Cloud X Festival announce its return on 20th August and reveal the line-up and new scaled-up location, Beckenham Park. This year’s festival is in partnership with War Child and Raw Material and is a huge celebration of UK talent, both live and DJs, and returns to South London, where the collective was established. Earning its title as the “capital’s best boutique day festival”, they cater for music lovers and good people and provide a much-needed space for underrepresented artists. Co-founded by David Dabieh and Ben Cross, Cloud X has become an integral part of the city’s independent music scene through its events, label, and management team. Every year they put their money where their mouth is and deliver the most diverse and equal gender split line-ups a UK festival has ever seen.
Split across five stages, the festival is designed for all music tastes spanning live performances and DJ sets covering; R&B/Alt-R&B, Rap/Alt-Rap, Soul, Pop, Afrobeats, Garage, and so much more. This year boasts performances from Jerusalem-born, Gaza-raised trilingual rapper Saint Levant who blew up following his huge viral hit ‘Very Few Friends’, landing him a ‘one to watch’ tag for 2023. The UK’s own Samm Henshaw and his band will showcase songs from his debut ‘Untidy Soul’, along with fan favourites ‘Church’ and ‘Broke’. Known for his thought-provoking and emotive songs, the immense talent BERWYN will be performing with his band and throughout the day, we’ll hear South London songstress Jaz Karis who stole the show at the UK R&B showcase at SXSW this year, as well as performing for BBC 1xtra’s R&B weekender. Cloud X’s immediate family, Santino Le Saint and Kwaku Asante will be there to provide unbeatable vibes and showcase their new forthcoming projects and the label’s latest signing rapper, South London’s Scuti. The festival welcomes back return visits and live sets from the incredible Etta Bond and InfamousIzak and welcomes Meron T, Neils and Elli Ingram to the Cloud X stage.
The ultimate selector and producer, JULS returns for his second year to share his impeccable taste with his sets packed with Afrobeats, Amapiano and more, perfect for a summer’s day in London. BBC R1’s DJ Ace has been on a mission to push the genre forward and joins the bill alongside his fellow BBC family, 1xtra’s DJ Victoria Jane (DJ and singer), two of R&B’s biggest on air champions. Tash LC, who heads up Club Yeke, is a festival must-see with a world view matched with Crazy Cousinz, who will be bringing the UK Funky and Garages vibes. Born out of Lagos with co-signs from Boiler Room and Dazed & Confused, Vivendii Sound will add a new layer and bring the Y2k punk spirit to the South. Capital FM’s DJ and host Kamilla Rose will be there to share her love of R&B, Hip-Hop and Dancehall with the London crowd, and last but not least, we will be joined by Cloud X’s incredible resident selectors, JOJO and Clara Rose.
Set in South London’s beautiful Beckenham Park, the festival is priced reasonably, and they have adopted the attitude of putting their community first and have become known for booking big acts before they’ve blown up, such as Knucks and Sainte. This year will be bigger and better than ever before
Live:
Saint Levant
Samm Henshaw
Berwyn
Elli Ingram
Etta Bond
Jaz Karis
Kwaku Asante
Santino Le Saint
InfamousIzak
Victoria Jane
Scuti
Niels
Selectors:
JULS
Tash LC
Crazy Cousinz
Vivendii Sound
Mina
DJ Ace
Clara Rosa
JOJO
Kamillah Rose
Annabel
