Festival Republic and SJM Concerts have today announced that IDLES, Kojey Radical, Biig Piig, Hak Baker and Willie J Healey have joined the bill for acclaimed singer-songwriter Jamie T’s biggest ever headline show at London’s Finsbury Park on Friday 30 June 2023. Tickets are on sale now www.ticketmaster.co.uk and www.gigsandtours.com.
IDLES – Joe Talbot, Mark Bowen, Lee Kiernan, Adam Devonshire and Jon Beavis – have become one of the UK’s most important bands and Finsbury Park will be IDLES’ only UK play this summer. Their 2017 debut album ‘Brutalism’ and 2018’s ‘Joy As An Act Of Resistance’ are widely regarded as two of the decade’s best; paving the way for IDLES’ first UK number one album (2020’s ‘Ultra Mono’) and 2021’s acclaimed ‘CRAWLER’, which brought the band their first GRAMMY nominations (for Best Rock Album and Best Rock Performance). Meanwhile, their incendiary live shows are the stuff of legend, establishing IDLES as one of the UK’s biggest, and most exciting live acts. Most recently, IDLES celebrated the fifth anniversary of ‘Brutalism’ with the release of ‘Five Years Of Brutalism’ – a vinyl reissue of their seminal debut album accompanied by a digital live album recorded from a secret show at the BBC Introducing Stage at Glastonbury in 2022.
Joe Talbot of IDLES said: “There are certain artists that it would be hard to imagine the British musical landscape without. Jamie T is most certainly one, and one of my personal heroes, so this will be a big old win for all of us. All is love x”
Born and raised in East London, British Ghanaian Kwadwo Adu Genfi Amponsah aka Kojey Radical is often described as a “renaissance man”. At 30 years old, he is at the forefront of a generation of young British artists pushing underground Black music into the mainstream. Following a series of acclaimed EPs, Kojey Radical released his highly anticipated debut album ‘Reason To Smile’ in 2022. His most ambitious and complete work to date featured a roll call of incredible collaborators including Tiana Major9, Masego, Shaé Universe, Kelis, Knucks, Wretch 32 and his own mother. Kojey Radical has since been showered with accolades, including being shortlisted for the prestigious Mercury Music prize as well as picking up nominations at the MOBO Awards and ‘Breakthrough Artist’ for the BRIT Awards.
Today, Biig Piig is able to chronicle her journey thus far with rarified clarity. It’s a wild path that has already seen the Irish (via West London and Malaga) artist earn a devoted audience, with over 200 million streams, co-signs ranging from Billie Eilish, Wet Leg to Lil Nas X, and tours alongside the likes of Glass Animals and Jungle. Blending heady club sounds, complex interiority, and an occasional dance with demons both figurative and literal, her 2022 mixtape ‘Bubblegum’ chronicled an intense, at times isolated period of self-examination – but like all of Biig Piig’s work, it’s ultimately bound by the potential of human connection.
East London storyteller and self-described G-Folk artist Hak Baker’s blend of acoustic, alternative indie, folk, rap punk, ska and electronic, has seen him amass an ever-expanding, like-minded audience of fans and peers. His 2019 mixtape, ‘Babylon’, 2021 EP, ‘Misled’ and most-recent single ‘Bricks in the Wall’ has seen an artist who refuses to pigeonhole themselves. He has collaborated with Rachel Chinouriri, Celeste, Mike Skinner, Skepta and Reuben Dangoor and with an appearance at Glastonbury and his first UK headline tour; it’s been a busy year for the rising star, who with his own sound, and desire to build a community for artists to be themselves, has made him a leading light on the independent scene.
Hak Baker said: “Gonna turn that gaf upside down. Big up the London Crew. Big up Jamie, fellow troubadour. Love playing at home.”
Oxfordshire songwriter Willie J Healey might be your favourite artists’ favourite artist. Alex Turner, Joe Talbot of IDLES, Jamie T, Florence Welch and Orlando Weeks are among those who believe, following the Neil Young-meets-The Beatles-meets Elvis Costello charms of his 2020 album ‘Twin Heavy’. Willie has now returned with a new sound following new singles ‘Dreams’ and recent collaboration with Jamie T ‘Thank You’ – ahead of the release of his new set Bunny on 25 August 2023 via Yala! Records.
The new additions will join Jamie T for his highly anticipated Finsbury Park headline show. After a 5-year hiatus, he returned in 2022 with his critically acclaimed fifth studio album ‘The Theory of Whatever’ which shot straight to number #1 and saw Jamie embark on a sold-out UK tour including a date at London’s Alexandra Palace – reaffirming his status as a vital force at the forefront of British alternative music.
The special one-day event will take place on Friday 30 June at Finsbury Park and will be an epic homecoming moment for the indie-rock troubadour, not to be missed.
