Liverpool Sound City Announces First Wave Acts for 2023

Sound City Festival reveals its first huge headline act for 2023, along with a host of other incredible breakthrough artists heading to Liverpool next April. Homegrown pop superstar and songwriting sensation MAISIE PETERS will headline Sound City – the must-attend celebration of music discovery, and undisputedly the UK’s independent festival for new music. Kicking off festival season with a plethora of the most exciting emerging acts spanning a multitude of genres, Sound City delivers the ultimate festival to discover the sounds of the future. Also not to be missed, the UK’s leading independent conference for new music, Sound City+ Conference will be back with the industry’s brightest, most innovative minds, with details to be revealed very soon.

Sound City is thrilled to announce its first headline act for 2023. MAISIE PETERS’S innate talent for storytelling and crafting relatable songs has seen her rack up over half a billion streams globally. Having ascended from busking on the streets of her hometown in Brighton, Maisie has sold out London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire and headlined her own U.S. tours. Maisie’s acclaimed debut album shot straight into the Official Charts at No. 2, every date on her headline tour sold out in 1 minute and she released a string of tracks including ‘Cate’s Brother’, ‘Blonde’, ‘Good Enough’ and ‘Not Another Rockstar’. This will be Maisie’s only North West show of her current tour, headlining Sound City’s Main Stage –  presented for this year’s festival in association with leading North of England-based premium fashion retailer Tessuti.

Joining Maisie on the Sound City bill for 2023 is BEREN OLIVIA. Beren  is one of the UK’s most exciting rising alt-pop stars who has surged from zero to nearly 16 million streams in just a few singles and is tipped by Radio 1’s Jack Saunders. COURTING is leading the charge in a new wave of great emerging scouse bands, releasing their debut album ‘Guitar Music’ to rave reviews. Fans will be treated to a hometown gig packed with infectious bangers from the band. DELIGHTS come fresh off the back of a run of headline shows in the UK. With their eclectic melodic indie, psychedelic guitar sound, DELIGHTS  join the line-up for Sound City Festival. EEVAH is the musical collaboration from Embrace’s Richard McNamara and singer songwriter Nicole Hope Smith providing catchy alt-pop goodness. Having toured with Duran Duran this year, and releasing single Wild Things in August, this is the time to discover EEVAH. Rapper FINN FOXELL’s recently dropped track What’s Your Poison, and is set to bring hazy hip-hop, electronic vibes to Sound City along with MALADY, the London band effortlessly fusing electro dance with indie guitar music for a unique rave-indie live show.

Liverpool Sound City 2023 first announce poster

MOLLIE CODDLED is the Leeds star who’ll be providing infectious dream pop, intimate lyricism and summer sounds as her star continues firmly in ascent. OPUS KINK is the punk-rock Brighton collective rapidly gaining attention for unashamedly thriving in front of a live audience – fans can expect to be whipped up into a raucous, high-octane set at Sound City next year. There’s even more Liverpool talent joining the bill for 2023, including RE6CE – At just 17 years old, RE6CE has already cemented himself as one-to-watch, delivering his blend of d’n’b tinged pop. Liverpool five-piece guitar band REIGNMAKER will make their Sound City debut. With their first single Hope I’m Not Alone released this summer, fans can expect youthful exuberance from a band raring to take the festival scene by storm. Canadian-British electronic-punk band SHELF LIVES will also make their Sound City debut. The duo released Skirts & Salads just last month, and will undoubtedly put on a chaotic, energetic performance next April.

SOFY joins the line-up for Sound City. Indie-pop fans can look forward to SOFY’s self-penned pop bangers including Strawberry Milkshake and Lads! Lads! Lads!, laced with infectious melodies and sing-along lyrics. THE GOA EXPRESS are the hotly-tipped five-piece who are sure to be everyone’s new favourite band after Sound City. With spins from new music tastemakers Steve Lamacq and Jack Saunders, expect to see much more of the emerging garage punk band. Already working their way to the top of the charts, TRAMPOLENE’S debut album ‘Swansea’ stormed to #10 on the UK Indie chart. Fronted by Jack Jones known for his spoken word poetry, Welsh alt-rockers Trampolene join Sound City 2023. Welsh indie quartet THE ROYSTON CLUB made their first Sound City appearance in 2022 and with their name still hot on the lips of new music lovers, the boys are set to make a welcome return to Liverpool next year.

Welcoming music loving attendees and artists from across the UK and the world over, Sound City takes place in its Liverpool home, a city with a buzzing live music scene and a rich musical heritage. In what’s set to be a bumper year for Liverpool, which has been hand-picked to host the Eurovision Song Contest, Sound City runs from 28-30 April 2023!