Aphex Twin and Erykah Badu lead line-up for Forwards Festival in Bristol

Aphex Twin and Erykah Badu are heading up the line-up for this year’s Forwards Festival.

The “festival for forward thinkers” will return to Bristol’s Clifton Downs from September 1-2 after making its debut last year.

Bonobo, RAYE, Confidence Man, Olivia Dean, Biig Piig and Wesley Joseph are set to perform on the Friday, with Aphex Twin topping the bill. Meanwhile, the Saturday will see the likes of Primal Scream, Arlo Parks, Leftfield and Amyl and the Sniffers play. They will be joined by Jockstrap, Katy J Pearson, Flohio and Yazmin Lacey.

Forwards have also confirmed the return of The Information, which hosts speakers delivering “hard-hitting and powerful talks”. The line-up for this aspect of the festival will be announced later in the year.

The festival are also set to announce a new series of the social initiatives it prides itself on. Returning for 2023 is ‘Capture Forwards’, which gives young photographers early on in their career the chance to shoot the event.

“We’re proud to be bringing Forwards back this year to the best city in the world, and our hometown Bristol,” said Tom Paine, co-founder of Team Love, the organisation that puts on Forwards. “Building on our work from our inaugural year, we are incredibly excited to be able to pull together a musical offering with such an amazing array of talent.

“It continues to be our aim to make Forwards a space which invites debate and challenges the status quo. Offering our audience a place to come together, dance and make memories, while trying to inspire discussions, actions, and to enact positive change through the urgent conversations at ‘The Information’.”

Tickets for the festival will go on sale on Friday (March 24) at 10am.

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