Aiming to attract over 20,000 people in its first year, the festival will bring together talent both international and local, including household names and emerging, startling talent. Its festival site stretches and sprawls through a labyrinth of spaces, busy streets and quieter corners, through Cardiff’s dynamic city centre to the glistening river mouth and freshwater lake of Cardiff Bay.
Electronic music pioneers Leftfield and Orbital have been announced as the headliner's for this year's festival. Cardiff is already an exciting, noisy and energetic hub for this activity, where groundbreaking homegrown talent - from Mace the Great and Juice Menace to Minas and Das Koolies, take to stages at iconic grassroot and major venues.
Especially-commissioned urban soundscapes, a tech and talent conference, industry sessions and a bustling fringe programme will add extra layers of rhythm and noise to the festival’s progressive, enthusiastic reach. Cardiff Music City festival nights will also bring together some big names in the industry with tomorrow’s exploding talents.
Intending to challenge, excite and inspire fans across generations and genres, and provide platforms and showcases for radical ideas, sounds and collaborations the Cardiff Music City Festival will break new ground in disruptive, diverting, spectacular ways. It will also skyrocket the spirits of a whole city, delivering synchronised collective experiences, turning up the volume in a mass celebration of what music can be and what – in our wildest, loudest dreams – it can do.
Imagine a city composed entirely of music for three glorious weeks. A city not just of fantastic venues and cultural places, but of streets that pulse with immersive music happenings, secret gigs and inventive pop-ups. A city where music interventions and unusual residencies are suddenly coming alive in unexpected corners. A city where electronic and dance events, sonic art and talks with emerging artists and cultural thinkers are thrumming together simultaneously, beating like a huge heart.
Supported by Welsh Government and Cardiff Council, the Cardiff Music City Festival aims to attract 20,000 in its first year. Encompassing renowned new music festival Sŵn and Wales Millennium Centre’s international arts weekend, Llais, the festival will spread music throughout the city, challenging, exciting and inspiring fans across generations and genres.
A full programme of local and international talent, including household names and emerging talent will be announced over the coming months.
Cardiff Music City Festival runs from September 27th 2024 – 20th October 2024.
Tickets for Orbital and Leftfield at Utilita Arena Cardiff, in association with Soundcrash, go on general sale on Friday 26th April, 10am. Visit the Cardiff Music City website to purchase.
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