4 wall - 32 counts - intermediate

This year was the firstCountry to Country festivalheld over two days inthe O2 Arena in Londonbringing some of thebiggest names in CountryMusic all under one roof.Claire Butterworth andSteve Rutter tell us allabout it.The weekend began for us at five ammaking the four and a half hour journeydown to London. Upon arrival we couldsee streams of Stetsons, like a miniNashville; we knew for sure we wereheading in the right direction! Withinthe Arena were lots of stands sellingmerchandise from the artists both bigand small, food from all over the world,a great deal of western wear and evenGem-in-I selling all their sparkles.The arena was the main attraction ofcourse but there were also some smallerstages which showcased country artistsfrom all over the world including JillJohnson from the USA and a duo fromScotland who we think we’ll be seeinga lot more of on the Line dance circuitcalled Raintown. They are, at the time ofwriting this feature, supporting BrantleyGilbert’s tour.We also met Ags Connoly, an artist verykeen to get involved with the Line dancecommunity. We also chatted to TheGood Intentions who are a Blue GrassBand from Liverpool. To us these artistscaptured the audience’s imaginationand created a superb atmosphere whilewe waited in anticipation for the big actsto come on the main stage.Supporting big names is never easybut we were really impressed by theseguys.So to the main event. The first act on themain stage was Grammy award winningKristian Bush from the duo Sugarland.He was followed by Little Big Town, agroup that is a firm favourite for us both.We made our way up to the mainarena and found our seats, theatmosphere was just amazing. Theone thing that struck our attention wasthe age range there. The majority ofthe crowd were young, showing thatCountry music is still very much alivein the UK today.With this in mind, this could be thetime when we finally should be able topromote country music within our dancescene far more than we do and attractyounger elements as well as keeping thefans happy.52 • May 2013 www.linedancermagazine.com