saying, oh, you didn't play insert song here. We are disappointing people every show, but it's really, really awesome to be able to play this new music. We're opening the show with Red Dirt Rock and Roll every time as that's the first song on the album and it's also the single. It's just really fun to set the tone with that. I sort of am like, are you all ready to Red Dirt Rock and Roll? And they're like, yeah! It's just such a good vibe. We've got some limited vinyl and the CDs here as well. Some people brought them up to me to personally sign to them today, which has been great.
You're going to have the people who are going to want the Little More Country cover tracks as well, aren't they?
Yeah, some people did come up to me and say we found you through Dancing Queen or Hey Baby. Hey Baby has been a really popular one here. When we were coming here, I said, do I do Summer of 69 or Hey Baby? We went Googling and we had no idea that Hey Baby was number one for like 20 weeks or something over here. It's so much fun. I don't I really mind if there's people coming to the shows just purely for that. That is awesome. If people have discovered me through doing those covers, I am so happy about that. That's so great that they found me that way. If they come because they want to hear my music, they're going to get a bit of everything at the show. We're not going to do the whole set covers. We're not going to do the whole set of the album, but it's just great to be able to have people discovering me so many different ways.
After Berlin, you head on to Cologne and then on to London next weekend.
Yes, we're getting trains as well. We're going to see a lot of the countryside on the way. It's my first time in Europe ever as a human and a musician. Doing this and then going to London is going to be just so, so cool. We just got tattoos to mark the occasion of being here and how special it is for myself and my husband, Jeremy who plays guitar with me, and my manager, Brogan, as well. We got matching tattoos to mark the occasion because it really is so super special. It was probably the least painful tattoo I've ever gotten!
Back home, things are just going up and up and up for you, even since four months ago when we last spoke. It's just seems to be going on a massive upwards trajectory. Your name's getting higher up the bills on the munsters that are coming up. How exciting is that?
It is so exciting. What is just so special is being able to play more and more of our festivals back home as our festivals are just getting bigger and bigger every year. It's so exciting to have my career reaching new heights at the same time that country music in general across the whole world. Back home in Australia, country music is reaching massive new heights and it's just so exciting to be a part of. Being able to play a little later when people are partying and the sun's gone down is so much fun. We absolutely love being able to do all the things that we're doing now and I definitely don't take any of it for granted. I grew up as a country music fan myself. There's nobody musical in my family. I don't do this with any expectation of where things are going to go. It's just really cool that we just keep being able to play to more people and keep being able to connect with more people as that is the best.
The different thing about the C2C weekends is you get these multiple sets. You are playing multiple times in a day compared to back home playing one set and heading home. It must be so great to see both new and returning faces at every set.
We have had that already. I'm thinking I'm playing almost the same thing, but they don't seem to mind, which is great. This is a very unique experience and we're playing the shows acoustically as well. Back home, we play with the band a lot and we're planning on coming back in 2027 to tour through Europe and the UK and it'll be the full band. It's actually been really nice to be able to come this first time here and connect with people in a very stripped back way because this is how we started out doing things. I guess that's how people discovered us in Australia as well. It's cool to be able to do the stripped back versions of what we do here as well.
The Australians are definitely trying to take over a bit here, aren't they? This is a full blown Aussie takeover of C2C Festival in Berlin and London.
I know! I've been going to CMA Fest in Nashville for quite a few years as well and I remember the first time that I went, it was just me and Kaylee Bell, who's also here. Kaylee's one of my really good friends in the industry and now when you go to CMA Fest, there’s so many Aussie artists, so much happening, it’s is so cool. I feel like it'll be the same here. It's so exciting to have another incredible festival with so many country music fans that Aussies can come and play and obviously make a whole new bunch of fans in a whole new place. It's really awesome. I reckon there'll definitely be more and more Aussies coming over if they have the opportunity to. We are already so excited to come back. The whole point of us being here is to meet people for the very first time, get a feel for what's going on and it's so cool to see so many people who are even here saying, well, we need you to come to and then insert their town, so we're writing down a quick note and searching on Google. A lot of people have been saying Hamburg, so I'm like, OK, cool. Write it down and then we can try and hit as many places as we possibly can and meet as many country music fans as possible. Thank you, obviously, to C2C for getting us here for the very first time.
It is so exciting. What is just so special is being able to play more and more of our festivals back home as our festivals are just getting bigger and bigger every year. It's so exciting to have my career reaching new heights at the same time that country music in general across the whole world. Back home in Australia, country music is reaching massive new heights and it's just so exciting to be a part of. Being able to play a little later when people are partying and the sun's gone down is so much fun. We absolutely love being able to do all the things that we're doing now and I definitely don't take any of it for granted. I grew up as a country music fan myself. There's nobody musical in my family. I don't do this with any expectation of where things are going to go. It's just really cool that we just keep being able to play to more people and keep being able to connect with more people as that is the best.
