All too soon it was the final day of the festival – whilst I’d
spent the best part of 4 days at the O2 for C2C, it always seems to fly by! (Make
sure you check out my reviews of the previous days, already uploaded on this
blog.) I made my way back early on the Sunday morning to secure a spot in the
indigo2 for the BBC Radio 2 Stage where more of country’s hottest up-and-coming
artists would be playing throughout the day.
First up was an artist I have great admiration for – Catherine McGrath, having first seen
her perform a year and a half ago at the Under the Apple Tree Roots festival.
Since then, she’s had a great start to her career, continuously releasing
catching tracks reminiscent of early Taylor Swift, as well as opening for
artists like Dan & Shay and Kelsea Ballerini. Throughout her set, she
performed songs like Cinderella, Hell
Would Have to Freeze Over and latest single Thought It Was Gonna Be Me to which the crowd responded very warmly
to, with some attendees even sporting Catherine’s merch. A personal new
favourite of mine was Lost In The Middle which
describes exactly what many of us feel when listening to country. I greatly
look forward to hearing it on her upcoming album.
Next to take to the stage was Mo Pitney, an artist whose voice never fails to surprise, with a
deep truly country voice akin to the likes of Scotty McCreery and Josh Turner.
His storytelling prowess really shone throughout the set, from the amusing true
story retold in I Met Merle Haggard Today
to the heartwrenching Just A Dog which
I’m sure brought any pet owner in the audience to tears. Mo certainly has
something special about him – definitely one to watch.
We moved from Bluebird style storytelling session to rock
show with the arrival of Ryan Hurd who
danced his way around the stage to songs like We Do Us and Hold You Back. I
particularly enjoyed when the tone slowed down with the addition of Michigan For the Winter which showed a
softer side to Ryan. Even if audience members didn’t know Ryan (apart from
being Maren Morris’ fiancé) they would certainly have know You Look Good, the hit single he was responsible for writing for
Lady Antebellum.
I was pleased that Ashley
Campbell was playing a set on the BBC Radio 2 Stage having unfortunately missed
her stint on the Spotlight Stage in the Main Arena the night before. I was
mostly familiar with Ashley for her banjo-playing in Rascal Flatts’ aptly named
Banjo and my goodness, did she show
off her banjo skills during this set. Her songs are both hugely fun, as with Better Boyfriend, and deeply moving such
as the song written for her father Glen Campbell, Remembering, the lyrics of which change from never having to ask
her father to sing for her to having to tell him the words as Alzheimer’s took
over. She’s definitely not living in her father’s shadow but making a clear
name for herself too.
We moved back to the rock show as Russell Dickerson took the next slot, with party songs where the
crowd was encouraged to join in on like Float
and Blue Tacoma. I can easily see
how Russell’s ‘bro-country’ style can appeal to many, but also how I’m sure it’s
not everyone’s cup of tea. Nevertheless, there’s no doubting that he’s an
entertaining artist to watch, and whilst not every song could be described as
lyrical genius, you can’t deny Yours is
hugely catchy and worthy of a karaoke session!
The final act taking to the BBC Radio 2 Stage was Jillian Jacqueline who appeared to have
acclimatised more to playing to the large crowds after her emotional set on the
Spotlight Stage the night before. She was a lot of fun with a mix of relatively
sad songs like Holier Than Thou and Hate Me to groovy and bluesy love songs like
Shady. She has great vocals and a
loyal fanbase already grounded in the UK so it won’t be long before she’s back.
With a break between the end of the Radio 2 Stage acts and
the start of the Arena show, I took the opportunity to catch a press conference
with the ever lovely Little Big Town (coverage
coming soon to this blog!) and check out the Town Square, which this year had
moved from its usual position inside the O2 to outside its Main Entrance in the
marquee. It wasn’t terribly busy when I visited but I’d heard throughout the weekend
that it got incredibly crowded, to the extent that the queues twisted all the
way back to the train station, causing people to walk around and undoubtedly
losing the vendors inside a significant amount of business. Not the best location,
and I hope they’ll move it back to its usual location next year.
Sunday night’s lineup had a few artists I wasn’t too
familiar with, so I was pleased to see Midland
on the bill as I’d hugely enjoyed their debut album On The Rocks. They are quite unlike anyone else we currently have
in the genre and have somehow brought traditional country to a contemporary
audience, allowing them to enjoyed by both traditionalists and modern fans.
They walked on stage dressed to the nines in suits and cowboy hats, beginning
their set with the hugely catchy and ever relevant Check Cashin’ Country. Whilst they may well be raking in the money
with their newfound fame now, it’s refreshing to hear the story of how they got
here.
