After its 2020 cancellation, VIVID Live has announced its return for August 2021 with its full lineup.
Running between August 6–28, the live music program will primarily focus on the Sydney Opera House, while also expanding to other Sydney venues such as Carriageworks, Crowbar and the Oxford Art Factory.
Among the marquee names added to VIVID Live for 2021 is King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. The Melbourne band will perform five differently-themed shows at Redfern venue Carriageworks: an acoustic set, a jam-based set, a microtonal set, a garage-rock set and a heavy metal set.
Elsewhere, Tropical Fuck Storm will play their first Sydney headline show in nearly two years, having supported King Gizzard at the Enmore Theatre this past April. The band’s frontman Gareth Liddiard will also perform at the Opera House with his new band, Springtime, which features pianist Chris Abrahams and drummer Jim White.
Gordi will perform solo in the Opera House’s Drama Theatre across two nights. The singer-songwriter made her debut in the venue last year, performing a live-streamed show in the empty Concert Hall to launch her second album ‘Our Two Skins’.
After announcing in late 2020 that the festival would return the following year, VIVID announced its first act for the concert series earlier this month (May 11). It was revealed that Sampa The Great would perform her show ‘An Afro Future’ at the Joan Sutherland Theatre inside the Sydney Opera House on Sunday August 8. The initial show has since sold out, with a second matinee performance since announced for earlier that day.
The line-up also features Camp Cope‘s Georgia Maq, Melbourne garage-rock band RVG, Auckland folk act Tiny Ruins and Yorta Yorta rapper Briggs. View the full lineup below, and visit the VIVID Live website here for more information. Tickets are on sale 9am this Friday May 28.
VIVID Live’s 2020 edition was among the many casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic, being cancelled before its full lineup was released. Jill Scott was scheduled to appear, commemorating the 20th anniversary of her album ‘Who is Jill Scott?: Words and Sounds Vol. 1’.
VIVID Live 2021’s music lineup is:
Akosia
Amyl and The Sniffers
An Evening with Angie McMahon (solo piano)
Astral People 10th Birthday ft. Hiatus Kaiyote, Cosmo’s Midnight, Genesis Owusu & The Black Dog Band, Young Franco plus more
Bad Vibrations
Barkaa
BLESSED presents Diaspora with appearances by B Wise, Maina Doe and Manu Crooks plus more
Briggs & Friends
Budjerah
Club Kooky by the Harbour
Connan Mockasin: Connan Unplugged. Bost’n Dobs’n Plugged
Enemies of Grooviness Eat Sh!t
Flight Facilities
G Flip
Gareth Liddiard, Jim White & Chris Abrahams are Springtime
Georgia Maq
Golden Features and Hermitude
Gordi
HTRK
In The Mood – A Love Letter to Wong Kar-wai & Hong Kong starring Rainbow Chan, Eugene Choi & Marcus Whale
Into The Space Between The Notes ft. Liz Martin & Eliza Hull
Jesswar
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
Liars
Lighting of the Sails: Yarrkalpa – Hunting Ground, 2021 by the Martu Artists and Curiious with soundtrack by Electric Fields
Low Life
Mantra Collective All Night Long
Methyl Ethel
Miiesha
NECTAR
Ngaiire
The Oxford Art Factory 14th Birthday
Princes Highway: Wollongong and Sydney Music
Project 77
Queer Performance Icons
RVG
Sampa The Great presents An Afro Future
Singular Voices: Kee’ahn with Babitha
Skeleten presents Utopian Sound
Soft Centre presents TEMPER
Studio Party: Future Classic
Studio Party: Mad Racket
Studio Party: Picnic
Tangents & GODTET
TEEKS
Teenage Wasteland
The Necks
Tiny Ruins
Tropical Fuck Storm