The different thing about the C2C weekends is you get these multiple sets. You are playing multiple times in a day compared to back home playing one set and heading home. It must be so great to see both new and returning faces at every set.
We have had that already. I'm thinking I'm playing almost the same thing, but they don't seem to mind, which is great. This is a very unique experience and we're playing the shows acoustically as well. Back home, we play with the band a lot and we're planning on coming back in 2027 to tour through Europe and the UK and it'll be the full band. It's actually been really nice to be able to come this first time here and connect with people in a very stripped back way because this is how we started out doing things. I guess that's how people discovered us in Australia as well. It's cool to be able to do the stripped back versions of what we do here as well.
The Australians are definitely trying to take over a bit here, aren't they? This is a full blown Aussie takeover of C2C Festival in Berlin and London.
I know! I've been going to CMA Fest in Nashville for quite a few years as well and I remember the first time that I went, it was just me and Kaylee Bell, who's also here. Kaylee's one of my really good friends in the industry and now when you go to CMA Fest, there’s so many Aussie artists, so much happening, it’s is so cool. I feel like it'll be the same here. It's so exciting to have another incredible festival with so many country music fans that Aussies can come and play and obviously make a whole new bunch of fans in a whole new place. It's really awesome. I reckon there'll definitely be more and more Aussies coming over if they have the opportunity to. We are already so excited to come back. The whole point of us being here is to meet people for the very first time, get a feel for what's going on and it's so cool to see so many people who are even here saying, well, we need you to come to and then insert their town, so we're writing down a quick note and searching on Google. A lot of people have been saying Hamburg, so I'm like, OK, cool. Write it down and then we can try and hit as many places as we possibly can and meet as many country music fans as possible. Thank you, obviously, to C2C for getting us here for the very first time.
When you get home, you have an album to promote to your fans there too.
I do. We haven’t done any of that really. It's been a really busy like start to 2026 and I feel like so much of the promotion of an album happens in the lead up to it coming out; then it comes out and you're like, oh, this feels weird. Now everyone's heard it and obviously then you go and you get ready for the tour. I'm super excited to be playing a lot back home, but also the goal of 2026 and 2027 for me is really trying to reach the fans who are following me on social media, particularly because of the little more country covers who are all over the world. Opportunities like this are just like the coolest thing ever to be able to fly across the world and play and then fly back home and do our shows and fly to the next place. We are definitely keen just to get as far and wide as we can.
We can’t wait to get to see you again in London next weekend and now will be waiting for the 2027. Enjoy the rest of your time in Germany and let’s hope you flight home is a little bit of an easier journey than getting here.
It's going to be awesome. We're so excited for everything that’s still to come. Thank you
C2C: Country to Country will return to Berlin in 2027 across the weekend of March 5th to 7th where you will be able to find more details on their WEBSITE and keep in the loop regarding lineups and ticket information on INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK.
Then the event will head back to The O2 Arena in London across the weekend of March 12th to 14th 2027, where along with an event taking place in Glasgow, Manchester will become the third host city to join the rotation of artists over the festival. Early bird tickets will go on sale on Friday March 20th and you are able to find more details on their WEBSITE and socials (FACEBOOK X and INSTAGRAM)
I do. We haven’t done any of that really. It's been a really busy like start to 2026 and I feel like so much of the promotion of an album happens in the lead up to it coming out; then it comes out and you're like, oh, this feels weird. Now everyone's heard it and obviously then you go and you get ready for the tour. I'm super excited to be playing a lot back home, but also the goal of 2026 and 2027 for me is really trying to reach the fans who are following me on social media, particularly because of the little more country covers who are all over the world. Opportunities like this are just like the coolest thing ever to be able to fly across the world and play and then fly back home and do our shows and fly to the next place. We are definitely keen just to get as far and wide as we can.
We can’t wait to get to see you again in London next weekend and now will be waiting for the 2027. Enjoy the rest of your time in Germany and let’s hope you flight home is a little bit of an easier journey than getting here.
It's going to be awesome. We're so excited for everything that’s still to come. Thank you
C2C: Country to Country will return to Berlin in 2027 across the weekend of March 5th to 7th where you will be able to find more details on their WEBSITE and keep in the loop regarding lineups and ticket information on INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK.
Then the event will head back to The O2 Arena in London across the weekend of March 12th to 14th 2027, where along with an event taking place in Glasgow, Manchester will become the third host city to join the rotation of artists over the festival. Early bird tickets will go on sale on Friday March 20th and you are able to find more details on their WEBSITE and socials (FACEBOOK X and INSTAGRAM)
