Two icons of UK music have been announced as headliners for the 15th birthday edition of Splendour. Madness and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds are a couple of the biggest acts to ever headline the East Midlands’ signature summer music festival taking place on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 July.
Joining the headliners in Wollaton Park will be The Kooks, Rudimental, Sugababes, Sam Ryder, Confidence Man and Altered Images, with further acts to be added across all five stages for the epic weekender. Tickets go on sale at 10am on Friday 3 February.
Madness is one of the most prominent bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s two-tone revival, known for their “nutty sound”, blending ska rhythms with catchy melodies and a showman’s sense of humour. During the 80s, the band’s songs spent a total of 214 weeks on the UK Singles Charts, with 15 tracks reaching the UK Top Ten, making them one of the most popular bands in Britain at the time. Ever since their 2009 Splendour headliner slot, Madness has been a fan favourite and the most requested act by the festival crowd. With their superlative back catalogue including ‘Baggy Trousers’, ‘House of Fun’, ‘One Step Beyond’ and ‘Our House’, they are a dead cert to get the crowd jumping along to their two-tone beat.
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds first emerged in 2011 with their eponymous album released in October that year. The album went double platinum in the UK, platinum in Ireland and has sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide. This show is part of an extended run of open air summer shows that will follow the release of Gallagher’s much anticipated new album ‘Council Skies’ released on 2 June. The album features recently released ‘Pretty Boy’ and the brand new single ‘Easy Now’. Noel’s continued success with the High Flying Birds cements his position as one of the most gifted, successful and enduring songwriters to come out of the British music scene in the last 50 years.
Indie rock band The Kooks broke into the musical mainstream with their debut album ‘Inside In/Inside Out’ (2006), which went on to achieve quadruple platinum status in the UK within a year, overseas in the form of a platinum certification in Australia and two times platinum in Ireland. Almost two decades since forming, The Kooks continue to experience career highs and are sure to have everyone singing along to hits such as ‘She Moves in Her Own Way’ and ‘Naive’.
Rudimental is one of the UK’s most successful dance acts of the last decade. Multiple chart entries, two number one albums, three number one singles, five billion streams, four albums, world tours, platinum-selling singles plus a plethora of awards have cemented their position as trailblazers with a formidable reputation for producing hit records.
Sugababes will also be making their Splendour debut. The pop superstars are one of the most successful British girl bands of the 21st century with six number one singles including the perfect pop tracks ‘Round Round’, ‘Freak Like Me’ and ‘Push The Button’, millions of global sales and several multi-platinum albums. Fast forward two decades, the original line-up of Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhan Donaghy are back in full force and becoming the talk of the summer festival scene.
Sam Ryder has quickly become a household name after his Eurovision success. Following his incredible run with ‘Space Man’ and the Eurovision Song Contest, bagging the highest charting UK Eurovision entry in 26 years, his single is one of the biggest selling singles of 2022. Ryder is also nominated for Best New Artist at the 2023 Brit Awards, becoming the first Eurovision act to be selected in this category.
Indie electro pop act Confidence Man will fire up the party vibes. The Brisbane band is unarguably one of the hottest acts on the planet right now, with their performances custom designed to make the crowd dance and lose their cool. Formed in 2016, they have already played at some of the biggest festivals in the world.
Scottish post-punk band Altered Images quickly found success in the early 80s, achieving worldwide fame selling millions of records, which topped the charts in several countries. They recorded three Top 10 Albums and had six UK Top 40 hits, including ‘Happy Birthday’, ‘I Could Be Happy’, and ‘Don’t Talk to Me About Love’. Singer Clare Grogan will also be familiar to many from the Scottish coming of age film, Gregory’s Girl.
In response to the cost-of-living crisis, new for this year is the introduction of a payment plan ticket option, offering ticket buyers a flexible option to split the cost of their ticket into more manageable monthly instalments between now and the event in July.
To make sure families from across the East Midlands can enjoy Splendour together, a new 11-17 year old youth ticket has also been introduced, while children aged 10 and under can attend for free with an accompanying adult. Keen festival fans can also act fast to get their hands on an exclusive Early Bird Weekend ticket on sale from 10am on Friday morning.
Cllr Pavlos Kotsonis, Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Culture and Planning at Nottingham City Council, said: “It’s great that Splendour is returning to Nottingham this July for its 15th year, following the huge success of last year. We are proud that Wollaton Park will once again host Nottinghamshire’s leading music festival for two days, giving local artists and musicians the chance to perform alongside internationally renowned acts. This year’s line-up looks set to be one of the best yet.”
Tickets for Splendour Festival 2023 go on sale at 10am on Friday 3 February, with an exclusive early bird price for weekend tickets priced at £92 for adults. City residents weekend tickets are priced at £82.80. Accompanied children aged 10 and under go FREE. Day tickets are also available, along with VIP tickets.