C2C: Country to Country
C2C: Country to Country is a country music festival that has been held in Europe every year since 2013. It was first held in London on 16–17 March 2013.[1] The festival was the first multi-day country music event in the United Kingdom, since the demise of the popular International Festival of Country Music, which was held at Wembley Arena and hosted by Mervyn Conn. The event was jointly developed by the O2 Arena and SJM Concerts, collaborating with the Country Music Association.[1] In 2019 it had a capacity of 25,000.[2]
C2C: Country to Country
16–17 March 2013
14–16 March 2014
7–8 March 2015
11–13 March 2016
10–12 March 2017
9–11 March 2018
8–10 March 2019
11–13 March 2022
10–12 March 2023
8–10 March 2024
14–16 March 2025
2013–2019, 2022-present
25,000
In 2013, it was announced that the festival would come to the 3Arena in Dublin on 14–15 March 2014.[3]
The festival expanded even more into Europe, adding additional dates in Sweden and Norway in 2015, and the Netherlands, Germany and Australia in 2019.
As of the 2015 festival, pop-up radio station BBC Radio 2 Country was set up and runs over 4 days, including a live broadcast of the main stage performances.
Since 2016,[4] the festival has run over three nights.
In 2018, Milly Olykan received the Jo Walker-Meador International Award from the Country Music Association for her role in helping AEG concerts develop C2C. The award recognizes outstanding achievement by an individual in advocating and supporting country music's marketing development in territories outside the United States.
The eighth consecutive C2C festival was announced during the final day of the 2019 edition, and was planned to have run over three nights from 13 to 15 March 2020 in London, Glasgow and Dublin. C2C was also planned to have returned to Berlin from 6–8 March, the Netherlands between 7 and 8 March and Australia at an unspecified date. The line-up was at the official launch event on 21 October 2019 at Cadogan Hall during the Introducing Nashville concert featuring performances by Danielle Bradbery, Chris Lane, Travis Denning and Rachel Wammack.[26][27] Old Dominion were originally scheduled to perform but withdrew on 6 March 2020 due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic and they were replaced by The Shires who were to be the first UK-grown country act to perform on the main stage.[28]
The CMA Songwriters Series was set to feature Tenille Townes, Phil Barton, Caylee Hammack, Niko Moon and Jaren Johnston. The original line-up also included Hillary Lindsey, Liz Rose and Lori McKenna; however, they withdrew on 6 March.[29] The show was cancelled on 12 March. The COVID-19 pandemic put a hold on all scheduled concerts and festivals around the world.
As concerns over the pandemic worsened and several countries began implementing travel restrictions, the 2020 Country to Country festival was cancelled. The main stage was due to feature Eric Church, Darius Rucker and Luke Combs as headliners with Tanya Tucker, Old Crow Medicine Show, The Cadillac Three, Charles Esten, Brett Young, Runaway June, Jordan Davis, Tenille Townes, Eric Paslay and Abby Anderson also performing.[30]
An impromptu gathering was organised by Paul McInnes and Neil Byrne, but unfortunately it was a Covid super spreader event.
The 2021 edition of C2C was also cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic, with the new dates for 2022 being announced as 11–13 March.[31]
The C2C festival in Berlin and Amsterdam did take place during the weekend of 7 and 8 march. Though Old Dominion cancelled their performance due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.