C2C 2025: A Whirlwind of a Weekend

The boots are back in the cupboard, the tassels are no longer in tow, but the memories of non-stop live country music all weekend live on! The biggest weekend for country music in Europe has been and gone, in a flash. Here’s the lowdown, backstage goss and highlights from our whirlwind of a weekend at C2C 2025…

Magical moments from Friday

For one weekend only, country fans across the UK trade in neon-lit honky tonk dreams for a sell-out stadium festival across London, Glasgow & Belfast, and boy was 2025 a special one. Cowboy hats, tassel jackets, dusty boots and big country energy poured in to the Town Square where western brands made their mark surrounding the sell-out venue, and of course, we we there chatting to fans and artists whilst live streaming on radio all weekend.

The queen of bell bottoms, (with an accent that never tires), Lainey Wilson, graced the headline spot at London’s 02 arena and totally got us all tangled up in her whirlwind! From the token outfit choices and the spell-binding stage presence to the classic Lainey bangers, she brought some real music city magic to South East London. Stand out moments include the ‘Hang Tight Honey’ opener to the classic ‘Watermelon Moonshine’ which put Lainey on the Country Music map, ‘Heart Like a Truck’ and of course her latest #1, 4X4XU:

But it wasn’t all about the farmers daughter who has risen to country music stardom, Friday’s line up in the capital saw Dylan Gossett, 49 Winchester, Tucker Wetmore and Wyatt Flores make their mark on the Chris York main stage. Crowd-pleaser tunes like ‘Coal’ by Dylan and newer releases like ‘Hillbilly Happy’ by 49 Winchester to ‘Wind Up Missin’ You’ by Tucker Wetmore, sending 20,000 country fans wild.

Catch up on all things Friday here:

A Spotlight on Saturday

A few sore heads may have been afoot in peninsula square come Saturday but the buzz for round 2 of non-stop country music washed away any cobwebs in a flash!

Arizona-born Dierks Bentley ‘blew the roof off’, quoted from CountryLine’s head of radio, John Collins, playing favourites from ‘Drunk on a plane’ to ‘. Warming up for Dierks was of course Tyler Hubbard playing crowd pleasers such as ‘Dancing in the country’ and ‘Back then, right now’.

Who’s getting drunk on a plane?

Kicking off the early doors of the arena, and slowly drawing people away from the bustle of the The Town Square were Chayce Beckham, Niko Moon and Tanner Ardell. But back to the Town Square for a hot minute, we pitched up by the glorious Wrangler x Lainey Wilson air stream to bring you a live broadcast all weekend on Country Line radio.

From this same western corner of the tent we hosted our meet & greet which saw ecstatic fans, eclectic outfits and lots of snaps with music city risers such as Jess & The Bandits, Drew Baldridge and Mackenzie Carpenter.

Catch up on all things Saturday here:

Curtain Call on Sunday

We blinked and opened the saloon doors to the final day of the C2C festival at Londons 02 arena, where the tassels trickled in, the tipples were flowing and the curtain call for country music was on the horizon. And as traditions should be, fans were transported from South East London to the home of country music at our Grand Ole Opry Stage yet again!

Cowboy, Hunter, Fisherman, Songwriter AND Performer Cody Johnson stole the hearts of British country fans on night two! He brought the home of country music to the 02 with a spectacular headline set on the Chris York Main Stage, playing ‘Til you can’t’, ‘The Painter’ and a beautiful cover of ‘Travelin’ Soldier’ to name just a few. But he wasn’t the only one tugging on heart strings, as Nate Smith performed a rendition of Coldplays ‘Chasing Cars’ to an 02 arena illuminated with phone torches. He also got the crowd going with ‘Whiskey on you’.

Away from the slow and emotional tunes though was of course Shaboozey with his banger from last year ‘A Bar Song (Tipsy)’, which has had over one billion streams on Spotify alone! Country Line’s Nathalie Cox also caught up with him backstage, so more to come on that soon… And there was a whole lot of love for Kashus Culpepper at the Country Line Stage, more to come from him soon!

And we cannot mention the Sunday stage line-up without a special shoutout to Avery Anna & The Castellows who brought a magical Nashville energy to yet another sell-out show!

C2C: Across state lines

The artists spent the weekend hopping between venues, with the festival’s Belfast and Glasgow legs kicking off on Friday! It marked Belfast’s second consecutive year after a highly successful 2024, and both Celtic cities were alive with the electrifying energy of music city vibes.

Fans poured into the SSE Arena in Belfast and the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, eager to see both rising stars and incredible headliners. The soft melodies of The Castellows, the poetic lyrics of Wyatt Flores, the intimate tones of Dylan Gossett, and the heartfelt storytelling of Nate Smith all set the perfect stage before the powerhouse performances of Cody Johnson, Lainey Wilson, and Dierks Bentley had the crowd on their feet.

The event drew thousands of country music fans from across Scotland and Northern Ireland, further proving the genre’s growing popularity in these parts of the UK. Country Line’s Stuart Banford caught up with a few:

Team highlights: The Country Line Edit

• John (our head of radio) loved meeting radio fans in real life and he especially enjoyed Dierks Bentley who “blew the roof off!”
• Nathalie (Country Line founder & TV host) thought Drew Baldridge smashed it and she particualarly loved Nate Smiths COlplday cover!
• Kevin (Country Line manager) thought Dierks’ backstage interview was awesome, especially hime sussing out the Country Line tube map (see evidence below! and these will be available to buy from our merch site soon…)
• Jacob (Country Line’s marketing man) thought meeting Corey Marks was cool, who was then spotted having a pint and fish & chips at a pub in Croydon. Cheers to THAT.

Dierks sussing out the map in question…

And that’s a wrap on Country to Country 2025! If you cowboy booted your way around either London, Glasgow or Belfast, we salute you! If you tuned in on the airwaves to bring a slice of music city to your homes, thanks so much for joining us. We’ll be back on the C2C saddle next year, but until then, you can get your country music fix from the heart of Nashville, right here on Country Line.

C2C 2025: over and out!