I distinctly remember the first time I heard about C2C
Country 2 Country. My dad walked into my room one morning with one of the
national newspapers. ‘You like Carrie Underwood, don’t you?’ I nodded vigourously
– ‘like’ was an understatement. He handed me the paper, and there in a quarter
page ad was Country 2 Country, with Carrie headlining one of the nights. Tickets
on sale that Friday.
When Friday rolled around, I was ready at my computer half
an hour before the waiting room opened to make sure that I got tickets before
they sold out (which in retrospect may have been a bit optimistic as I don’t
think they sold out that year) and then it was only a half a year wait until
the event itself.
And what an experience. In its inaugural year, 2013, I’d say
that before the festival, I was only really a fan of Carrie Underwood, and had
heard of Darius Rucker as he’d opened for Brad Paisley during one of his
previous world tours which I’d attended. How things changed! I had heard of
Little Big Town only through Pontoon which
was the only track of theirs that the online country radio stations I listened
to seemed to play, and I didn’t even like the song. However, hearing them play
a variety of songs, many of which I came to love, was a turning point for me
and I’ve been a fan ever since. LeAnn Rimes too, to me was an unknown, but C2C
revealed her to be the singer behind songs like I Need You and Blue which
I found myself listening to over and over after the festival, as well as a lot
of her fantastic more recent work.
The festival improved, and got bigger, year on year. In
2014, they opened up the full stadium whereas the year before the upper levels
had been closed off as presumably they didn’t think they’d have enough interest
to fill the stadium. I got to see three of my favourite artists at the time - Brad
Paisley, Rascal Flatts and The Band Perry – play on consecutive nights, when
normal concerts would mean I’d have to wait months between them.
In 2015, we got the likes of Luke Bryan, Lady Antebellum,
Jason Aldean and a personal favourite of mine, Florida Georgia Line, as
headliners. I was a big fan of Sam Hunt at the time, so seeing him play, even
if only on the smaller Satellite Stage, was very exciting.
2016 was a big deal because the festival became over three
nights rather than just two and was probably the my favourite year so far. The artists
were fantastic as Carrie was back, along with Thomas Rhett, Little Big Town,
Sam Hunt, Maddie & Tae and Kacey Musgraves. We were also introduced to
fantastic new artists like Maren Morris and Frankie Ballard who are right up
there in my favourites now. Another surprise favourite for me was Miranda Lambert, who like Little Big Town, I’d only heard one song of – Little Red Wagon - and wasn’t a fan (how
mistaken I was). But with songs like Automatic
and White Liar I was hooked, and
couldn’t be gladder I was introduced to her then, particularly in light of her
masterpiece of an album The Weight of
These Wings.
Even cooler perhaps was the Bluebird Café, which made its
way to C2C that year. Having been to the real thing in Nashville a few years
prior and it being an absolute highlight of that trip, I was ecstatic at the
thought of attending one in my own city. I picked the session with Old Dominion
and Shane McAnally which was thoroughly fantastic, and even got my photo with
them all after. Looking back at the lineups, I’m sure each and every session
would have been fantastic with the likes of Lori McKenna, Charles Esten and
Maren Morris playing too.
Another highlight of 2016 was the introduction of the BBC
Radio 2 stage where Charles Esten, Lauren Alaina and David Nail played in a
more intimate session, and boy was it amazing. Artists with such fantastic
voices given the chance to shine on a small stage like that was more than I
could have asked for. 2016 will be a hard year to beat!
Finally, there were the meet and greets. I got autographs
from the likes of Brooke Eden (amazing, amazing artist), Pauper Kings, Maren
Morris and more. It’s rare in any genre that you get to meet the artists whose
music you love, but this festival let me do just that.
2017 has been the biggest year yet, with the most artists
playing ever I do believe, ranging from country legends from before my era like
Reba McEntire and Marty Stuart to more of my favourite crossover artists like
Cam, Hunter Hayes, Dan & Shay, Cassadee Pope, and Maren Morris (now on the
main stage!) The Bluebird Café was back with more incredible artists like Logan
Brill, Lucie Silvas and Canaan Smith, and the Radio 2 stage filled to the brim
with great ‘rising stars’ who are already well established in my books. And don’t
even get me started on the hundreds of usually more local artists playing the
smaller stages who I’d go to a festival to see just by themselves. If you’ve
not heard of the likes of Clara Bond, Sarah Darling, Catherine McGrath, Katy
Hurt, Raintown and Jade Helliwell, rectify that right now!
And here we are, in 2018 for the sixth instalment of the
festival. I’ll admit I was in the camp of ‘not too impressed’ with the lineup
when it was first announced, with no new ‘big’ artists and a number of
headliners I just wasn’t familiar with. Nonetheless, C2C for me has always been
about opening myself up to new artists and so in the year that’s passed, I’ve
made myself familiar with the likes of Brett Young, Luke Combs and Ashley
McBryde and I’m now very much looking forward to seeing them. Many of the acts
playing the other stages look fantastic, and this is also the first year I’ll
be attending the Songwriters Series which I’m particularly excited about.
I think C2C has shown country artists that we have a lot of
love for them, and encouraged them to keep coming back. The proliferation of
country stars coming to the UK has only increased with their added exposure
from the festival and I’ve since been able to see almost all of my favourite
artists play the UK at least once (although I’m still waiting for Blake Shelton
and Keith Urban to tour here!) Long may it continue.
Whilst I have a lot of love for the festival, I’d be lying
if I said that it hasn’t brought with it its issues. I wince every year upon
finding out that the price of tickets has yet again increased, and know that
there will probably be one year when I miss out on the tickets that I want
because the tickets will become so heavily sought after. The smaller stages
will become more difficult to get into, and the meet and greets farther and
fewer between. So there are a lot of good and bad things about the festival
becoming so popular, but it goes without saying that I’ll be attending the
festival for as long as I can!
Have you attended C2C over the years? What have been your highlights? Let me know by dropping me a comment below or on Twitter @CiarasCountry, and stay tuned for reviews and interviews from C2C 2018 coming soon!
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