R&L, Clockenflap, Hangout and more detail 2023 events
Reading and Leeds (UK), Clockenflap (HK), Hangout (US), Open’er (PL), Colours of Ostrava (CZ), Ejekt (GR) and Rockwave (GR) have unveiled fresh waves of artists for next year’s events.
The UK’s premiere rock and pop festival Reading & Leeds has revealed Lewis Capaldi, Foals, Billie Eilish, The Killers, Sam Fender and Imagine Dragons as next year’s six headliners.
Other acts lined up for the August bank holiday (25–27) bash include Wet Leg, Slowthai, Bicep, Becky Hill, Steve Lacy, Central Cee, MUNA, The Snuts, Tion Wayne and more.
Clockenflap, Hong Kong’s biggest international outdoor music and arts festival, has also announced the first wave of acts confirmed to perform at Central Harbourfront from 3–5 March 2023.
Headliners Arctic Monkeys will be joined by French synth-rockers Phoenix, local hip-hop protegee YoungQueenz, Norwegian folk-pop duo Kings of Convenience and German electronic supergroup Moderat among others.
Clockenflap last took place in 2018, with the final pre-coronavirus edition (2019) cancelled at the last minute due to pro-democracy protests. The 2020 and 2021 editions were both cancelled due to strict restrictions on large-scale outdoor events.
Hangout has announced Red Hot Chili Peppers, SZA, Calvin Harris, Paramore, Lil Nas X, Flume, Skrillex and The Kid Laroi
Elsewhere, US festival Hangout has announced a number of blockbuster acts including headliners Red Hot Chili Peppers, SZA, Calvin Harris, Paramore, Lil Nas X, Flume, Skrillex and The Kid Laroi.
Joining them on the white sand beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama, between 19 and 21 May 2023, is Mayday Parade, The Maine, Tove Lo, Alison Wonderland and more.
The festival, which is produced by Sean O’Connell in partnership with Goldenvoice, is touted as “the most anti-winter, adulting-be-damned, carefree getaway possible”.
Poland’s Open’er festival is also taking shape, with Lil Nas X confirmed as a headliner for what will be his first-ever show in the country.
Rap royalty Kendrick Lamar has also joined the bill, which already boasts Arctic Monkeys, Lizzo, Queens Of The Stone Age, OneRepublic and Nothing But Thieves.
The festival will return to Gdynia Kosokowo Airport between 28 June and 1 July 2023, and is once again promoted by Alter Art.
Poland’s Open’er festival has added Lil Nas X and Kendrick Lamar to an already stand-out lineup
The Polish promoter is also firming up the bill for its other marquee festival Orange Warsaw, which has so far secured Sam Smith and The 1975 for next year’s instalment.
The 14th edition of the 10,000-capacity festival is slated to take place at the Horsetrack Warsaw-Służewiec between 2 and 3 June 2023.
Across the border, Czech Republic’s Colours of Ostrava is coming together, with One Republic, Macklemore, Tom Grennan and Sleaford Mods among the confirmed artists.
The festival, which takes place in the industrial area of a former mining site in Ostrava, hosts acts over two dozen outdoor and indoor stages, as well as providing a programme of cinema, theatre, literature and art. The event will return to Dolní Vítkovice between 19–22 July 2023.
In Greece, Ejekt festival has confirmed Florence and the Machine for next year’s edition, slated for 2 July 2023 at Plateia Nerou, Athens. The 2022 event, which was the 21st, featured Muse, Yungblud and Nothing But Thieves.
Elsewhere in the country, Xlalala’s Rockwave has confirmed Robbie Williams, Deep Purple and Saxon for the Terra Vibe Park festival, which will run throughout July 2023.
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AEG, Dainty to launch Hangout spin-off in Australia
The city council of Gold Coast, in Queensland, Australia, has given the go-ahead for a new two-day festival, SandTunes, for December 2018.
The festival, produced by AEG and local promoters TEG Dainty and Cross Promotions, will be held on Coolangatta Beach, in the suburb of Coolangatta, on 1 and 2 December. It is an offshoot of Hangout Music Fest, AEG/Goldenvoice’s popular three-day event in Alabama, which was this year headlined by Mumford & Sons, Chance the Rapper and Twenty One Pilots.
The Gold Coast Bulletin reports SandTunes will be a one-off ‘destination’ event with two stages and a capacity of 35,000.
“This event could go anywhere – there would be venues around Australia lining up to take it”
Two councillors, Gail O’Neill and Pauline Young, voted against the proposal, with O’Neill telling a council meeting “love[s] festivals” but that the event “belongs somewhere else, not on Coolangatta Beach”.
Councillor Bob LaCastra, countering, said SandTunes would help plug a hole left in Gold Coast’s finances by the cancellations of Big Day Out and Summafieldayze festivals. “This event could go anywhere – there would be venues around Australia lining up to take it,” he said.
According to minutes from a 22 August council meeting, the city is willing to contribute up to A$200,000 (US$160,000) towards the cost of staging the festival.
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Wish you were here?
Forty years ago, if you’d showed up to a music festival, the coat you were wearing would also have served as your sleeping bag. And your tent.
But times change and the festival experience has had to change too. Forget about glamping – Eamonn Forde takes a tongue-in-cheek look at ten of the most eye-popping VIP package choices on the market…
Name: Secret Solstice
Location: Iceland
Price: US$1 million (€882,000) for six people
Headliners Radiohead may have pioneered the pay-what-you-want model, but the price here is non-negotiable. For that wallet-trembling price you get all manner of things – starting with “business jet transport from anywhere on Earth” (return, luckily) on a Gulfstream G300 “or similar”, two private concerts, and access to ultra-VIP areas, if mixing with the hoi polloi is too much to bear. There’s also access to shows in a glacier (a glacier!) and a volcano (a volcano!) and helicopter trips. You do get a lot for your money and if you’ve ever tried to buy a round of drinks in Reykjavik, suddenly $1m doesn’t seem that expensive.
Name: Desert Trip
Location: Indio, California, US
Price: $10,000 (€8,820) for two people
The line-up is not what you’d call underwhelming (the Rolling Stones, Dylan, The Who, Paul McCartney, Neil Young and Roger Waters), so at a once-in-a-lifetime festival, you can’t be expected to rough it. For your ten grand, you get to sleep in an exclusive area in a Shikar tent that has actual beds and, incredibly, air conditioning. While waiting for the artists to get out of their bath chairs, you can go to cocktail and craft beer tasting sessions and then slump, content, into outdoor chairs to listen to the songs that defined the counterculture, aimed as they were at the freaks and misfits who railed against pernicious mainstream cooption. Oh…
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