The Sydney Opera House has revealed the full lineup for its annual contemporary music event, Vivid LIVE 2022.
Taking place from May 27th until June 18th, the music event is a highlight of this year’s Vivid Sydney, the annual creative festival showcasing the best boundary-pushing artists, thinkers, and musicians of our time.
With more than 70 Aussie and international artists set to perform across six of The Sydney Opera House’s venues (as well as a beautiful digital artwork on its iconic sails), there’s really something to suit all tastes.
Aussie legend Paul Kelly and his band will be hosting an exclusive residency celebrating four decades of song alongside Thelma Plum. Acclaimed rapper Sampa the Great is bringing an Aussie exclusive and world premiere of her long-awaited new show An Afro Future, performing her four-time ARIA Award-winning debut album The Return to the event
Other artists will be proudly making their Opera House debuts, including Masego, RVG, and Miiesha, while the likes of Ghanaian-American singer-songwriter Moses Sumney will be returning again.
Sydney’s diverse music communities will also be given their chance to shine, with Astral People, Club Kokky, Mad Racket and many more set to host events.
And two years in the making, the Lighting of the Sails is a particularly significant event: the exciting digital artwork is an intricate First Nations collaboration between the Pilbara’s eight Martu Artists and Sydney’s Curiious, all soundtracked by Electric Fields.
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Curated for the seventh time by the Opera House’s Head of Contemporary Music, Ben Marshall, the Vivid LIVE program invites uncompromising voices to the nation’s most famous stages in a contemporary music takeover. Music lovers can return to the Opera House to celebrate transcendent live contemporary music, iconic and ambitious artists, and Sydney’s vibrant and inimitable local communities
“It has been a genuine privilege to put together this year’s Vivid LIVE program for the city I love, and in doing so it’s clear that Sydney isn’t the same city it was in 2019, or 2020, or even last year,” Sydney Opera House Head of Contemporary Music and Vivid LIVE curator, Ben Marshall, said. “In 2022, we are all feeling the deep communal need to experience art and live concerts together.”
Whether it’s Australian rock royalty, international headliners or rising stars, attendees will be spoilt for choice, and performances will enthral. Nothing beats live entertainment, and after a two-year hiatus, attending in person is an exciting prospect for all attendees at this year’s Vivid LIVE program.”
Tickets are nicely priced between $29 and $129, and can be grabbed now via sydneyoperahouse.com.
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Vivid LIVE 2022 Lineup
Lighting of the Sails
YARRKALPA – HUNTING GROUND, 2021 BY THE MARTU ARTISTS AND CURIIOUS WITH SOUNDTRACK BY ELECTRIC FIELDS AND MARTU ARTISTS (INSPIRED BY YARRKALPA – ALWAYS WALKING COUNTRY 2014)
PAUL KELLY AND HIS BAND – TIME AND TIDE: FOUR DECADES OF SONG with THELMA PLUM – Australian exclusive
SAMPA THE GREAT presents AN AFRO FUTURE with MWANJЀ & KYE, SOUNDS BY C.FRIM – Australian exclusive, world premiere
NILS FRAHM: MUSIC FOR SYDNEY – World premiere
TKAY MAIDZA with MAINA DOE
MOSES SUMNEY
ASTRAL PEOPLE 10 + 1 BIRTHDAY – YUSSEF DAYES (UK), HIATUS KAIYOTE, JAY1 (UK), YOUNGN LIPZ, BRIGGS, MILDLIFE, BARKAA, ARNO FARAJI, JITWAM LIVE, DAMEEEELA, BUMPY, HOODZY, MUNASIB – Australian exclusive
MASEGO
CLUB KOOKY BY THE HARBOUR – Australian exclusive
MEG MAC
HERMITUDE – Album Launch
TEEKS
BORIS 30th Anniversary Show Performing Heavy Rocks (2002) with TOKIE
BLESSED presents AUSSIE BLACKSTAR with MAINA DOE, BABY PRINCE and CHIRINE – Australian premiere
RVG
HTRK
LIARS with THE DOUBLE (JIM WHITE & EMMETT KELLY)
LOW LIFE
MIIESHA
SKELETEN – UTOPIAN SOUND
GORDI
IN THE MOOD – A LOVE LETTER TO WONG KAR-WAI & HONG KONG starring RAINBOW CHAN, EUGENE CHOI & MARCUS WHALE – World premiere live debut, Australian exclusive
KUČKA
ED KUEPPER with JIM WHITE
TINY RUINS
TANGENTS & GODTET
GEORGIA MAQ (CAMP COPE)
1300
LIZ MARTIN & ELIZA HULL – INTO THE SPACE BETWEEN THE NOTES
A.GIRL
THE BUOYS
STUDIO PARTIES: FUTURE CLASSIC: TOUCH SENSITIVE (DJ SET), TSEBA, AYEBATONYE, DEEPA
PICNIC: WAX’O PARADISO, KALI, ADI TOOHEY, EVIE + HYFE, HOSTED BY MILLIE SYKES
ASTRAL PEOPLE presents JOHN TALABOT ALL NIGHT LONG
MAD RACKET: KEN CLOUD, SIMON CALDWELL, JIMMI JAMES, ZOOTIE WITH EDSEVEN & TOM STUDDY (STEPPERS) AND VOCALIST NATALIE SLADE
Contemporary art on the Forecourt and Monumental Steps
LAUREN BRINCAT – TUTTI PRESTO fff, 2022
