Fast becoming an unmissable highlight of the UK new music calendar, Cardiff’s Sŵn Festival today announces the second batch of names for its 2023 edition, taking place across the Welsh capital from October 20th to 22nd.
Sŵn is an award-winning multi-venue music festival bringing hundreds of artists to the heart of the Welsh capital. It was initially established by Huw Stephens in 2007, but is now organised by the Clwb Ifor Bach team.
Thanks to the inner-city layout of the festival, visitors to Sŵn are a short walk between gigs all weekend. Whether you’re a local, student, or visitor to the city – Sŵn is for everyone wanting to experience legendary live music or discover the next big thing.
An array of Welsh rising stars joins the Sŵn bill for 2023, including Gillie, Ani Glass, The Family Battenberg, Magugu and Catty. Celebrating the diverse, exciting nature of contemporary music, the weekend is jam-packed with genre-spanning Welsh language bands and emerging local musicians.
The tastemaker festival presents a perfect mix of established and upcoming artists for a celebration of new Welsh music and international acts. It promises to be another year of nurturing the best local, national, and international artists and offering a platform to bigger and better things.
The festival is known for securing big names before they hit the big-time. Running since 2007, previous line-ups have included the artists from Self Esteem to Wolf Alice, The Vaccines to Sam Fender, and from Black Country, New Road to Disclosure.
Over the years, it has hosted the biggest names in contemporary Welsh music, including Gruff Rhys, Gwenno, Cate Le Bon, Panic Shack, Mace The Great, Boy Azooga, Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard, and Adwaith.
Speaking of the latest additions for this year’s festival, Sŵn Festival promoter William Dickins shares:
“We are so so excited to introduce this next wave of Sŵn artists to everyone. We say it every year that this year is our favourite Sŵn lineup, because every year we are so excited by the incredible new music that we get to bring to the city, on top of our favourite artists that return to Sŵn once again. Giving a platform to incredible new acts like The Last Dinner Party, Fat Dog, Mandy Indiana & Bodur feels like such a privilege, and we encourage everyone to make the most of them while they can. They won’t be playing small venues for long!”
Other highlights announced today on a suitably stacked bill for the very best in new music include explorative Turkish-Sri Lankan experimental pop game-changer BODUR, Nottingham indie heavyweights and new Gravity/EMI signees Divorce, futuristic rock ‘n’ roll quintet Fat Dog, BBC Radio1 and NME co-signed Welsh ambient pop pioneer Gillie, the emotionally-resplendent, folk-tinged acoustic pop of Jasmine Jethwa, Dutch singer-songwriter Pip Blom fresh from making the move into thumping, carefree synth-pop on new album Bobbie, YALA! mainstay and much-loved indie staple Willie J Healey, and London mutant disco meets post-punk trio MADMADMAD.
Sŵn is the one for you if you fancy spending a fun weekend darting between indie venues and seeing talented people do what they love in front of a cosy audience.
