![\"Billboard](\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/2HpFicp.png\")
Dove\u00a0Ellis Takes Flight<\/h2>\n
\t<\/p>\n
\n\tAs his stunning debut LP\u00a0Blizzard\u00a0<\/em>continues to garner praise across music outlets and forums, Ireland\u2019s\u00a0Dove\u00a0Ellis entered ESNS 2026 as one of this edition\u2019s hottest tickets \u2013 and delivered with ease. For those lucky enough to find a spot inside a packed-out Oosterport Binnenzaal, walking into the dimly lit room to his intense, brooding sound was transportive: goodbye bustling Groningen, hello darkness. <\/p>\n \n\tAn undercurrent of theatricality bubbled away through 22-year-old\u2019s blend of folk and baroque, not least during \u201cHeaven Has No Wings,\u201d when deliberate pause for breath from Ellis only heightened the song\u2019s soaring final chorus. It\u2019s easy to see why everyone\u2019s so excited about his early, but still quite raw, promise; by the end of the summer festival season, you suspect his star will fully be on the rise. \u2013 SOPHIE WILLIAMS<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tEuropean co-operation proved the leading topic across the week as the market \u2013 the second largest in the world behind North America \u2013 looks to hold its place amidst challenges from Latin America, Southeast Asia and India. A number of panels got into the nitty gritty of policy changes and initiatives that can benefit local regions, embolden creativity, and ensure new stars have a chance to succeed outside of major capitals.<\/p>\n \n\tPaul Callaghan<\/strong>, from Sunderland Music City, was among the speakers show how local initiatives and collaboration with stakeholders in the English city can benefit all: \u201cCulture is the soul of the city,\u201d he said alongside representatives from host city Groningen and as far away as Sicily, Italy. Linking up ideas, data, funds and stakeholders across regions, they say, will benefit all local music scenes moving forward. \u2013 THOMAS SMITH<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tIn Thursday\u2019s keynote address, CAA\u2019s Emma Banks spoke on the evolving nature of the live industry and an artist\u2019s approaches when booking shows on the circuit. Banks works with stadium headliners such as Muse, Red Hot Chili Peppers and more, but stressed that a one-size fits-all approach is not how she approaches talent bookings.<\/p>\n \n\tLily Allen\u2019s acclaimed LP West End Girl<\/em>, for example, will be first heard live in a theatre setting due to the record\u2019s narrative structure and intimate approach. The success of that upcoming run and scaling up to arenas was a \u201creactive\u201d moment because \u201cwe didn\u2019t know what [West End Girl<\/em>] was going to do.\u201d With a sold-out U.S. run and Allen\u2019s biggest-ever U.K. arena tour set to take place in 2026, the agent\u2019s role in shaping how an audience first experiences music (and managing and responding to demand) remains crucial. \u2013 T.S.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tAlthough the theme of European co-operation was on the agenda, having all nations and organisations pulling in the same direction is not a given. At Friday\u2019s panel titled Will Rosal\u00eda\u2019s <\/em>LUX Ignite Europe\u2019s Return as the World\u2019s No. 2 Music Power?<\/em>, the conflicting approaches and philosophies to how best promote the region\u2019s music were examined in an in-depth, if occasionally testy, conversation between key players from the IFPI and other local associations throughout the continent.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tComments by a high-ranking European Commissioner (the primary executive branch of the European Union) the day prior that music can be a \u201cculture or an industry\u201d and not both, rankled participants as they sought help from the biggest institutions to build the commercial opportunities within the region. The success of Rosal\u00eda\u2019s LUX<\/em> campaign felt like something of an after-thought in the discussion, but the passion and knowledge shown for the wider scene was clear to see. \u2013 T.S.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n\tThere was a time, towards the tail end of the 2010s, where Fraser T. Smith\u2019s influence on British pop, grime and rap felt inescapable. Between 2018 to 2020 alone, the songwriter and super-producer had credits on records by Dave, RAYE and Stormzy; prior to that, he\u2019d worked on Adele\u2019s record-smashing\u00a021<\/em>\u00a0LP. In recent years, however, Smith has focused on developing his own project Future Utopia, which nods to the various strands of disco, house and electronica. <\/p>\n \n\tOn stage at Simplon, Smith\u2019s assured and instinctual performance \u2013 for which he was joined by drummer Anthony \u2018Sweetstix\u2019 Lewis and vocalist Molly J \u2013 was sublime enough even without the trippy projections, driven by the looseness of the trio\u2019s groove. It felt almost impossible not to shake something or other while watching them shine.\u00a0\u2013 S.W.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.billboard.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Featuring performances by over 300 emerging acts from 39 countries taking place, there was no shortage of fresh discoveries to be made at ESNS 2026. Now in its 40th year, the festival serves as a showcase event and a crucial meeting point for leading bookers, agents, and promoters, all in the name of introducing soon-to-be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2245926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[300932,26961,24379,344980,352589],"class_list":["post-2245925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-billboard-uk","tag-europe","tag-international","tag-touring","tag-uk-live"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Biggest-Moments-From-Europes-Leading-New-Music-Showcase.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2245925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2245925"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2245925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2245927,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2245925\/revisions\/2245927"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2245926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2245925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2245925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2245925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Local Ecosystems Need to Be Linked<\/h2>\n
Emma Banks Gives a Unique Insight<\/h2>\n
Collaboration Doesn\u2019t Come Easily<\/h2>\n
Future Utopia\u2019s Disco Inferno<\/h2>\n