The C2C factor: How country music spread its wings
The sky is the limit for country music in Europe, with arena and stadium tours on the horizon for the genre’s biggest stars, according to C2C booker Rachel Lloyd.
The return of the UK edition of Country to Country (C2C) has been confirmed for 13-15 March next year at The O2, London, OVO Hydro, Glasgow and The SSE Arena, Belfast, presented by SJM Concerts, AEG Presents, DF Concerts & MCD in association with Country Music Association (CMA).
Upcoming tours include Alexandra Kay, Kip Moore, Midland, Darius Rucker, 49 Winchester, Old Dominion, Max McNown and Tanner Adell, while Zach Bryan will welcome 180,000 punters to his three-night stand at Dublin’s Phoenix Park in Ireland in June, prior to playing to 130,000 fans at his two BST Hyde Park headline shows in London the following week.
“There was a time when the Eventim Apollo was the pinnacle of what you could do as a country artist in the UK, and now that’s a stop on the way up to arenas and beyond,” says AEG Presents UK promoter Lloyd. “So many artists are touring at Academy and theatre level now, because they’re on their second or third trip to the UK. I don’t think there’s any ceiling: we’re going to have country acts in stadiums in the next few years; it’s on the up and nothing is going to stop it.”
Lloyd, who joined the C2C booking team in 2021 following spells at Warner Music, WME and The O2, outlines the main factors driving the explosion of the genre outside its traditional US heartland.
“Fans have got more access than ever before through streaming, playlisting and online radio, so the barriers for discovery have come down,” she tells IQ. “Over the last 10 years, you’ve seen the growth of acts that are willing to put the effort in and come over and tour in the UK. Even regionally, things are popping up all over because more and more fans are starting to put on their own club nights and writers’ nights.
“Once you know there’s going to be an outlet for your passion – and you can get excited about the fact these acts are coming to play – you can get more into it and you will naturally listen to them more.”
“It’s developed a younger fanbase because some of the artists are a bit cooler”
The CMA’s Brand Power of Country Music in the UK presentation, which kicked off C2C 2025 at The O2 earlier this month, highlighted the genre’s tremendous streaming gains, and Lloyd notes the festival itself is also integral to that development.
“You see the streaming numbers go up before C2C, then you see it peak again after C2C because everyone’s listening to the lineup,” she says. “They’ve really established the fandom, so that’s made a difference. Obviously, we look to the US here for what’s popular – we’re naturally mirroring the growth in the US for the majority– it’s growing there and has been for many years.
“It’s developed a younger fanbase because some of the artists are a bit cooler, a bit more into fashion and brands, and are online personalities. I’ve got a tour with Alexandra Kay in May and she got her start on TikTok. She’s an incredible artist, but that’s where she gathered all her fans. That happens in pop all the time and it’s happening with country acts now as well.”
And while Beyoncé’s move into the country world on her 2024 album Cowboy Carter split opinion to an extent, Lloyd sees her impact as wholly positive.
“I am her number one fan so I’m all on board,” she smiles. “You can’t deny what that’s done for the genre here, with the spotlight she has given it over the last year.”
Indeed, Lloyd believes the current country landscape represents the biggest boom in the UK since the 90s.
“The new styles are more singer-songwriter/Americana-leaning, and that’s really connecting in the UK because we’ve always loved a singer-songwriter over here,” she observes. “Your Zach Bryans, Sam Barbers and Waylon Wyatts are coming over, and they’re quite palatable. They’re not super ‘yee-haw!’ country, they’re on the fringe of indie and Americana and so that’s a little gateway in for people.
“There are so many touch points for why it’s gathering momentum, and once you’ve got that momentum going, you can’t really stop it because then everybody’s engaged and are naturally going to be fed more.”
“There’s a core fanbase that has been there since the start, but every year you see another crop of new, younger fans”
Europe’s biggest country festival, C2C 2025 was headlined by Lainey Wilson, Dierks Bentley and Cody Johnson. In view of the genre’s enhanced popularity, Lloyd reflects on the event’s current purpose within the wider network.
“We knew it was going to be the most successful one yet in terms of sales and attendance, with more artists than ever, but energy-wise you could feel a shift with everything that’s gone on with the genre as a whole,” she says.
“C2C has always been about bringing over the best in the genre to deliver those arena shows, and then also bringing over the newest talent that’s about to either break or just starting to gain momentum. You’re going to see it before it blows up, and you’ll be able to say, ‘I saw that act play to 500 people, and now look at them,’ so that hasn’t fundamentally changed. There are still plenty of acts we want to get over that haven’t come over yet from the US, and the pool of new talent is growing exponentially, so we’re fighting people off every year.
“I think there will always be a want for diehard country fans to completely immerse themselves in the genre for a weekend. We want to make sure that we are delivering country music first and foremost, but giving them a little taste of what they can get within the genre, so that they go away and listen to the bits that they liked the most. So it’s about growing the ecosystem, because that impacts everybody else and helps us all.”
Launched in London in 2013, the event has expanded to other markets including Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Germany and Australia.
“London’s festival stages are well established now; people know exactly what they’re going to get and we want to make sure we can give that to the other markets as well, so that’s the focus for the future,” adds Lloyd. “I don’t think it’s necessarily ever going to hit a ceiling and plateau, because the genre is changing so much. There’s a core fanbase that has been there since the start, but every year you see another crop of new, younger fans coming in. And there’s more development to be done in Europe as well, so who knows where we could end up next.”
A feature exploring the growth of country music around the world will appear in an upcoming issue of IQ.
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