Your must-sees this summer

By Menno Visser

So you're a chart freak…why else would you be reading this column? (; And if you're wondering where the biggest ESNS talent comes alive this summer, you've come to the right place.

The dust has finally settled on the Exchange bookings: the ESNS festival partners have handpicked the best upcoming acts to take across Europe and beyond. So let's take a tour of the highlights… where to go this July and August!

Take Rock En Seine festival, held in late August in green gardens just outside Paris. One of the four ESNS acts you can catch there is Florence Road. This year is turning into a genuine success story for the Irish all-female indie rock band, booked no fewer than eleven times across Exchange festivals. Dig into the Analytics section and you'll see why: a massive following of 1.5 million across all platforms, with nearly a million of those on TikTok alone. But they show up in the main ESNS chart too: their single Hanging Out To Dry (Warner) sits at #50 after a five-week climb that peaked at #28. Not bad for an emerging act surrounded by so many established names. Their cumulative Spotify plays have quadrupled since ESNS in January, from 20 million to 80 million, and the likes of BBC Radio 1, Germany's 1Live and Dutch NPO 3FM have been spinning the single dozens of times.

British indie rockers Keo are one to watch in late August at Lowlands, which booked six former ESNS acts. This Dutch institution serves up an eclectic mix and is built from scratch on reclaimed land. It’s like a temporary city of more than 50,000 that's been dubbed the Dutch Coachella, drawing partygoers who like to be seen. Universal-signed Keo currently sit at #34 in the ESNS Emerging chart with That's Me, after peaking at #9. With around 100,000 fans, mostly on Instagram, it's the single that has pulled in the most airplay so far — and their cumulative Spotify streams have doubled since ESNS to ten million.

Another chart success story comes from a Belgian chanteuse with Congolese roots: Camille Yembe. This week she's at #17 with the sultry Rien À Fêter (Pafff Music), after reaching #9 over an eleven-week run. In July she performs at Switzerland's Paleo festival in Nyon, which booked seven recent ESNS acts. Founded in the seventies as a folk festival, Paleo is now the biggest in Switzerland and was crowned Best Major European Festival of 2025 by the European festival body Yourope. Check the Analytics: Yembe has 80,000 fans, half of them on Instagram, and her cumulative Spotify count has tripled since ESNS, from 3 million to 9 million. She is, without a doubt, on the way up.

If you've never been to the Czech festival Colours of Ostrava, you're missing out. This vast international event takes place in July against the striking industrial backdrop of former ironworks and coal mines. They booked eight ESNS acts, among them Swedish soul and spoken-word artist Joshua Idehen. There's no clear radio single yet, according to the Analytics section — but programmers loved him so much he's booked at twelve other European festivals.

Let's finish with one more live must-see. The most-booked ESNS act of them all is still modern Irish folk band Madra Salach. Booked fifteen times across Europe, they're a real Golden Goose story, snowballing through show after show. They picked up 23% more fans last month and have grown their audience tenfold since ESNS, all on the back of just a handful of plays on BBC 6 Music. They're one of eight ESNS picks for Germany's Haldern Pop, a festival that every year programs some of the best-kept secrets around.

On behalf of the ESNS chart team: have a lovely summer, and see you at a festival!