Eurosonic Report: Day Three in Groningen, with Soulé, Rosborough and Bitch Falcon

By the third day of Eurosonic Noorderslag, things are really in full swing. There are 40,000 extra bodies in Groningen, and 4,000 of them are music industry professionals here for the keynote interviews and panel discussion in De Oosterpoort conference centre. Today’s topics include ‘Streaming and the Global Marketing Strategy of Developing Artists’, ‘Waste-free Festivals’ and ‘Blockchain and Machine Learning for Music Copyright’.

Hot Press manages to grab a few words with Eurosonic founder Peter Smidt. “After 32 years, we don’t want to make Eurosonic any bigger than it already is,” he explains. “We do want to make it more efficient.”

It’s very efficient as it is. There’s a mind-boggling amount of organisation that goes into managing 352 bands from 42 nationalities playing 62 venues across the city. Add to that the daily demands of 479 journalists and 37 radio stations, and there’s never a dull moment. Of course, they can’t control the weather and, while yesterday’s major storm mainly hit Amsterdam and Rotterdam, a small number of conference speakers and bands haven’t been able to make it. No major cancellations, but frustrating for those affected.

Dublin’s Bitch Falcon managed to make it to their show last night, but it cost them a fortune to get to Groningen. “The trains were cancelled because of the storm and we had to make the gig,” singer Lizzie Fitzpatrick explains. “The driver originally wanted €650, but we managed to talk him down.”

Hotly-tipped Dublin singer Soulé – who’s been brought over by RTE – had an even more traumatic trip. Having landed in Frankfurt, she took a train to Amsterdam, but couldn’t get a train up to Groningen. She only just made it on time for her show at the Grand Theatre (where she was joined onstage by Jafaris).

Another Irish act who almost missed his show was Derryman Rosborough. Recently signed to Ignition Records, he played to a full house at USVA.

All of the Irish acts were Eurosonic virgins but, despite their difficulties making it to Groningen, none of them had a bad word to say about one of Europe’s most vital music industry festivals. Keep an eye on hotpress.com for our exclusive backstage interviews with Soule, Jafaris, Bitch Falcon and Rosborough.