After a successful debut in 2022, three-day Gold Coast festival Promiseland is back. And not only that, but it’s dropped what may one of the most surprising and exciting line ups of the year.
This comes after weeks of serious chatter in the music industry about the future of broad-spectrum music festivals such as Splendour in the Grass and Groovin’ the Moo.
And yet, it seems promoters Whatslively have landed on a nice little balance here; one that could easily position Promiseland as one of the biggest names on the yearly calendar moving forward. It’s more Listen Out than Splendour; curated to a very specific taste leaning towards hip hop, R&B, Afrobeats and reggae.
To show that they’re serious, the organisers even went and nabbed one of the all-time greats, Busta Rhymes, to headline the festival alongside the king of modern R&B, Miguel, Jorja Smith, Metro Boomin, Rema and Asake.
In all honesty, I haven’t been this surprised by a festival lineup since Soulfest bought out Maxwell and D’Angelo in its first and only year. That said, the appetite for these styles of music has certainly increased over the years, given, culturally, Australia is always about five years behind everywhere else.
Promiseland is set for Doug Jennings Park on the Gold Coast over the October long weekend (4th, 5th and 6th). And it will be much more about the music, with the promoters promising a focus on community and culture alongside performances from these heavyweights.
In addition to the lineup below, Promiseland is also bringing Jerk & Jollof down under to curate their own stage. The international party brand is known for some of the wildest Afro-Caribbean parties in the world so this should be something the Gold Coast has certainly never seen before.
I, for one, am just glad we have a festival dedicated to traditionally black styles of music that doesn’t feel the need to get Abbie Chatfield to host. For hosting duties, Promiseland is flying down popular podcaster Yung Filly from the UK.
Presale takes place on Tuesday 16th April at 12PM AEST and general sale starts on Wednesday 17th April 12 PM AEST.
