Promiseland Festival Returns With Massive Line-up Headlined By Lauryn Hill

Promiseland, dubbed Australia's sole music festival to combine afrobeats, reggae and R&B music, will make its return over the weekend of Saturday, 30 September and Sunday, 1 October, with a massive line-up headlined by Ms Lauryn Hill celebrating the 25th anniversary of Miseducation.

Also on the line-up are Davido, reggae singer Koffee, Aussie hip-hop group Onefour, Nigerian singer-songwriter Tems, New Zealand's reggae and roots outfit L.A.B., Stan Walker, Tenelle, and many more. The festival will also later announce two "mystery acts," and the only hints are that we'll have one of the biggest acts from New Zealand and a globally renowned R&B act.

Until 2022, no such festival in Australia had represented these distinct sub-cultures, with the inaugural event selling out in just 60 days and featuring 48 acts worldwide, including headliners UB40 and Wyclef Jean.

"My partners Bernard Kumar, Andy Tuumaga, and I had been working on the concept of a specialist festival to cater to Afrobeats, Amapiano, Reggae and R&B for some years, but our first attempts had to be shelved in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid pandemic," Festival spokesperson Emal Naim, of FestCo Events, said in a statement. 

Naim added, "We have all been deeply involved in the music sector as promoters, agents and international touring specialists for many years and knew that an event such as Promiseland was badly needed in Australia.

"Finally, after several false starts and cancellations, we managed to successfully stage the inaugural festival in October last year. We are now keen to establish Promiseland as a regular event on the Australian music calendar."

Last year's event was a huge success, and Naim hopes for similar success this year. "Last year, we had more than 21,000 people from across Australia and overseas attend the two-day event," Naim said. "This year, we are looking to offer sponsors VIP areas, customised brand activation zones and other bespoke opportunities that will allow them to showcase their products and services to event-goers."

Promiseland Festival will be held at Doug Jennings Park on the Gold Coast from Saturday, 30 September - Sunday, 1 October 2023. Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, 12 March, via the Promiseland website, where you can also find the full line-up.