Their harmonies were flawless as they made their way through
many of the songs on their album, ranging from the thought-provoking At Least You Cried, the cheeky Make A Little and the song everyone
needs to hear, Drinkin’ Problem. If
you’d told me a few years ago that I’d love, and be dancing along to a more traditional
country artist, I’d have said ‘probably not’, but Midland bridge gaps in the
genre in new ways that any other artist.
Rock chick Lindsay
Ell was the first act up on the Spotlight Stage with a brief but smooth set
of he most popular songs, Waitin On You, ballad
Space and current US hit Criminal. Like many of the artists
throughout the weekend, she proved herself not only as a talented singer but
musician also, taking a few minutes to treat us to a rockin’ guitar solo where
it was clear that the music truly moved her as she feel down to her knees like
a true rock goddess.
Next on the Main Stage was Margo Price, an artist whose name I’d heard thrown around a few
times but wasn’t really familiar with. This is probably because she’s one of
the few artists at the festival who hasn’t had significant commercial success
with her alt-country sound that doesn’t particularly fit with most of the ‘made
for radio’ music we hear. For this reason, she was an unexpected but
nonetheless interesting addition to the lineup. However, for me and many other
attendees, C2C is an opportunity to expand our country horizons.
Dressed like a modern cowgirl, Price’s set was a lot more relaxed
than her predecessor with bluesy songs like Do
Right By Me and Tennessee Song. In
my opinion, she might have been a better opening act rather than second on the
bill as her style of music was perhaps not as ‘warm-upping’ as Midland’s.
However, with a costume change into a fantastic sparkly dress she brought the
energy with final song Proud Mary and
we then got to our feet.
The Spotlight acts throughout the night were interestingly
chosen as I wouldn’t have thought Russell
Dickerson to have been an obvious choice to follow Margo, although his set
did indeed have a different feel without the addition of backing band as had
been the case in the indigo2. Russell played it safe with easy to sing along to
hits Every Little Thing, Blue Tacoma and
Yours. No doubt his multiple
appearances throughout the weekend will have gained him plenty of new fans.
Emmylou Harris was
next on the Main Stage, another artist who was a relative unknown to me
(forgive me, diehard country fans, I’m more of the Carrie and Brad era!) This
wasn’t to say I hadn’t heard of her and there’s no question to the impact she
made on the genre and particularly opening it up for all the subsequent female
artists who have had success within country music.
Her set was a good successor to Margo’s with a more easy
listening style than the ‘get up and dance’ of many of the other artists
throughout the weekend. With such a long career, Emmylou certainly had her pick
of songs to play and we were treated to new and old like Red Dirt Girl and Michelangelo
as well as a surprising number of covers (which I still can’t say I knew)
such as The Flying Burrito Brothers (what a great name) Wheels, and Billy Joe Shaver’s Old
Five and Dimers Like Me. As she says, it’s few artists who would be able to
sing that song like that mean it, and Emmylou did a hell of a job.
Again, quite the change as we moved to the Spotlight Stage
to watch country/rap crossover artist Walker
Hayes. I’m always quite surprised to hear that Walker is 38 years old, as
he certainly doesn’t look it nor do his songs sound like it, but it’s when he
talks about his wife and kids that you see he’s actually been doing this gig for
quite a long time. You wouldn’t mistake Walker’s distinctive style for anyone
elses and he also chose to stick to big hits You Broke Up With Me and Beautiful,
and yes, we did have to sing along!
It feels brash to say that Little Big Town have come such a long way, but if you think back to
when they first played C2C as second on the bill in the inaugural year of the
festival to now headlining, I don’t think I’m that wrong. In fact, I loved how
during I’m With The Band home video
footage from years past of the band playing in shopping malls and tiny dives
was projected on the screens, truly highlighting ‘yes, they did come from there
to here’.
All LBT songs are fan favourites and we got to hear so many
throughout the set with plenty from most recent album The Breaker including Happy
People and the Taylor Swift penned Better
Man and old favourites like Sober and
the powerful Tornado fronted by Karen
Fairchild. They made their way to the Spotlight Stage for an acoustic interlude
of Your Side of the Bed and a Glen
Campbell Tribute Wichita Lineman. They
both brought the party and stunned the arena into silence and it’s true to say
that we really love LBT every time they visit. My only grievance? No encore!
Hopefully they’ll take that into account next time they visit which I’m sure
won’t be before too long.
So there you have it,
my full coverage of C2C Country 2 Country Festival 2018! I hope you enjoyed my
reviews of the 3 days and the Songwriter Series. Stay tuned for interviews from
some of the artists throughout the weekend, and let me know who was your
favourite if you attended, or who you would have loved to have seen had you
gone. And don’t worry, I’ll be back next year for my annual fix of country’s
biggest festival!
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