Glastonbury Left Field, who describe themselves as the “purveyors of pop and politics at Glastonbury since 2002“, have officially announced their lineup for the 2023 edition of the festival.
They announced the lineup on Instagram, as shown below. Organiser Billy Bragg, a known musician and activist, captioned the poster of the lineup with this:
“As the shape of the post-pandemic world begins to form, it’s clear that people are more willing to stand up and be counted. Workers are striking, agitators are mobilising, and the fight for truth and justice is becoming ever more urgent. At Left Field, we’re responding to this clamour by bringing you voices from the front line of the struggle in debate and performance. Whether it’s radical perspectives or great music you want, stand up and be counted at Left Field.“
On Friday the 23rd, there are four artists lined up to perform. First up are post-punk outfit Deadletter, hailing from Yorkshire. Drawing on influences such as The Pogues and Tom Tom Club, the band are bringing a heavier essence to the Left Field after completing their Spring Agenda tour. Cassyette, a nu-metal singer-songwriter, is playing following the release of her newest single “Boom“, followed by Teesside punk band Benefits. Finally for the night, is one of the organisers himself, Billy Bragg.
Saturday features five acts, including two big up and coming names, Crawlers and Hastings band Kid Kapichi. It is both bands’ debut Glastonbury festival shows. Crawlers posted the announcement on their Instagram page below, saying “someone pinch me!!! see you at Glastofest.”
Crawlers recently released their single “That time of year always” via Polydor records, and it has garnered over 200,000 streams on Spotify. They are playing alongside Big Joanie, Delilah Bon, and rapper Dreya Mac.
For the last day, Tom A Smith, who was handpicked by Elton John to support him for his Hyde Park show is starting off the night. Afterwards, Will Varley and Lime Garden are playing sets. Lime Garden posted on Instagram, shown below, saying “We are unbelievably excited to say we are PLAYING GLASTO BABY!!!!!!! Catch us @glastoleftfield on Sunday…CANNOT wait to meet slash.”
Finishing off the event completely, is Cavetown. He is an English singer-songwriter who has had massive hits with “Devil Town”, “Juliet”, “Boys Will Be Bugs“, and “This Is Home“. These four songs alone have garnered over a billion streams on Spotify, and Glastonbury is just one of many festivals that Cavetown is scheduled to perform at this summer.
The political event, whose slogan is “Charge Your Activism“, not only has twenty-two artists and bands scheduled to perform, but also features six crucial, political debates across the weekend. This is a key part of the Left Field, which was first designed to tackle apathy, and to promote left-wing politics and trade unionism in young festival goers.
Michael Eavis originally started the Left Field Tent, in 2002. He explains on the website: “The Worker’s Beer Company and myself started the Left Field Tent, following our tradition of campaigning for CND and helping the miners who were totally destroyed by Maggie in the eighties.”
He continued: “And before that there was the huge surge of interest in the Green movement’s efforts to clean up our country when the eco warriors arrived here in all their glory in the seventies. Fortunately for us all, Billy and Juliet have now picked up the baton. Their passion and integrity is what’s needed to run the Left Field Tent to fight for a change and give our poorer people just half a chance to live decent, happy and worthwhile lives.”
Glastonbury takes place at Worthy Farm, Somerset, between the 21st and 25th June. Left Field will be Friday to Sunday, between the 23rd and 25th. Tickets are sold out.
Information on the full line up can be accessed here.
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