Eurosonic/Noordeslag Weekend 07, Groningen, The Netherlands, 11-13 January 07

Eurosonic is arguably the first major event in the annual music calendar, taking place over the weekend of January 13th. It is a continent wide music showcase, which looks to give new and unknown bands exposure to markets and media they would otherwise not experience. The event is a coming together of major radio stations from across Europe with the intention of promoting and publicising the very best new music from within their own territories as well as discovering new and unheard music from foreign shores. As usual this years event was held in the beautiful Dutch city of Groningen. Like much of Holland Groningen has a very intimate and welcoming feel to it making it ideal for this kind of event. Although a relatively small city of under two hundred thousand people it boasts a large and vibrant student population making it a real cultural melting pot. With the warmth of its population and the way that the city has embraced the festival, visitors are instantly put at ease by the accommodating feel of the city. Groningen’s intimate size means that all of Eurosonic’s gigs at its 29 venues take place just a short walk from one another, so that everybody at the event has the opportunity to explore and experience as many bands as possible.  Over 240 of the best new and unsigned bands from across Europe performed giving the event a very cosmopolitan flavour, though Saturday was dedicated to home grown Dutch talent. There was also distinctly Roman feel to many of the proceedings as Italia Wave was a theme of this years festival.   Italy’s best new and underground bands such as Hot Gossip, Linea 77 and Mau Mau performed throughout, hoping to be exposed to the press and more importantly to the live music industry. And with Eurosonic being almost universally sold out both to the media and to people just looking to discover something new, bands playing were guaranteed to be heard by a completely new and open minded audience. In a sense this is the ethos of Eurosonic, to let bands play and be heard by people who would otherwise never have the opportunity to hear them.