Björk to Headline 2023 Perth Festival With Week-Long Residency

October 21, 2022

Björk has been announced as the headliner for next year’s Perth Festival. In an Australian exclusive, the Icelandic musician will be bringing her live concert experience Cornucopia to Perth’s Langley Park.

It’ll be a week-long residency on the banks of Perth’s Swan River, where Björk will erect a custom-made pavilion, the cyber-sonic Garden of Eden. These will be Björk’s first performances in Australia since the 2008 Big Day Out tour.

Björk – ‘Utopia’

Björk’s Cornucopia was conceived in tandem with her 2017 album, Utopia, and shares the album’s environmental themes. Björk has performed Cornucopia in only a few cities around the world. The performances in Perth will take place within a 100m x 55m pavilion, which will house 5000 guests at each performance.

“There is no greater joy than welcoming Björk to Perth,” said Perth Festival artistic director Iain Grandag. “She is an adored artist at the forefront of international creative imagining, and Cornucopia is the epitome of that artistry.”

Björk created Cornucopia with Argentinian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel. Described as a “sci-fi pop concert”, the Perth iteration will feature songs from Utopia as well as Björk’s new album, Fossora, and various selections from her ten album back catalogue.

Fossora came out in September 2022. The album title is a word Björk made up to mean “she who digs (into the ground)”. Sonically, Fossora is about “bass” and “heavy bottom-end.” The record includes “6 bass clarinets and punchy sub[s]”, a contrast to Utopia, which was “all island in the clouds element air and no bass.”