Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Regurgitator announced for Sydney Festival 2017

PRESS RELEASE:

This year the Sydney Festival presents 22 ticketed music events across 5 venues plus 21 nights of free music in the Meriton Festival Village on the Village Stage (in Hyde Park) plus DJ’s throughout the festival, a Bowie tribute night Let’s Dance – (remembering that he shot the seminal clip to Let’s Dance in Sydney in 1983) – and a Roller-Disco every Saturday afternoon around the Archibald Fountain in Hyde Park.

At the ICC, Darling Harbour

Jan 20 – 21 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (AUSTRALIA / UK)

The mythical collective return to Sydney stages as bold, explorative and vital as ever, ready to showcase their sixteenth studio album Skeleton Tree.

sydneyfestival.org.au/nickcave

Jan 22 P J Harvey (UK)

The high priestess of dark indie rock returns, with a theatrical and brilliant new live show that had European and US audiences spellbound. Beloved early classics, war-torn new anthems; PJ’s legendary voice and her ten-piece band make the new and old alike feel fiercer than ever.

sydneyfestival.org.au/pj

At the Opera House:

Jan 17 1967: Music in the Key of Yes (AUSTRALIA) SOH Concert Hall

To mark the 50th anniversary of the 1967 referendum which saw 90.77% of Australians vote ‘Yes’; this is a concert of remembrance and gratitude to those who fought for civil rights and celebrates the soundtrack of change in Australia.

sydneyfestival.org.au/1967

Jan 24 Yann Tiersen (FRANCE) SOH Concert Hall

Best known for his much-adored film scores for Amélie and Goodbye Lenin!, Tiersen is inspired by post-punk as well as French folk music and chamber pop. His distinctive style is realised through a genreless approach to composition and mastery of literally dozens of instruments. This stripped-back solo piano performance will be intimate and magical.

sydneyfestival.org.au/yann

At St Stephen’s on Macquarie Street

Jan 12 Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith (USA)

Leading electronic music’s new wave, she makes layered compositions refined over the course of a prolific musical output and an expert command of a rare analogue Buchla synthesizer. Add sleekly filtered vocals to the mix, and the live show is as much a meditative as it is uplifting

sydneyfestival.org.au/kaitlyn

Jan 13 Szun Waves (AUSTRALIA / UK)

Drawing on free-jazz, psychedelia and drone, this new UK-Australian trio features PVT drummer Laurence Pike, electronic producer Luke Abbott and Portico’s Jack Wyllie, they experiment with saxophone, drums, and modular synth with an avant-garde pedigree most new bands would envy.

sydneyfestival.org.au/szun

Jan 14 Moses Sumney (USA)

Simply armed with a guitar, loop pedal and an otherworldly voice, his performances come together one carefully constructed layer at a time. Celestial and soulful, he plays dreamlike folk-soul with shades of Nina Simone and Prince.

sydneyfestival.org.au/moses

Jan 15 Circuit Des Yeux (USA)

With a deep, earthy croon that recalls Diamanda Galás and Nico, this is dark, cinematic folk built around complex and dramatic storytelling that feels like David Lynch ghostwriting for Bruce Springsteen.

sydneyfestival.org.au/circuit

Jan 27 Wafia (AUSTRALIA)

The young Australian singer bewitching radio waves the world over with slinky electronic collaborations and raw R&B performs an intimate solo piano set, stripping away the beats to showcase her haunting, luminous voice.

sydneyfestival.org.au/wafia

Jan 28 Dori Freeman (USA)

The perfect country folk voice: languid and pure-toned but with a little Appalachian dust on it. Drawing a line from Emmy Lou Harris and Teddy Thompson, pure, striking and at times utterly heartbreaking, Dori Freeman is an artist with a deep sense of purpose, and a visceral approach that cuts to the bone. Her story telling soaks up the wisdom of more decades than this 25 year old has lived.

sydneyfestival.org.au/dori

In the Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent:

Jan 13 Lake Street Dive (USA)

Perfecting a blend of rollicking soul, R&B, Motown pop and 1960s rock’n’roll, this Brooklyn-based, classically-trained foursome have been honing their craft for more than a decade. With their latest album debuting at no. 1 across three Billboard (US) charts, this is a band in their prime.

sydneyfestival.org.au/lakestreetdive

Jan 17 Regurgitator perform The Velvet Underground & Nico (AUSTRALIA)

