Birmingham Festival 23 closing day- everything to know about line-up & more

Birmingham Festival 23 has been a roaring success so far despite rain playing up through the week. It started on Friday July 28 and will come to an end on August 6.

The free festival for celebrating the anniversary of the Commonwealth Games 2022 has showcased Birmingham’s talent, character and reputation as an international destination for major events. There have been several incredible performances from local and global artists and sadly, it is time to bid adieu soon.

The opening day of the festival titled One City, A Thousand Memories took place in Centenary Square - with BBC presenter Ayo Akinwolere and DJ and Radio 1Xtra presenter Kaylee Golding hosting the event. The mascot, Perry, made a special appearance with the Dhol Blasters among other highlights - including a host of medal winning athletes, a performance from SANITY and Friendly Fire.

There’s still almost three-days - including the closing day - worth of unmissable performances to watch. If you have missed it so far, this weekend is the last weekend that the festival is on. The full schedule of the event can be seen on our previous article here.

For the closing day, here is the full list of events:

Sunday, August 6 – Closing

• 12 noon The day starts with Rainbow Voices, the West Midlands’ community choir for LGBTQIA+ people and their friends, are united by their love of song.
• 12.30pm A School’s Out Disco celebrates the summer holidays with moments of joy and cabaret.
• 12.45pm Made in Brum act, Headquarters of Groove will bring a selection of feel-good Acid Jazz, Neo-Soul and dance tunes, ahead of two of the city’s finest and established talents in a back-to-back celebration of music and spoken word.
• 1pm Ginny Lemon’s Schools Out Disco Party brings everyone together to mark the festival’s last day in a fun-filled party with joy and cabaret.
• 1.15pm Empires Pioneers and the New Radicals with Elizabeth ‘Zeddie’ Lawal in which you can join a VR project which maps Birmingham’s journey from empire to innovation in ten defining moments around Centenary Square.
• 2pm Headquarters of Groove bring a feel-good inspired mix of Dance, Neo Soul, Funk and Acid Jazz.
• 2.30pm Screening: City of a Thousand Trades with Birmingham Royal Ballet - a love letter to Birmingham in dance commissioned in 2021 by Carlos Acosta to celebrate the city’s richly diverse heritage and cultures.
• 3pm Fresh from a national tour, an enhanced edition of Dancing to Music You Hate by Jasmine Gardosi (Birmingham’s poet laureate) returns to Birmingham, adapted for the festival with special guests. Expect explosive dubstep bass-lines and soaring folk violin blowing apart the boundaries of gender and musical genre alike.

• From 5pm Birmingham Festival 23 will with B: Music: NEXT TRACK - Following 2022’s Beyond the Bricks of Brum, Next Track sees former poet laureate Casey Bailey working alongside Musical Director, Ashley Allen, and a range of regional music, poetry and spoken word artists bringing Birmingham Festival 2023 to a close. Celebrating the city as it is now, where it came from and where it might be in future, this performance will take audiences on a journey looking at acceptance, arrival and appreciation.