South by Southwest (SXSW) Sydney continues to tease us, today dropping new information about the inaugural futurist conference and music and culture festival in October – including featured speakers, legendary parties, and the first crop of local music acts who will perform alongside a growing list of international talent.
We can now confirm that we’ll be getting Down Under versions of two of the biggest annual parties from SXSW Austin. Start breaking in your dancing shoes now, as Dr Martens and Vans have just joined major sponsor, Young Henrys, which means they will make their footprint with the respective Dr Martens Presents and House of Vans performance hubs. Both brands are renowned for throwing legendary parties at SXSW in Austin, with past line-ups including the likes of Denzel Curry, the Stooges, Alex G, Odesza, Wolf Alice and others.
The newest featured speaker to be unveiled is Chris Lee, a.k.a. Sung-su Lee, Chief A&R Officer and former CEO of one of Korea’s largest entertainment companies, SM Entertainment. Recently named as one of Billboard’s International Power Players for the second consecutive year, Lee is credited with popularising many K-pop stars, including SHINee, EXO, Red Velvet, NCT, aespa and more.
The next crop of rapidly-rising stars populating the inaugural Music Festival program includes juice-box punk-pop Adelaide two-piece Teenage Joans, fresh from a successful SXSW in Austin in March. We’re also keen to see Alter Boy – fresh from playing Sydney WorldPride, this avante-garde alt-pop collective is fronted by trans and hard-of-hearing artist Molly Priest.
In alphabetical order, the rest of the Aussie acts just added to the music line-up include: 1tsp, Andrew Gurruwiwi Band, Ashli, Dean Brady, Dice, Dust, Elle Shimada, Go-Jo, Mali Jo$e, Mi-Kaisha, Mikayla Pasterfield, Milku, Pania, Phoebe Go, Rum Jungle, Teenage Joans and VV Pete.
“The line-up features an essential array of styles, ranging from post-punk, jazz, and experimental pop to club-tinged hip-hop, R’n’B, and indie folk,” said Claire Collins, head of music, SXSW Sydney. “It is a vibrant snapshot of the undeniably exciting next wave of talent from across the globe, from Western Sydney to the Top End, South Korea to the UK and beyond. We can’t wait to reveal more in the coming weeks and months.”
SXSW Sydney is taking over the city from October 15-22, 2023. You can find out more about what the festival footprint will look like, as well as a typical day at SXSW, over here.
To access what SXSW Sydney has to offer, you need a badge. Platinum and Industry badges are now available here.
Applications are now open for SXSW Music Festival performances, Screen Festival screenings, and panel proposals. SXSW Sydney will take over from October 15-22, 2023. Find out more at sxswsydney.com.
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