A sprawling block party where pop-up bars, clubs, warehouses, workshops and scrap-yards make way for the hottest new music talent from around the globe, Sound City returns in 2020 with an exclusive Friendly Fires headline show.
Joining Pale Waves as co-headliners, FriendIy Fires bring shape-throwing technicolour to this riotous street party of a festival. It is the band’s first UK festival show of 2020, their only show in the North West and their first Liverpool appearance for over a decade.
Imbued with the non-conformist spirit of its home city Liverpool, Sound City is the UK’s leading independent festival and conference for new music discovery. Criss-crossing 16 venues all within a 250metre radius of the main stage in the heart of Liverpool’s booming Baltic Triangle, this is the place where state of the art technology, music, fashion, art and political activism come to work and play.
New additions to Sound City’s diverse bill include; the open-book indie rock of Marika Hackman, West Lothian rock revivalists The Snuts and Liverpool’s lone-ranger of rockabilly pop Louis Berry. Elsewhere Bad Sounds, Spector and S.P.Q.R. provide artful-pop, there’s the noir-indie of JOHN and B.C Camplights, the dirty pop of Leeds quartet Marsicans, and the towering electro of Monarchy, alongside Mersey breakout bands Monks and SPINN.
The latest line-up additions join co-headliners the goth-pop champions Pale Waves, and a wealth of talent already on the bill, including The Blinders, Tim Burgess, The Lathums, Stealing Sheep, The Mysterines, Jamie Webster and The Lottery Winners. Complete line-up below.
Weekend tickets are on sale now with single-day tickets on-sale this Friday 31st January. Tickets on sale here.
Sound City is the UK’s lead festival for the PRS KeyChange campaign, in 2019 the line-up exceeded their goal if a 50/50 gender split, with female and mixed groups representing 59% of the Sound City line-up. The conference Sound City+, hosted at the British Music Experience on Friday 1st May, will also meet the KeyChange target of an equal gender split. Details of the conference line-up and KeyChange 2020 artists on the Sound City line up will be announced soon.
Rebecca Ayres, Sound City’s Managing Director, says:
“Liverpool knows how to enjoy itself, how to bring communities together… be it for work, play or campaigning. At Sound City we’ve harnessed that to bring venues, artists, creatives and businesses together in hosting a free flowing multi-venue festival, and then in true spirit of the city, we’ve invited the rest of the world to join in.
“Friendly Fires are a band that insist you to throw off your inhibitions, they’re heartfelt and romantic, and a perfect party starter… we’re so excited to be bringing them back to Liverpool for the first time in over a decade to lead our riotous global street party.
“Sound City is the UK’s leading independent festival and conference. One of the original multi-venue showcase festivals, the format has shifted and changed over the years, but I think we’ve now found our best iteration. All the venues are close together, there’s a real sense of discovery and ease of accessibility. The Baltic Triangle is one of the country’s most innovative and thriving creative business centres, a real success story and we’re honoured to take it over for a weekend long celebration of creativity.”
Sound City
Friday 1st – Sunday 3rd May 2020
Taking place across Baltic Triangle, Liverpool
Twitter: @soundcity / Insta: @liverpoolsoundcity