Kelis, The Presets to headline Brisbane’s Sweet Relief! festival in 2024

by Check Check | Thursday May 30, 2024 | News

Kelis, Supplied

Brisbane music festival Sweet Relief! will bring Kelis back to the country for the first time in seven years. Kelis will headline the single-day event alongside The Presets, who’re performing live again after a long stint of DJ engagements. It’s happening on Saturday 7 September at Ballymore Stadium, the erstwhile home of the Queensland Reds rugby union team.

The lineup also includes Electric Fields, who recently represented Australia at Eurovision. While the duo bowed out in the contest’s semi-finals, their song, “One Milkali (One Blood),” was the first Eurovision entry to include lyrics in the Yankunytjatjara language of the Aṉangu people. Yuggera woman and Brisbane-based techno DJ dameeeela is also on the Sweet Relief! bill, as well as Haiku Hands and JUNO.

Kelis was due to perform at Beyond the Valley over the 2023/24 New Year’s period but cancelled the trip a couple of months out from the event. The American pop artist is best known for her 2003 single “Milkshake” and her 1999 breakthrough, “Caught Out There.” Her most recent album, Food, came out in 2014 and featured production from TV On the Radio’s David Andrew Sitek.

Kelis has also been announced as a keynote speaker at this year’s BIGSOUND conference. Kelis will speak at the event on Thursday 5 September. Sweet Relief! is co-presented by BIGSOUND and the Queensland tourism series Qld Music Trails.