Jim Carroll pops along to a church in Gronijngen to check out the new acts mixing their way to a shot at the big time

WHAT every music festival needs is a bevy of dancing medieval wenches to get things going. Tonight, in the beautifully gothic Martinikerk church in the middle of Groningen, the Corvus Corax experience provides such a spectacle - and much more besides.

There has probably not been so much drama in the pews here since 1465, when the church tower was struck by lightning and collapsed. Everyone's favourite six-piece German medieval metal band are joined by some 40 or more other musicians and singers for this performance of Cantus Buranus, yet another interpretation of the 13th-century manuscript Carmina Burana, which Carl Orff most famously turned into a musical piece in 1937.

The band (some wielding medieval-style bagpipes), orchestra, hooded choristers and assorted backing singers tackle the piece with gusto. As it's the opening show for Eurosonic 2006, the lyrics about the pleasures of drinking, gluttony, gambling and lust seem particularly apt.

For two nights, this lovely northern Dutch city is the beating heart of new European music. Europe's best live music showcase ensures that there are thousands of music industry professionals, media folk and ordinary decent punters wandering to and from the 17 excellent venues dotted around the city-centre. All are attempting to catch as many of the 227 bands in town from 32 different countries as is humanly possible.

Every January, bands come to Groningen from all over Europe to catch the attention of live music agents, bookers and promoters. Other showcase events may target record labels or publishers but here, it's all about showing off your live mettle.

There's also an excellent radio dimension to Eurosonic. The festival began initially as an European Broadcasting Union (EBU) jaunt called Eurorock, which wandered from one location to another every year before establishing permanent lodgings in Groningen in 1999. The EBU involvement explains the flurry of live radio broadcasts and the number of mobile recording studios in situ for the weekend.

Thanks to the persistence of 2FM's Ian Wilson, there has long been an Irish association with the festival. Each year, the station sends a number of acts to perform in Groningen (this year, it was The Chalets and The Radio), broadcasts their sets live and airs other concerts from the festival regularly during the year.

For The Chalets, it was an opportunity to capitalise on their Check In album and win some new influential European friends. While The Radio's performance did showcase some killer new songs (especially forthcoming single Satellite), it also showed up the band's urgent need to hone their live skills.

In recent years, thanks to the European Talent Exchange Program (ETEP), a bond has been created between Eurosonic and European summer festivals. Acts who impress at Eurosonic are chosen to play at various summer festivals, with national radio stations then coming onboard to give these acts airplay and promotion.

It means that bands from Denmark or Norway could get to play at high-profile festivals such as Glastonbury (UK), Primavera (Spain), Rock Am Ring (Germany), Pinkpop (Holland) and Roskilde (Denmark) and receive a ton of radio play as a result of a decent show at Eurosonic.

You can certainly imagine acts like The Sounds or DJ Grazzhoppa's Big Band making a splash this summer. The Sounds are a five-strong Swedish band throwing out one smashing punky pop gem after another, as if Blondie had moved to Stockholm in '79. DJ Grazzhoppa heads the 12-strong turntable orchestra from Antwerp, an ensemble who spin and scratch up a merry, funky, soulful jam. Too many DJs? Certainly not in this case.

This year's festival focus on Germany ensured a strong contingent of contenders from there. Pick of the bunch for me were Robocop Kraus, whose spectacular sound, where noisy, funky art-rocking melodies and sparse grooves come together, has been well crafted over four albums to date. There was also much to admire in Masha Qrella's graceful, elegant blend of folk and electronics and in the shuffling ultra-modern wash of Barbara Morgenstern's beeps and bleeps.

In truth, you could wander into any venue at random and find something to be enthused about. In the space of an hour on the first night, for example, it was Icelandic world-pop explorers Steintryggur (featuring "Iceland's only tabla player"), the euphoric, dashing and bittersweet indie-pop of French trio Rhesus and the surging energy and rhythms of British band Kooks which provoked applause and footnotes to check out their MP3s.

Naturally there were some acts who failed to shine, but it doesn't take long to find another venue to frequent where another set of hopefuls are aiming to impress. For every Liset Alea with her ludicrously contrived agit-pop, there's a surprise like Spanish act The Sunday Drivers with their sunny Americana riffs and frills. At Eurosonic, the next big thing is probably playing in the club across the street.

More information from www.eurosonic.nl