Brisbane’s art-rock veterans reinvent the classic album that birthed eleven different genres – a faithful yet fresh take, a love letter across five decades from one set of enduring eccentrics to another.

sydneyfestival.org.au/regurgitator

Jan 18 Cash Savage and The Last Drinks (AUSTRALIA)

One of the most talked-about live acts to come out of Melbourne’s rowdy country-blues scene, Cash Savage’s gruff growl and spectacular songwriting mark her and The Last Drinks as unmissable. “Like a strange yet compelling hybrid of Ian Curtis and Elvis Presley.” – TheMusic.com

sydneyfestival.org.au/cash

Jan 19 Weyes Blood (USA / AUSTRALIA)

California’s Natalie Mering creates gorgeous songs which resonate with echoes of AM radio’s golden era, while conjuring the mystic yearnings of Judee Sill and the lost voices of LA’s Laurel Canyon. A former collaborator of Ariel Pink, Mering has handpicked an all-Australian backing band for her Australian premiere.

sydneyfestival.org.au/weyesblood

Jan 20 Jessy Lanza (CANADA / AUSTRALIA)

High soulful vocals and house-inflected 90s R&B promise a woozy, late-night atmosphere. With her acclaimed second album (2016’s Oh No) ready to flaunt live, she provides a dinstinctly feminine breath of fresh air in a male-dominated genre.

sydneyfestival.org.au/jessylanza

Jan 21 Mdou Moctar (NIGER)

Born in the Azawagh desert of Niger, Mdou Moctar taught himself to play a homemade guitar, and found his first fans in the West African mobile phone music trading network. After one of those tracks proved a standout on the cult compilation Music From Saharan Cellphones Vol. 1, he was signed to Sahel Sounds (whose founder, Christopher Kirkley, bought him his first left-handed Fender guitar), where his electrified, psych-influenced takes on traditional Tuareg guitar reached even wider acclaim.

sydneyfestival.org.au/mdou

Jan 22 Halfway (AUSTRALIA)

Aching, sunny, clever, catchy and quintessentially Australian; bittersweet pop with the DNA of Wilco, alt-country with a beating Brisbane heart. “After careful consideration I can only conclude that this album is perfect” – The Australian

sydneyfestival.org.au/halfway

Jan 27 Gawurra (AUSTRALIA)

One of the Northern Territory’s most beloved singers performs his ethereal take on Gupapuyngu songs, sharing both a connection to the life in his land and our past, and a voice that murmurs and soars. “Like fellow Yolngu artist Gurrumul, Gawurra commands attention” (Rolling Stone).

sydneyfestival.org.au/gawurra

Jan 28 The Comet is Coming (UK)

These Mercury Prize nominees are a creative jazz trio that describe their sound as “apocalyptic space funk” – a comet that “travels through distant galaxies exploring musical concepts”. The London-based group are at the forefront of a nascent movement creating new music steeped in history by incorporating dub, post-punk, 70’s sci-fi, afrobeat and psychedelic electronica.

sydneyfestival.org.au/comet

At City Recital Hall, Angel Place

Jan 7 Ane Brun (NORWAY)

It’s all about the voice – crystal clear, sweet and powerful. This Norwegian’s exquisite songs run from melancholy and jazzy right through to playful, sunny pop. At this solo show, she performs from the course of her six albums, including her new release, When I’m Free.

sydneyfestival.org.au/anebrun

Jan 20 Alim Qasimov Ensemble (AZERBAIJAN)

“Simply one of the greatest singers alive” – The New York Times.

Qasimov is the world’s most accomplished practitioner of the sublime Azerbaijani classical style, mugham. With a six-piece ensemble that includes his equally prolific daughter Fargana and traditional instruments from their homeland, they weave improvised passages through intricate folk songs to create an ecstatic night for the soul.

sydneyfestival.org.au/yann

Jan 28 Lubomyr Melnyk (UKRAINE)

Lauded for his ability to create a symphony of sound with a single instrument, this enigmatic composer has spent the past 40 years developing his unique piano technique. Describing it as ‘continuous music’, it combines the soaring density of post-rock and the virtuosic delicacy of minimal-classical. The results are dizzying, transcendental and lush.

sydneyfestival.org.au/lakestreetdive

Free Music in the Village (more TBA)

Soul Of Sydney

Jackie Orszaczky Budget Orchestra

Let’s Dance

Roller Jam