Just Like Heaven festival announces 2023 lineup
Just Like Heaven isn’t just a song by The Cure: it’s a festival that is quickly gaining a reputation as perhaps the premiere nostalgia base of all the gatherings across the summer months. With its focus on embracing the 2000s (which, I will remind you, is now two decades old), JLH is leaning hard into the bands that were once on the cutting edge of indie rock and electronica but are now transitioning into elder statesmen status.
This year’s lineup is no different, with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs headlining this year’s festivities. New York’s favourite art punks might have had a new album, Cool It Down, released this year, but they are certainly riding high on the love of their collective works rather than pushing boundaries with their latest music. Nothing wrong with that: it’s good enough to get you a prime headlining slot at a prominent festival.
Speaking of beloved New York indie rockers, the recently reunited forefathers of the NYC indie rock scene, The Walkmen, are also in the lineup. Although they started in Washington D.C., The Walkmen made their name in New York after the dissolution of true NYC indie forerunners Jonathan Fire*Eater hit the bricks in 1998.
Another prominent act in the lineup this year is MGMT, who will be playing the entirety of their beloved 2007 debut, Oracular Spectacular, at the festival. While Just Like Heaven does have some more modern names like Azaelia Banks and Cults, having MGMT trot out their OG LP in full is really what JLH excels at doing.
Other acts filling out the lineup this year include Caribou, Empire of the Sun, Fever Ray, Future Islands, Hot Chip, Ladytron, M83, Metronomy, Peaches, STRFKR, The Bravery, The Faint, and The Sounds.
The Just Like Heaven Festival will take place on May 13th in Pasadena, California. Tickets can be purchased now at justlikeheavenfest.com.
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