More exciting acts announced for Sŵn Festival 2024

Cardiff’s award-winning Sŵn Festival has unveiled the second wave of names for the eagerly awaited 2024 event which takes place across the Welsh capital this autumn.

The multi-venue festival is taking place across the Welsh capital from Thursday 17 October to Saturday 19 October.

This year’s iteration of the festival sees Sŵn become proudly part of Cardiff Music City Festival: a three week-long celebration of innovative, accomplished music coming to the city, full of gigs, immersive happenings, residencies, installations, and pop-ups, pushing the boundaries of music, performance and tech.

Showcase

The festival, founded by Huw Stephens in 2007, has been run by the team at Clwb Ifor Bach since 2018. While this year’s edition is suitably bulked out, with all three days featuring showcases at a plethora of venues across the city, what’s not changed is Sŵn’s dedication to nurturing a diverse range of the best local, national, and international talent and offering a platform to bigger and better things.

Sŵn’s commitment to highlighting Welsh artists will treat audiences to a diverse musical journey. The festival offers a rich tapestry of Welsh talent from Talulah’s ethereal soundscapes and jazz-infused rhythms to Hyll’s melancholic melodies and Mari Mathias’ traditional Welsh folk.

Folk-rock quartet The Tubs, hailing from Wales and based in London, will infuse post-punk into their sound, meanwhile, Cardiff’s punk trio SHLUG will electrify audiences with their high-energy performance.

Other standout Welsh acts at Sŵn include the grisly garage-rock and pop sensibilities of Cardiff natives Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard, Welsh-language indie-rockers Adwaith, and the harmonic pop-rave sounds of Das Koolies (formerly four-fifths of Super Furry Animals).

Other standouts include the rising stars Half Happy, known for their unique blend of heavy and heavenly sounds, Pys Melyn withtheir laid-back melodies and wistful psychedelia, Aberystwyth-born rockers Mellt, and the alt-pop wonder Hana Lili who has garnered critical acclaim and supported Coldplay and Tom Grennan.

The lineup continues to expand with the addition of several exciting acts. Brighton punk sensation Lambrini Girls join the bill, alongside Radiohead’s Philip Selway, who will bring his solo artistry to the festival. While Leeds-based HONESTY will deliver their captivating audiovisual performance.

These and so many more head to Cardiff alongside an already packed bill that includes the likes of Wu-Lu, the Brixton-born and raised artist forcing punk, grunge and hip-hop into a head-on collision; one of the most acclaimed new bands in the country English Teacher with their seamless mix of collegiate emo-rock, dream-pop and psychedelia; London-based multidisciplinary artist and the internet’s original pop princess, Hannah Diamond, dance-pop darlings Porij; Mary In The Junkyard, the “angry, weepy chaos rock” trio whose mesmerising performances have become the stuff of live-circuit legend; one of our most captivating emerging storytellers Antony Szmierek; and the elusive and much-hyped London band, The Itch.

Multi venue

For the first time since before the pandemic, this year’s festival is multi-venue for all three days promising an even more stacked itinerary for the ravenous new music lover.

On Thurs 17 Oct, Sŵn will take over Womanby Street with five stages at Clwb Ifor Bach, Tiny Rebel, The Moon and Fuel. Friday 18 Oct and Saturday 19 Oct, meanwhile, sees the festival expand outwards across Cardiff city centre, with extra stages added at Tramshed, Jacobs Antique Market, Cornerstone and Porter’s (Saturday-only).

Sŵn is teaming up with UK music magazine DIY, Cardiff’s music and culture print magazine Radar, queer techno club night CINC, and Welsh music platform KLUST to co-host stages this year.

Adam Williams, Head of Programming and Sŵn Creative Director said: “We are thrilled to announce our second wave of artists for Sŵn Festival 2024. Alongside these exciting new additions, we are delighted to announce that we have been working with a handful of select stage partners who will be co-hosting a few stages with us this year.

“We can now reveal that DIY and Radar will be hosting over at Jacobs Antiques Market across two days, CINC will be pulling an all-nighter at Clwb Ifor Bach on Friday and for the first time, we will be hosting a free-entry all-ages stage at Porter’s on the Saturday with our friends at Klust. Full info on those coming in wave three!”

This year’s festival is geared towards being more accessible to the wider community than ever before, with the introduction of payment plans, concession tickets and more opportunities to get involved with the festival through the volunteer programme and a brand new apply to play scheme.

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Tickets for Sŵn are on general sale now with instalment plans available. Head here for ticketing options and more info.