Organisers of Cardiff’s Sŵn Festival are thrilled to reveal the third wave of performers for its 2023 edition today. An unmissable highlight of the UK live calendar, the award-winning music festival returns to showcase over 100 artists from Cymru and beyond in the heart of the Welsh capital from October 20th to 22nd.
From today, music fans can purchase single and multi-day tickets for Sŵn Festival. Early bird and tier one weekend tickets sold out before a single artist was announced following rave reviews in 2022. And less than 25% of weekend tickets remain. Today’s third wave of artists amps up even more excitement for the tastemaker festival.
Sŵn shines a spotlight on the diverse and exciting contemporary music coming out of Wales. An array of Welsh rising stars join the Sŵn bill, including Artshawty, Grey FLX, Safari Gold, The Shunkos, Gwcci, Nookee and Tiny Camels, as well as Alaw, Hyll, Death Cult Electric, Esther, Waterpistols and Małgola, No.
They join 25 other Welsh acts already announced for this year’s incredible festival programme, including avant-pop artist Ani Glass, ascendant rapper Luke RV, the driving post-punk of Slate, Alt-Rock trio Chroma, Indie-folk artist Gillie, Welsh drill pioneer Sage Todz, and psych-rockers The Family Battenberg. The weekend is stacked with genre-spanning Welsh language bands and the next generation of artists putting Wales on the map.
Other big names announced today include Picture Parlour, Hak Bakar, Zzzahara, Our Girl, Flamingods, Acid Klaus, William Doyle, Flamingods, Tapir!, Viji and the inimitable Utopia Strong.
These names add to an already jam-packed line-up including the abundantly hyped The Last Dinner Party, the one-man maelstrom that is Skinny Pelembe, much-loved indie staple Willie J Healey, Manchester-via-New-Jersey auteur BC Camplight, Northern noise behemoths Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Nottingham indie heavyweights Divorce, futuristic rock ‘n’ roll quintet Fat Dog, Dutch singer-songwriter Pip Blom, and dance-pop disruptors Jessica Winter and Links.
Speaking of the latest additions for this year’s festival, Sŵn Festival’s Head of Music Adam Williams said: “One thing that makes Sŵn so special and exciting to us is that we’re able to book the artists across the course of a full year. It means by wave 3 the focus is on those artists who have emerged in the past few months leading up to the festival like Viji, Picture Parlour, Trout and Flip Top Head. We also welcome better known artists like Our Girl who make their long awaited Sŵn Festival debut.”
Sŵn is an award-winning multi-venue music festival bringing hundreds of local, national, and international artists to the centre of Cardiff. It was initially established by Huw Stephens in 2007 but is now organised by the Clwb Ifor Bachteam.
Council Leader, Cllr Huw Thomas said: “Every act you see at Sŵn Festival could be the next big thing – that’s part of what makes it such an exciting event. But it’s also a chance to support Cardiff’s independent venues, and showcase the city’s creative spirit, and the diverse musical community at its heart.
“As a Council, we want to continue to build music into the fabric of the city, make it part of our thinking on everything from planning and policy to transport and tourism, and continuing our support for Sŵn Festival is one important element of this long-term Music Strategy.”
The festival is known for securing big names before they hit the big-time – previous line-ups have included artists from Self Esteem, Wolf Alice and The Vaccines to Sam Fender, Black Country, New Road and 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.
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. If you fancy spending a fun weekend darting between indie venues and seeing talented people do what they love in front of a cozy audience – then check out tickets today.
Day tickets are available at the following prices: Friday – £20, Saturday – £40, Sunday – £30, Friday + Saturday – £55, Saturday + Sunday – £65. Early bird and tier one weekend tickets sold out before a single artist was announced, with tier two weekend tickets still on-sale. Head to swnfest.com for more information.
