ONLY a few weeks away now from the biggest event in the UK country calendar as the Country2Country Festival returns to the UK on March 7 and 8 at London's O2 Arena.

For the older appreciators of country music the C2C Festival is the replacement for the long running International Festival of Country Music held at the Wembley Area decades ago which also toured Europe.

For the first time this years event is also heading further into Europe with additional events in Sweden at the Ericsson Globe and in Norway at Oslo Spektrum Arena on Saturday 28th February and Sunday 1st March.

This year the UK can expect to see performances from Luke Bryan and Lady Antebellum who will be joined by Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean, Brandy Clark, Brantley Gilbert, Kip Moore and LeeAnn Womack.

More than 20 up-and-coming artists including British acts will perform on pop-up stages across the site and the Town Square will return with a whole host of food, drink and entertainment stands.

The shows will be compered by Bob Harris from the BBC and radio and TV coverage of the event will be broadcast during and after the weekend according to a BBC spokesperson.

Last years event proved the popularity of country music here in the UK although many fans this year have related to the fact that many of country music's long established artists have been left out of the lineup which tends to lean towards the more commercial performers rather than many established traditional stalwarts.

  • Tickets are still available from: axs.com/c2c 08448 24 48 24 and gigsandtours.com / 0844 811 0051.