Focus Wales Festival
FOCUS Wales festival will see over 250+ acts from Wales and around the world descend upon Wrexham across 4th – 6th May 2023. Today FOCUS Wales reveal the first 60 new music acts.
Some of the first acts announced include…
The fierce, funny, post-punk soloist BILLY NOMATES will headline Llwyn Isaf on Thursday 4th May 2023, hot on the heels of their national TV debut on the BBC’s Later with… Jools. This will be followed up by a set from North Wales own critically acclaimed band THE JOY FORMIDABLE at The Rockin’ Chair. Friday 5th May will see SQUID headline Llwyn Isaf, following the release of their debut album Bright Green Field, and a string of worldwide festival performances in 2022 including Primavera Sound, and Glastonbury. NEUE GRAFIK ENSEMBLE, who have just released their second album, Foulden Road Part II, will also play on Friday night, featuring Grafik on piano, rhodes and synths, Emma-Jean Thackray on trumpet, Matt Gedrych on bass and Dougal Taylor on drums, the band masterfully interprets Neue Grafik’s jazzy, broken beat production style into a sweaty live setting, where it can sow revolutionary seeds on an industrial scale. Also performing that night will be dance music pioneer, A GUY CALLED GERALD. Closing the festival on Saturday 6th May 2023 will be award-winning Merseyside band THE CORAL on Llwyn Isaf, followed by DREAM WIFE whose new single 'LEECH' has earned rave reviews from NME, The Line of Best Fit, The Guardian, among many others.
More artists announced today include:
Acid Klaus | Adwaith | Afro Cluster | Al Lewis | Band Pres Llareggub | Ben Ottewell | Camera | Cerys Hafana | Dafydd Iwan | DEIJUVHS | Delta Radio | Dilletante | Dresden Wolves | Edie Bens | Gallops | George Boomsma | Go Go Machine Orchestra | Grubb & Eedens | Gwenifer Raymond | Hannah Grae | Hannah Scott | Heather Ferrier | HMS Morris | IMMERSE | ISLET | Juice Menace | Katherine Priddy | Kidsmoke | LEMFRECK | Maddie Morris | Mantaraybryn | MINAS | MOJA | Mooi | N'famady Kouyate | NoGood Boyo | Opus Kink | Paddy Hanna | Parisa Fouladi | Prima Queen | Sad Boys Club | Sage Todz | Shelf Lives | Skunkadelic | Sophie Jamieson | Sophie McKeand | SUN | TVAM | VRï | Walt Disco | Will Joseph Cook | Ynys
To see the full list of 60 acts, visit www.focuswales.com + plus 200 more acts still to be announced!
FOCUS Wales is Wales’ biggest music industry event, with three days of panels, keynote talks, and industry advice. The festival will see over 500 music industry professionals descend upon Wrexham from around the world. First industry announced includes: Lauren Down (End of The Road Festival), Cecilia Soojeong Yi (DMZ Peace Train Festival, South Korea), Claudia Ferigo (Suns Europe, Italy), David Silbaugh (Summerfest, USA), John Kerridge (Glastonbury Festival), A Guy Called Gerald, plus lots more.
FOCUS Wales 2023 takes places 4th - 6th May across various venues in Wrexham, North Wales. Full 3 day wristbands for admission to all FOCUS Wales events are available now at www.focuswales.com/tickets
FOCUS Wales is supported by Arts Council of Wales, PRS Foundation, and Welsh Government.
