The full BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! 2023 calendar has dropped
The annual festival returns to Prospect Park for its 45th year, with a diverse line-up that embraces the past and looks to the future
The annual BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! festival lineup of (mostly) free concerts and events has arrived, and as usual, it’s a hype-inducing mashup of artists across genres.
The 45th edition of the festival — which takes place Prospect Park’s Lena Horne Bandshell and is run by the Brooklyn-based BRIC nonprofit arts organization — will run from June 7 to August 24 this year, the group announced on Wednesday.
Some of the more prominent artists on the calendar include The Wallflowers, a band anchored by Bob Dylan’s son Jakob; the renowned trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf; the avant-garde multi-instrumentalist and founding member of the Velvet Underground John Cale; pop innovator Kelela; and the indie rockers Alex G and Alvvays, who will share a bill for two consecutive nights in August.
L’Rain, an experimental pop artist and Brooklyn native, was tapped as a curator. The guiding 45th anniversary theme is “looking to the future while honoring our past,” BRIC wrote in a statement. Fittingly, then, the season opens with a bill shared by Grammy-winning R&B singer Corinne Bailey Rae and blues and rock legend Taj Mahal.
“Music and performing arts are what help keep us thriving in good times and in bad, and I’m grateful that the park serves as an important inspiration for artists of all kinds,” Prospect Park Alliance President Morgan Monaco said in the BRIC statement.
Check out the full lineup below and get your picnic blankets ready. The ones marked “Benefit Concert” charge for tickets, the prices of which go to funding the festival and other free BRIC programming.
June 7, Opening Night: Taj Mahal | Corinne Bailey Rae | The Harlem Gospel Travelers
June 10, Family Day: Soul Science Lab | Olivia K and The Parkers
June 15: Jake Wesley Rogers | Kara Jackson | Bright Light Bright Light
June 17, Juneteenth: UNITYFEST 2023
June 23: Antonio Sanchez: Birdman Live | Takuya Kuroda
June 24, Benefit Concert: NxWorries (Anderson .Paak & Knxwledge) | Robert Glasper with Lalah Hathaway & Bilal | BJ The Chicago Kid
June 25: BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! at Highland Park
July 1: Ibrahim Maalouf | Hermanos Gutiérrez | 2023 Tiny Desk Contest Winner
July 8: Kelela | Liv.e
July 13: Rennie Harris | Decora
July 14: Oumou Sangare | Vox Sambou
July 15: Marcia Griffiths | Brown Rice Family | Dj Miss Hap Selam
July 21: Chelsea Symphony Orchestra feat. Lady Jess | Lucrecia Dalt
July 22: Ali Sethi | Raja Kumari | Roshni Samlal
July 27: The Wallflowers | treya lam
July 29: Rickie Lee Jones | Thornetta Brown | Chris Pierce
Aug 3: Jorge Drexler | Cimafunk | Julieta Rada
Aug 4: Indigo De Souza | Vundabar
Aug 10: Benefit Concert: The Revivalists and Band of Horses
Aug 11-12: BRIC Hip-Hop 50th Anniversary Weekend
Aug 18: iLe | Divino Niño | Sara Curruchich
Aug 19: John Cale | Tomberlin
Aug 22-23: Benefit Concert: Alex G and Alvvays
Aug 24, Closing Night: The Head And The Heart | Izzy Heltai
