London – BestNewBand’s Tony Hardy was one of 40 music writers invited by Glastonbury Festival to settle on a long list of 120 acts from the several thousand entries to the 2017 Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition. Once the long list was announced a judging panel, including festival hosts Michael & Emily Eavis, then wrestled with the unenviable task of selecting just eight from 120 to go through to the live final. Deliberations complete, and doubtless with no little soul searching, the eight acts to have made it through to the live final have just been announced. There’s much more of an urban feel to the majority of this year’s finalist entries than in previous years. A sign of the times maybe? The eight through are: Flohio, Josh Barry, Lilith Ai, Lucas & King, Silences, Tyni, WOWH and Young Yizzy. Sadly our three choices for 2017 – The BeauBowBelles, Tara and S.O.S were not among them but all three acts can take real pride from their submissions. It is hoped that they are now on more peoples’ radar and playlists and the exposure and encouragement the competition has brought them will spur them on to bigger and better things. As a reminder of what kind of stepping stone the competition can provide here’s a little something from the 2016 winner, She Drew The Gun, followed by 2015’s victor Declan McKenna.
This year’s invite-only final will take place on Saturday 22 April. The outright winner will get to play a set on one of the main stages at this year’s Festival and earn a £5,000 PRS Foundation Talent Development prize. Two runners-up will also each be awarded a £2,500 PRS Foundation Talent Development prize. Emily Eavis commented: “Each year, we are blown away by the sheer amount of great music that’s being made by new, upcoming artists in the UK and Ireland. There really is so much talent out there, and it certainly wasn’t easy to narrow it down to just eight finalists. But we’ve ended up with a really strong list of acts and I can’t wait to see them all perform at the live final.” You can check out a playlist of all eight finalists here.
(Photo of 2016 winner She Drew The Gun by Jason Bryant)
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Tony Hardy
Tony’s great passion in life is music and nothing gives him more pleasure than unearthing good, original new music and championing independent musicians. His association with Best New Bands brings great opportunities for this. He also writes for Consequence of Sound and is a judge for Glastonbury Festival’s Emerging Talent Competition.
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