Wowzers we are blown away by the amazing press we’ve been receiving for this years edition of Supersonic, which saw us celebrate 2 decades of the festival. The response from artists, audiences and press has really warmed our hearts.
“the care and community at this independent festival of outer-reaches sounds is evident in every single detail as it celebrates its 20th anniversary.”
★★★★★
The Guardian, read full review
photo by Cat Dineley
“Britain’s very best underground festival… Lankum might be riding high off the back of a universally lauded, Mercury-nominated masterpiece of a new album (tQ’s number one of the year so far, no less), yet the awe with which they speak about Supersonic is testament to the event’s oversized influence in the underground, a status earned over two decades hard graft. It’s not only the best festival they’ve ever played, Lynch, says, but the best they’ve ever been to.”
– The Quietus, read full review
photo by Snaprockpop
“it’s clear that this is a festival that genuinely cultivates community, both through its carefully considered programme of bands, talks and workshops, and the unparalleled warmth of its atmosphere”
– The Wire
“Supersonic is full of these wild adventures. It’s one of the best festivals out there that defines the core of these gatherings – places that change your life and send you down a myriad of new rabbit holes. It takes chances, creates culture and disrupts culture in a true visionary style that makes it one of the key calender events.”
– Louder Than War, read full review
Backxwash by Snaprockpop
“Supersonic Festival has long boasted the talents of the most unique sounds in music from metal and beyond, so it feels fitting that in its 20th anniversary edition it would host an artist who so brazenly embodies the spirit of heaviness whilst sounding worlds away from traditional metal. That such a joyous and undeniably heavy artist has made her debut in the heart of the Home Of Metal only further cements the notion that Backxwash is representative of where heavy music in 2023, no longer defined by riffs and horror movie aesthetics alone.”
– Louder Sound, read full review
“a diverse crowd of musical eccentrics young and old, from all over the UK and far beyond were already there in droves.”
★★★★★
The Arts Desk, read full review
“Supersonic was ahead of the game on many fronts. The female-founded festival was up on gender representation long before the Keychange initiative drew attention to ways of trying to achieve gender parity in the music industry. Gender and sexuality find a safe space here. Even such things as metal being taken seriously by electronic musicians, and electronics coming to rock, and the now preponderant but still under-regarded creative economy of solo artists and DJs using electronics to create a huge sound. For organisational problems arising from gentrification, Supersonic is the test case for how to deal with it, and how to do it right. In society and culture, the ongoing backlash against progressivism has made us all suffer. But before the backlash even began, the backlash to the backlash started here— and it started in Birmingham.”
– London Jazz News, read full review
“On the Sunday afternoon there’s a ‘Supersonic Mass’ to mark the anniversary, part Pagan ritual, part local precinct ribbon cutting that ends with an unveiling of a spectacular banner, listing every artist that has played the festival in its 20 years. It is a truly remarkable list of names, from LCD Soundsystem and Kim Gordon to Max Tundra and Hype Williams. It shows not just the sonic breadth that Supersonic brings to the table, but, with how many people played early shows here before going on to be wildly influential, their eye for talent. You get the sense they’ve given a few people their new favourite artist over the weekend. A truly vital festival, long may it continue.”
– The Skinny, read full review
Taqbir by John Convery
“The success of this summer’s Outbreak and Supersonic festivals mean a line has now been drawn in the sand: no longer can heavy music festival bookers utter the lie “We would book more women/people of colour, but there aren’t any”
– Metal Hammer, read full article
“As the dust settles, it’s clear to me that Supersonic is not just a festival. It’s a love letter to experimental and hardcore music; a place of sharing, learning, and breaking down whatever limitations people may have about music. It’s even clearer to me that Supersonic is a space for everyone, intricately curated in a way to highlight artists I don’t know how I would find even if I wanted to. Over this extra special weekend, my ears have heard things I’ve never heard before.”
– Birmingham Review, read their reviews of Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
“Supersonic is all about being part of something. It’s where the seeds for this website were sewn in the beginning, it’s where I’ve found music I’ve never even heard of and loved.”
– Fighting Boredom, read full article
“Supersonic draws a crowd of the curious, they respect each other and the artists which means that even a first-on-the-bill, largely unknown local band still plays to a decent crowd and not an empty hall.”
– Echoes & Dust, read full article
Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone Supersonic Special | Listen Here
Stuart presents a special show recorded at Birmingham’s Supersonic Festival, Britain’s premier celebration of adventurous and mind-blowing sounds. There will be interviews and highlights from across the weekend, including Silver Moth and Mercury nominated Lankum.
