BIGSOUND have made good on their promise to 'go big' for its 21st year, announcing 182 of the finest emerging artists in the country
Following on from a huge first announce of conference speakers, BIGSOUND is bursting at the seams to announce its biggest festival lineup in celebration of its 21st birthday.
With some record-breaking stats, BIGSOUND has narrowed the showcasing artists down from over 1300 applications to a huge 182 artists, in an unenviable task for the festival programmers. These figures see a jump of 38 artists compared to the last in-person event in 2019.
The Key Takeaways
- BIGSOUND has dropped its biggest ever festival lineup, featuring 180 of the finest emerging artists in the country
- Up from 38 artists in 2019, artists include Budjerah, flowerkid, Hope D, Mia Wray, Teenage Joans, The Terrys and more
- Happening over three days, the festival program will feature see more than 300 performances across 21 venues while the conference side of the program will be the place to network and bring ideas to life with more than 55 sessions and more than 150 conference speakers plus 1,500-plus conference delegates attending.
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In 2022, the incredible array of artists will perform on 23 stages, across 21 venues over 3 nights in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley this September.
Finally back to an in-person event, the first since 2019, BIGSOUND is thrilled to host some of Australia’s most buzz worthy acts including Adrian Dzvuke, Budjerah, flowerkid, Dallas Woods, Mia Wray and Teenage Joans who have triumphed in recent years but have not had the chance to showcase their wares on the BIGSOUND stages – until now!
There’s a huge array of artists to watch from some of the nations’ capital cities including Perth/Boorloo’s Dulcie, Ghost Care, Death by Denim and Banjo Lucia and Melbourne/Naarm’s Ashwarya, Birdz and Kee’ahn. From Sydney/Warrang comes merci, mercy, Stevan and The Rions. BIGSOUND’s home of Brisbane/Meanjin will see Hope D, Hallie, Jem Cassar-Daley, Concrete Surfers and VOIID take to the stage.
Some incredible artists will also be joining us all the way from Alice Springs to Byron Bay, Bunbury to Cairns and everywhere in between including Aodhan, BOY SODA, The Terrys, Greta Stanley, Newport and Mvllholland.
There are plenty of artists breaking the mould, like Alter Boy who make their music accessible to those who are hard of hearing by incorporating AUSLAN into their live performance.
Take a breath, we’re not done.
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There will be something for every genre lover too; Caroline & Claude, Molly Millington, CLOE TERARE, grentperez, Liyah Knight and Woodes will all showcase their unique style of indie pop to delegates and festival attendees. Tasman Keith, Queen P, Gold Fang and Anesu are just some of the artists bringing their rhymes to the Valley. Filling the heavy void are Five Island Drive, Future Static, Wildheart and more. Plenty of artists will be flying the flag for lovers of R&B, Soul, Jazz, World Music, Shoegaze, Electronica and Punk.
New to the festival program this year is BIGSOUND Country and leading the field across the multi-faceted world of country music is The Buckleys, DARLINGHURST, Hinterland, Loren Ryan, Melanie Dyer, Taylor Moss and The Wolfe Brothers.
The event is also thrilled to be welcoming some international artists in 2022. Heading over from New Zealand are JessB, Soaked Oats, Troy Kingi, TE KAAHU, Church & AP, MELODOWNZ and Jenny Mitchell.
“Wow, what a ride! After spending a month reading and listening to a record number of applications, we are certain that the future of music is in safe hands. BIGSOUND Showcase programming is a dream job so we would never complain, but it’s hard to put into words what a difficult time we had getting to this final lineup,” says Festival programmers Ruby-Jean McCabe and Dominic Miller.
“The applications this year were of an extremely high calibre, and we could have easily programmed another 180+ artists if we had the space. We can’t wait for these artists to arrive in Fortitude Valley for BIGSOUND 2022 and for everyone else to see how special they are too.”
These 180+ acts will play to hundreds of labels, publishers, agents, festival programmers, publicists and industry delegates all keen to bid for the next big thing and the headliners of tomorrow.
Of course, the heart of BIGSOUND is Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley. An entertainment precinct like no other, it homes an expansive network of neighbouring music venues, forming a zig-zag, choose-your-own-adventure musical journey between intimate rooms to world class outdoor stages.
BIGSOUND 2022 is happening in Brisbane from Tuesday, September 6 to Friday, September 9. For more information, the full lineup and to purchase tickets, visit the BIGSOUND website.
