Greetings from Groningen! Hot Press has just arrived at Eurosonic via-Amsterdam where we indulged in such cultural pursuits as the Van Gogh Museum, the Anne Frank Huis and the Museum Boijmans-Van Beuningen, but didn’t go near any coffee shops or spend an hour looking at all the girls in the windows in the red light district, because after all one of us is married.
It’s a balmy 5 degrees and they’re just putting the finishing touches to the new outdoor Eurosonic Air stage. Also new this year is the 3FM Tent where tomorrow we’ll be luxuriating in the melodramatic wonderfulness of White Lies.
There are some tough calls to be made, but tonight we will definitely be catching up with Heathers who are playing upstairs in the Grand Theatre and whose set is being broadcast live on 2fm’s Dan Hegarty Show between 11pm and 1am. We’ll have the photographic evidence for you tomorrow.
We’re also planning a mad sprint round the Grote Markt to catch The Joy Formidable, Pulled Apart By Horses, Mount Kimbie, UK buzz boy James Blake, Germany’s magnificently monikered Mads Langer and the even better named Belgians, Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat. No, really!
We’ll also be having a chat and a couple of Gouden Carolus’ with Crystal Fighters, the multinational electro-poppers whose debut Star Of Love album has been getting a right old battering in HP Towers. Click here for a listen!
It doesn’t seem to have really registered in Groningen, but our hearts have been warmed by the news of Blackpool turning Liverpool over 2-1 last night. The King Kenny effect working a treat, eh?
But we digress. We’ll be back to you tomorrow with a full Day One report and images courtesy of young Mr. Keogh who can we stress again wasn’t in the red light district last night. At all. Honest.

Click here for a preview of the Irish talent at Eurosonic.