Roadburn has announced the final names for its main musical programme for the 2023 edition. Zola Jesus, Backxwash, Nicole Dollanganger and White Boy Scream are among the 25 new additions to the line up. Roadburn 2023 will take place between April 20-23, with a pre-festival show on Wednesday, April 19.
Roadburn’s artistic director, Walter Hoeijmaker comments:
“We’re delighted to announce the final names for the Roadburn 2023 line up. As has been said before, this year’s Roadburn will be a journey of discovery. The lineup is purposely focused on bands that have begun to make their mark over the last few years, and so, it’s also a reflection of the current underground. It was our aim to offer a lot of these bands and artists a platform to excel in front of a passionate and open-minded audience.
“We are so grateful to everyone who has gone to great lengths to help bring these artists to Roadburn. When you look at the full lineup, we sincerely hope you share our excitement. It’s our intention to make sure that Roadburn is a home away from home for everyone involved; the bands, the attendees, the industry folk, the staff.
“Roadburn 2023 is a celebration of underground music and culture; it will be a hub for positivity, creativity and artistry, and in a spirit of defiance it will bring hope in the face of the many adversities of our times. We thank you for this opportunity. We can’t wait to celebrate with you.”
New line up additions:
Zola Jesus will return to Roadburn, performing a full band show on the main stage on Sunday, as well as presenting her solo electronic project, NIKA on Saturday night. Backxwash will make her European debut with two special performances at Roadburn. Also playing her first show in Europe will be Nicole Dollanganger, who released a new album this January.
White Boy Scream will bring distinctive operatic vocals, noise and drone to Roadburn. Meanwhile Esben and the Witch will perform their just-announced new album, Hold Sacred, in full at the festival. Ashenspire will play their first show on Dutch soil as one of the most-requested underground bands for this year. Ashenspire share members with both Maud the Moth and Healthyliving who will also be performing, the latter band playing their first ever show.
EBM artist Sierra will be making the trip from Paris to bring her danceable anthems to Roadburn. Sweden will be represented by psych-pop masters, The Hanged Man, whilst Mai Mai Mai will present what has been described as ‘Mediterranean Hauntology’, a distinctive take on folk, minimal music, synthwave, industrial, dream pop and ambient.
Sowulo will also reimagine elements of folk music with tribalistic songs and an immersive performance. Marion Leclercq will bring her Mütterlein project to Roadburn, complete with ominous ambience, and soul-shredding vocals.
Further threads of folk can be found with Osi and the Jupiter who will bring their Appalachian-tinged take to Tilburg. Elsewhere Grift will present an intimate form of Nordic folk to Roadburn audiences. After releasing his debut solo album last year, guitarist Mat Ball will do double duty – performing his own solo set as well as taking to the main stage with Big Brave who were previously announced.
The Golden Grass are setting off on a groove-laden boogie odyssey, and we’re all invited along for the ride. The Sonic Dawn will continue this sun-kissed trip into the unknown as they roll into Tilburg this coming April with their psychedelic overtones. Experimental trio, France, will present a drone/folk infusion, complete with hurdy-gurdy! Iskandr brings a more ominous, darker tone to Roadburn in a set where black metal, doom and psychedelia will converge.
We’ve witnessed Enphin’s members before under the name Mr. Peter Hayden and later known them by their PH-insignia; they will return to Roadburn to distill elements of doom metal, electronica, heavy psychedelia, ambient and post-rock in wholly imaginative ways. Crouch are a new project featuring two members of Wiegedood; although in the early stages of performing live, they promise something slow and heavy for Roadburn attendees.
Colombian producer Filmmaker will bring his dark, atmospheric and – yes – cinematic electronic offerings to Roadburn this year. And last but not least, Rotterdam’s VULVA wear their hearts on their sleeves in an explosion of colour, vibrancy and radical action.
Unfortunately, Birth – who were previously announced for Roadburn – have had to cancel their upcoming European tour plans. See below for a statement from the band.
“It is with heavy heart that, due to circumstances beyond the control of ourselves, our booking agent and the promoters we’ve been dealing with, we need to postpone all non-US touring engagements until the second half of 2023. It is specifically galling that we won’t be able to make it to Roadburn this year, a festival where we have played on numerous occasions in the past in different incarnations and a place we all have an attachment to.” – Birth, 2023