RISING festival — Thundercat | Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images

Program Revealed For Melbourne’s RISING 2023: Thundercat, Weyes Blood, The Damned + more

March 14, 2023

After finally launching in 2022 after two years of COVID delays, Melbourne’s sprawling arts and music festival RISING is returning in 2023. Running from Wednesday, 7th to Sunday, 18th June, the program features dozens of local and international artists, theatre and dance performances, art installations and more.

The full program has just been revealed, with LA-based neo soul and prog-R&B bassist Thundercat, singer-songwriter and Enya acolyte Weyes Blood, UK punk pioneers The Damned, metal supergroup Witch and Floridian preacher’s daughter Ethel Cain leading the music lineup.

Weyes Blood: ‘It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody’

Elsewhere in the music program, Mutti Mutti songwriter and elder Uncle Kutcha Edwards will lead a celebration of Blak music and storytelling called Waripa, which will feature Mo’Ju, Emily Wurramara, Alice Skye and more.

Local favourites RVG will be joined by Danish punk act Iceage and the reformed Melbourne act Batrider at their RISING show, while Paul Kelly will play a show dedicated to his recent mixtape Drinking at the Melbourne Recital Centre. Former Chromatics frontwoman Ruth Radelet will play her first-ever Australian show at the Forum, and Japanese composer and guitarist Cornelius will play his first show on our shores since 2014 – he’ll be joined by local act Honey 2 Honey, and Shintaro Sakamoto. You can see the full rundown of artists locked into RISING below.

Other highlights across the rest of the program include the mass participation event called 10,000 Kazooos, which will see composer Ciaran Frame lead 10,000 members of the public in Melbourne’s biggest-ever musical project. The Melbourne Town Hall will be taken over by Euphoria, a film installation created by Berlin artist Julian Rosefeldt featuring Cate Blanchett as an anthropomorphic tiger.

You can view the full RISING program over on the website.