This year’s edition will be a ‘coming-of-age celebration’ of pride, freedom and underground culture, with sets from Four Tet, Actress and Eliza Rose
This year, Glastonbury’s legendary Block9 is returning to the festival for the 16th time. To celebrate this major coming-of-age milestone, the organisers have now announced their jam-packed line-up for 2023, which will include Eliza Rose, Four Tet, The Blessed Madonna and Notting Hill Carnival, among others.
As ever, Block9 will be transforming its corner of Worthy Farm into a “temporary alternative reality”, with a buzzing lineup of “artists, drag queens, activists, go-go butcher boys and ravers”. The immersive audio-visual arena IICON – famed for its colossal pseudo-religious head sculpture – will be returning, with performances from Four Tet, Cakes Da Killa and Detroit’s legendary Underground Resistance. Queer club The NYC Downlow – a replica of a 1980s “bathhouse-cum-meatpacking warehouse” – has planned sets from Shelter, Rick Wade and Mood II Swing, as well as “an Elton-fuelled Rocket Glam Night, a Leather Night, and a homage to the late, great Lily Savage”.
Block9 will also be keeping up its political agenda, with last year’s Genosys Sound System – a tribute to the early days of rave, and a celebration of dance as a form of protest – making a comeback. “At Block9, we have always championed underground music, freedom and self-expression, and our 16th birthday feels the perfect occasion to celebrate our ‘coming-of-age’ with our Glastonbury family,” said Gideon Berger and Stephen Gallagher, Block9 co-founders, in a statement. “In the last few years, our freedoms and our right to protest have come under sustained attack. The creation of new draconian laws means our liberty is being systematically eroded.”
“Block9’s 16th birthday party is a stand against right-wing populism, and a celebration of all things alt!.”
See details of the full ‘Sweet 16’ lineup below:
