Preview: Eurosonic Noorderslag 2013
Today through until Sunday (the 9th to the 12th January 2013), Eurosonic Noorderslag 2013 kicks off 5 days of European music, European artists, international music and interactive industry professionals and organisations.
It takes place in Groningen, the Netherlands, the biggest city in the north of the country. Its format is similar to the Great Escape, Liverpool Sound City and SXSW in that there are dedicated portions to a conference program for industry network and knowledge sharing and gobs and gobs of showcases featuring the best of Europe’s and international artists.
But Eurosonic also hosts two awards shows, both taking place tonight. The European Border Breakers Awards will be hosted by Jools Holland (yes, he crosses the border for awards shows, ladies and gentlemen); ten European debuting artists, who have been successful beyond national borders, will be recognised for their achievements. You can watch the awards show live here; it all kicks off at 6 PM Central European time (that’s 1 hour ahead of British time, folks). Or you can just come back here and watch it in the embed below. Following the first awards show will be the European Festival Awards, where the best European festivals will be honoured, with the aim of promoting the great diversity of European festivals.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4IoE9jloYU[/youtube]
Festival wristbands are sold out, but delegate passes are still available here at the price of 375 euros. Some can’t be missed bands on today’s (Wednesday’s) schedule include Dutch Uncles, who will be releasing their latest album ‘Out of Touch in the Wild’ (review here) on Monday; BBC Sound of 2013 nominees and Gary Barlow’s favourites Kodaline (pictured at top) and Noel Gallagher protege Jake Bugg. For full details of the festival programme, visit the official Eurosonic Noorderslag Web site.
