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Shadowlands is a brand new boutique international music festival that will take place across four days at the beginning of July 2027 in the historic city of Canterbury in south-east England.
Focusing on alternative, electronic, avant-garde and experimental artists, names already confirmed to perform include Foetus, Lustmord, Test Dept, Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan, Regis (feat. Liam Andrews), Clock DVA, The Wolfgang Press, Githead, hackedepicciotto, People Like Us, Portion Control, :Zoviet*France: and more. Further acts will be announced in August.
Led by the legendary JG Thirlwell, Foetus will perform as a 20 piece chamber orchestra in what is a European exclusive, playing material from the 2026 album ‘HALT’ and classic earlier work. It will be Thirlwell’s first UK appearance as Foetus for over 25 years and only the second time this music has been presented in a large orchestral format. Similarly, Lustmord will perform in the UK for the first time in two decades, while Githead (Colin Newman of Wire, Malka Spiegel of Minimal Compact and Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner) are reuniting after a 13 year hiatus.
In addition to live sets, Shadowlands will feature panel discussions, Q&As and a film programme across three performance spaces at the Gulbenkian Arts Centre situated within the University of Kent campus in the city.
Shadowlands has been co-founded by David Sefton, former Head of Artistic Development at the Royal Festival Hall/South Bank Centre in London, and is the first full UK festival that he has been involved in launching since originating the globally renowned annual Meltdown event in 1993.
“The idea is to bring something new to the festival landscape that is genuinely original,” says Sefton. “There are many great independent events in the UK, but all to an extent are tied into a ‘next big thing’ pattern. However, there are so many extraordinary artists out there who are as unique and exciting as the day they started, whether six months ago or forty years ago. Shadowlands is all about them.”
Classifying itself as being The Outside Of Everything, Shadowlands brings together some of the greatest artists ever that can be filed under the ‘adventurous listening’ category to create an extraordinary debut event. “Ultimately, it’s really about asking the question: “what is the most exciting line-up of the most adventurous music ever made?” And then booking it,” adds Sefton.
With Canterbury’s close proximity to London, mainland Europe and major airports making it an attractive destination for UK-based and international travellers, the size of the event (450 tickets for sale, with on-site accommodation available) adds to its unique appeal in the festival calendar. Limited early bird tickets are available HERE priced at £240, including the ability to split the cost into three monthly payments. Accommodation can be booked from September 2026.
