Every January, just after the Christmas trees come down, the Dutch town of Groningen hosts the Eurosonic festival. Musicians that wow the crowds here will go on to play Europe’s major outdoor shows in summertime, and this year Irish band Fight Like Apes were among the acts that impressed. Jim Carroll reports from the Netherlands

IF YOU want to get a heads-up about what bands will be spending this summer on the festival trail, Groningen is the place to go. Every January just after the Christmas trees come down, the northern Dutch city hosts the Eurosonic festival. Hundreds of live music bookers, agents, journalists and broadcasters jump on trains to get there.

By day, you’ll find these industry professionals engaged in rounds of meeting and greeting at the Oosterpoort convention centre. By night, they’re legging it around the town to run the rule over the finest new acts in Europe.

Groningen is is one of the world’s most bike-friendly cities and the gigging infrastructure is ideally pitched for a festival like this. There are two dozen excellent venues located in the city-centre. Meanwhile, the 45,000 students attending the city’s university ensure there are plenty of non-industry heads in the audience.

This year, the locals were joined by 2,650 professionals and over 250 bands. Add 22 radio stations to the mix, many of them broadcasting live from the event or recording shows for future transmission, and you can understand why the city’s Grote Markt is at fever pitch during the festival.

But while the media presence is undoubtedly important (after all, Eurosonic did grow out of an European Broadcasting Union event called Eurorock), the people the acts increasingly want to see at their 30- to 45-minute showcases are the festival bookers.

Over the past couple of years, Eurosonic has switched its focus towards the summer festivals. Besides the night-time showcases which provide bookers with fresh meat for their stages this summer, Eurosonic also offers opportunities for festival organisers to discuss such issues of common concern as EU health and safety legislation or to find out what headliners are playing where in July and August.

For the new acts, the festival’s European Talent Exchange Program (ETEP), a very simple but brilliant use of EU cultural funds, is an appealing inititative.

If an act is booked for a major European festival that is not on their home turf, the EU talent scheme will offer media support and exposure to a much bigger audience than the act could manage on their own. Some 59 festivals are already signed up for the programme and nearly 250 acts have benefited from help from the programme in the last five years.

With revenue from recorded music falling and acts highly aware of the importance of finding new markets for their tunes, bands and their handlers are beginning to cop on to EU support projects and the potential added value of a Eurosonic showcase.

While many of the bands at the festival are nominated and supported by their national radio stations, a huge number turn up and play under their own steam. In the past few years, for example, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of British acts travelling to Groningen.

Eurosonic is also on the radar of many Irish bands. Thanks to the longstanding involvement of 2FM producer Ian Wilson, there has always been a strong Irish representation at the festival.

This year, the station paid the bills for Fight Like Apes and The Coronas, while Declan De Barra, Wallis Bird and Belfast band General Fiasco also played at the festival. Station DJs Dan Hegarty and Jenny Huston broadcast shows from Groningen featuring live sets from the Irish contingent.

What’s interesting about Eurosonic is how just about every act really has a chance of getting some love from the festival bookers. Sure, some highly tipped acts fare better than most – though why anyone would be bothered with the mundanities of White Lies (the karaoke Interpol) beats me – but the festival bookers do get to a lot of shows. A lot of them are also looking for acts who do not necessarily fit into the traditional four-strong indie band mode.

And what about the acts you are going to see and hear more about this year? Going on reports from the meeting held by the EU talent people the morning after Eurosonic to discuss this year’s event, White Lies, First Aid Kit, Birdy Nam Nam, Dinosaur Pile-Up, Hjaltalín and The MooOd are set to have a busy summer.

• More information on Eurosonic at eurosonic.nl

SOUNDS OF EUROSONIC

FIGHT LIKE APES
Look on you hometown haters and despair. Fight Like Apes had a lengthy queue around the block keen to get a taste of their spiky, hectic flights of fancy. After 18 months of solid gigging, FLA's songs and performance are truly something to behold.

FIRST AID KIT
Two teenagers from the suburbs of Stockholm, Johanna and Klara Söderberg are all about the songs of Fleet Foxes as sung by Karen Dalton and Joanna Newsom's younger sisters. The packed room coos with delight to Tangerine and Little Moon.

BIRDY NAM NAM
Hugely enjoyable proof that you don't need guitars if you've got turntables and world-champion turntablists such as French DJs Crazy B, Pone, Need and Little Mike to operate them. Wibbly-wobbly cut-up masterpieces to put a smile on your gob.

MARCHING BAND
Another bunch of Swedes with dropdead gorgeous harmonies, Marching Band have some able hands on deck to fill out their folky, sassy songs. The likes of Gorgeous Behaviour (especially with that beautiful African guitar shine to it) and Make No Plans are the keepers here.

BADDIES
The sharp-dressed four-piece tore the Vera club apart with a set which was high on energy, drama and angular, demented post-punk pop such as debut single Battleships. Sounds like? Essex's Rocket From the Crypt by way of Gang of Four.

DINOSAUR PILE-UP
The good news is that they have more than one song. In fact, the Leeds trio with the Godzilla-sized grunge are so cocky that the anthemic My Rock'n'Roll appears just two songs into a dynamic set of scuzzy grooves, powerful riffs and raspy lyrics.

AEROPLANE
Anyone who has heard Aeroplane's remixes for Friendly Fires, MGMT or Grace Jones will be eagerly awaiting the debut album from the Belgian duo. A DJ set at the Puddingfabriek showcased the sexy, supple psychedelic disco tracks we can expect.

ERRORS
Signed to Mogwai's Rock Action label and with an excellent album (It's Not Something But It Is Like Whatever) already to their credit, Glasgow's Errors play very smart Battles-style post-rock with electronic bends.

RITA REDSHOES
The Portuguese for Patti Smith, Rita Redshoes has already recorded a couple of damn fine radio-friendly songs, but it's the unexpected spikes and kinks of her live set which makes this one worth a look. And yes, Rita and her band all sport red footwear.