Big Special and Master Peace among 160 new acts added to SXSW 2025 line-up

Big Special and Master Peace are among the most eye-catching of the 160 new names added in the second round of Showcasing Artists joining the SXSW 2025 line-up.

• READ MORE: Master Peace: “I wanted to make an album that’s a cultural reset for Gen Z”

SXSW will be celebrating its 39th year next year, and is set to take place in Austin, Texas from March 10 to 15.

Punk duo Big Special and London indie sleaze revivalist Master Peace will be making the journey from the UK alongside Manchester-based jasmine.4.t, who became the first Brit signee to Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory record label earlier this year, and singer and multi-instrumentalist Freak Slug.

Sam Ryder, who gave the UK its best Eurovision result since 1998, is another notable new inclusion, as are Liverpool indie-punks Gen and the Degenerates.

Big Freedia, a pioneer of the New Orleans rap genre bounce who’s been sampled by Beyonce, is set to appear, as are the Tokyo futurepop sister duo Tamanaramen, Barcelona indie rockers HEAL, and Czechia’s Eurovision 2024 entrant Aiko. With over 160 artists, countries from Brazil to Indonesia to Nigeria to Ukraine are represented. You can find the full list of artists in the second wave here.

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James Minor, VP of Music Festival at SXSW, said: “The SXSW Music Festival lineup provides a unique opportunity to discover artists from around the world. The magic comes from a diverse and carefully-curated program that’s designed to help you find your next favorite act. For our second reveal, we continue down that path with an abundance of inspiring musicians who will be heading to Austin next March.”

The festival announced its first wave of artists in October, and it included Irish acts Gurriers and Soda Blonde, both of whom dropped out of last year’s event in protest of its sponsors – the US military and defence contractor RTX Corporation – both of which are reportedly tied to Israel as weapons suppliers. The festival has dropped them for 2025.

Also announced at the time were Australian indie rockers Delivery, Irish punks M(h)aol, and favourites including The Ting Tings, Dune Rats and Twin Shadow.

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