RTÉ 2fm has chosen And So I Watch You From Afar to represent Ireland at Eurosonic 2010, one of Europe’s most premier music showcase events.
This could mean big things for the Belfast hopefuls. As a direct result of their performance at the Eurosonic Festival last year, Irish band Fight Like Apes, RTÉ 2fm’s nomination, were booked to play at six major European festivals including Glastonbury, Benicassim and T in the Park, in addition to Oxegen in Punchestown.
The annual festival, held in Groningen in the Netherlands, has collaborated with the Eurosonic Partnership radio stations for 11 years now to create what is the live music mecca for bands on the rise.
And So I Watch You From Afar (ASIWYFA for short) will play on Friday 15 January 2010 at VERA, one of Europe’s legendary rock clubs, and Jenny Huston will introduce their show live from the Netherlands on RTÉ 2fm.
ASIWYFA have had a busy live career lately, with 165 live shows from Derry to Kiev this year alone. Their self-titled first album has received overwhelmingly positive reviews and was singled out for praise by Hot Press.
Guitarist Rory Friers commented: “It’s a privilege to be involved with Eurosonic this year, we’re looking forward to bringing our noise to the continent again.”
Eurosonic 2010 will host 160 bands in 28 plus venues playing to 18,000 fans in Groningen over 14 and 15 January. Dozens of booking agents, radio and TV stations and 2,600 music professionals will also be there to attend the shows and the hundred or so panel discussions at the festival conference.
Listeners all over Europe can hear all of the shows live on the web as they happen and most of the shows will be on air all over Europe within a few weeks. Fans can also listen back to the performance online at 3fm, Dutch national radio, from Monday January 17. Further details on how to listen live and listen back afterwards are on RTÉ 2fm’s Eurosonic webpage.
Aside from this, the European Commission and the EBU host the European Border Breakers Awards (EBBAs), a full live TV show hosted by Jools Holland recognizing new acts achieving significant airplay and sales outside their own country. RTÉ 2fm listeners can vote online for the acts they want to see perform at the EBBA show and in doing so could win a trip to Eurosonic 2010.
Previous acts at Eurosonic have included Franz Ferdinand, White Lies, Soulwax, Hot Gossip, Peter, Björn & John, The View, Young Knives, Ting Tings, Alphabeat and Irish acts like Fight Like Apes, The Coronas, Cathy Davy, JJ72, Bell X1, Duke Special and The Chalets.
Other Irish acts playing this year at the festival will be announced shortly.
