A list of the most-booked bands at European festivals this year has been revealed, with English Teacher and Lambrini Girls making the Top Five. Check it out below.
READ MORE: The Cover: Lambrini Girls are all bark and tons of bite
The new findings have been shared by European Talent Exchange, previously ESNS Exchange, and show the rising popularity of bands across the UK and European live scene. The programme was established in 2003 to overcome the significant challenges faced by the European pop music industry, and has gone on to create a strong network to uphold musical talent.
In the 2024 results, it has been revealed that the programme maintained momentum with 335 shows by 132 acts from 33 countries. They performed at 95 festivals across 34 countries.
The most booked artist of the year is rising UK band and former NME Cover stars Fat Dog, who locked in 15 bookings across the year. This includes sets at Glastonbury 2024, and shows that took place in celebration of the members gearing up to release debut album ‘Woof’.
In second place is fellow NME Cover alumni, English Teacher, who had nine bookings amid a massive 2024 – playing a huge number of live shows, getting critical acclaim for their debut album ‘This Could Be Texas’ and going on to win the coveted Mercury Prize.
English Teacher. Credit: Andy Ford for NME
The two bands are closely followed by current NME Cover Stars Lambrini Girls, who have eight bookings for 2024 including a raucous slot at Reading & Leeds back in August. Like Fat Dog, the impressive number of live shows throughout the year came as they were gearing up to announce an upcoming debut album, ‘Who Let The Dogs Out’.
Also on the list are Irish band Yard, who tie with Lambrini Girls with eight, Chalk, Kingfishr and YĪN YĪN, who each have seven bookings, and Loverman, Nusantara Beat (NL), Picture Parlour and yunè pinku, who all have six. Find the full list below, as well as the list of the top five festivals with the most booked Exchange artists.
The most booked artists for 2024 are:
1. Fat Dog (UK) – 15 bookings
2. English Teacher (UK) – 9 bookings
3. Lambrini girls (UK) – 8 bookings
4. Yard (IE) – 8 bookings
5. Chalk (IE) – 7 bookings
6. Kingfishr (IE) – 7 bookings
7. YĪN YĪN (NL) – 7 bookings
8. Loverman (BE) – 6 bookings
9. Nusantara Beat (NL) – 6 bookings
10. Picture Parlour (UK) – 6 bookings
11. yunè pinku (IE) – 6 bookings
The top five festivals with the most booked Exchange artists are:
1. Reeperbahn Festival (Germany) – 28 bookings
2. The Great Escape (UK) – 23 bookings
3. Haldern Pop Festival (Germany) – 14 bookings
4. Sziget (Hungary) – 11 bookings
5. MENT Ljubljana (Slovenia) – 10 bookings
Visit here for the complete list of 2024 European Talent Exchange Results.
Speaking to NME for the latest edition of The Cover, Lambrini Girls reflected on the huge year they’ve had in 2024, and opened up about their commitment to using their live shows to stand up for those who could feel marginalised.
“A lot of cis white male bands talk the talk, but they won’t walk the walk,” frontwoman Phoebe Lunny said. “They’ll be like, ‘We want our gigs to be safe spaces for women,’ and then will put up a sign and be like, ‘Done’. All you’re doing is sticking up a piece of paper… what needs to happen is acknowledging the privilege you have and using it to prevent things happening. People will not take us girlies as seriously as men – we have to shout twice as loud for anything to get across.”
Lambrini Girls. Credit: Joseph Bishop for NME
Bandmate Lilly Macieira continued: “A lot of people are being celebrated for shouting these slogans. t’s the bare minimum, and everyone should be acting on it. We’ve got a long way to go.”
As for English Teacher, shortly after taking home their Mercury Prize victory, the band told NME about their progress on new material, which will see them build upon their already-signature sound.
Whiting said that English Teacher have “got some writing” to do in between their support shows with IDLES and their 2024 UK headline tour in November. Bassist Nicholas Eden also teased a new song, describing it as “an amalgamation of every single track on this [first] album”.
In a review of their first album, NME gave the band a glowing five-star review and wrote: “What you have in ‘This Could Be Texas’ is everything you want from a debut; a truly original effort from start to finish, an adventure in sound and words, and a landmark statement.
“Poised for big things? Who knows if this industry even allows that anymore. Here are a band already dealing in brilliance, though – who dare to dream and have it pay off. Not everyone gets to go to space, but at least English Teacher make it a damn site more interesting being stuck down here.”
Fat Dog. Credit: Sam Keeler for NME
Finally, Fat Dog’s debut album ‘Woof.’ was given a five-star review by NME too, and hailed as “unserious, unhinged and sensational”.
“It’s clear from the get-go that this is not a band who take themselves seriously – you needn’t look further than drummer Johnny ‘Doghead’ Hutchinson’s ever-present latex dog mask. But crucially, they’ve committed to the bit, and it makes the intricate and occasionally miserable post-punk that’s inundated the UK recently seem like a bore in comparison,” it read.
“Scream the words and dive head-first into the Fat Dog experience, because ‘Woof.’ is pure, unbridled escapism – just what the world needs right now.”
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