Belfast rockers Dea Matrona have been added to the Eurosonic 2022 line-up, with the trio also supporting Van Morrison at tonight's eagerly-awaited Millennium Theatre gig.

The winners of the Most Promising Act in the Hot Press Readers’ Poll 2021 have been predicted as among those most likely to break through this year by Hot Press. Since then, they've signed to X-Ray Touring as booking agents, and Reading and Leeds Festival slots have been secured.

Already this year, Dea Matrona has achieved breakthrough success, with Singles 'Make You My Star’ and 'Stamp on It’ both reaching No.1 in UK and Ireland iTunes Rock Charts.

Dea Matrona have achieved millions of views on various videos including a cover of 'Oh Well' by Fleetwood Mac. Their cover of ‘Gloria’ by Them has also proven a highlight of Hot Press ‘Rave On, Van Morrison’ extravaganza, racking up closes to 300,000 views to date.

Speaking of Van the Man, the band (made up of Belfast school friends Mollie McGinn and Orlaith Forsythe, plus Mollie's younger sister Mamie) supported Morrison last night in Derry. Their first night (November 10) was "a blast", they tweeted. They're sure to impress again tonight.

Dea Matrona will join the likes of fellow Irish acts For Those I Love, Kynsy and CMAT on the ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag) bill. It remains the leading international platform for the European music sector, and recently announced the anticipated line-up for its January 2022 edition.

Other acts include Daði Freyr, Sylvie Kreusch, ascendant vierge, Froukje, Mimi Webb, Meskerem Mees, Yard Act, Wu-Lu and Travis Birds. The full line-up is available here – with more acts to be announced in the coming weeks.

Unlike this year's virtual event, the upcoming showcase festival will take place physically. Following the impact of the pandemic, the overall theme of ESNS 2022 is 'Building Back Better Together'.

“ESNS is an event representing the live industry in which networking is key," ESNS director Dago Houben says. "It is therefore inevitable that, now that the restrictions of the pandemic are diminishing, we are going to set up a physical event. We have found that there is a need for this among both artists and delegates. In keeping with this year's adage, Building Back Better Together, we are organising ESNS in physical form and taking some successful digital elements from the last edition with us.”

Registration for ESNS 2022 is open now, via the ESNS website. There are a limited number of tickets available at the Early Bird rate of €275 (a discount of €150 on the walk-up rate of €450). Delegates who bought a ticket for the digital edition last year will receive a €50 discount, and tickets for Young Professionals (up to 28 years) are available for €225.

For more information see esns.nl