Two Western Australian bands announced as supporting acts for Coldplay Perth concerts

Coldplay has chosen two Western Australian bands to be their support acts for upcoming sell-out Perth concerts at Optus Stadium.

Indie pop/rock band King Ibis and African-born R&B/pop/Afrobeats artist Adrian Dzvuke and his band have been handed a rare career-boosting opportunity to support Coldplay after entering a competition in which hopefuls had to submit an original music track and a video of them performing to be considered.

Adrian Dzvuke's band will perform at Coldplay's 'Music of the Spheres' concert on Saturday, 18th November and King Ibis will play on Sunday, 19th November 2023, to more than 60,000 people.

The competition was Coldplay's idea and a shortlist of 20 entrants was compiled by a judging panel that included representatives of Coldplay management, concert promoter Live Nation, Perth radio station RTR-FM and Warner Music. A playlist of the shortlisted entries will be available on Spotify and promoted to Coldplay's more than 40 million social media followers.

The winners will receive financial support from the Western Australian Government, which includes a grant of $15,000 each, through the Contemporary Music Fund, to help with activities such as recording, marketing, touring and attending industry events. This is additional to their performance fee.

In May, the State Government announced financial support had resulted in Perth being included in Coldplay's world tour. The Australian-exclusive concerts will inject millions of dollars into the WA economy, especially into the tourism and hospitality sectors, with thousands of interstate and international visitors coming to Perth.

WA Premier Roger Cook shared "I am incredibly proud of King Ibis and Adrian Dzvuke for impressing Coldplay and the judging panel, and congratulate them on securing this golden opportunity to share their music with new audiences and further their careers.”

WA Culture and the Arts Minister David Templeman added "The fact that two bands were chosen by Coldplay instead of just one indicates the high standard of the entries, which is a credit to the WA industry. I've always known that WA artists are extremely talented, now a packed Optus Stadium will see it for themselves.

"The WA Government is also pleased to provide financial support to the winning bands. There is a clear synergy between this competition and the Contemporary Music Fund, which aims to support local artists to promote and develop their work, as well as broaden their audience nationally and internationally."

Background
Adrian Dzvuke (pronounced Zu-Kay) is a multi-award-winning Perth-based artist who has quickly become one of Australia's most in-demand emerging acts, as shown by performances at Splendour in the Grass, Groovin The Moo and Wave Rock festivals, as well as support slots for POND, Spacey Jane, Omah Lay, San Cisco, Stella Donnelly & Winston Surfshirt.

Equally at home onstage with his band or in the studio, his soulful mixture of R&B, Pop & Afrobeats has been gaining fans at every show and with every release.

Born in Zimbabwe, Adrian moved to Australia aged 12 where, in the finest R&B tradition, he began his music career singing and playing drums in church. Fast forward some years and Adrian's recent run of singles and debut EP 'Phone Me When You Lonely' have seen him featured by triple j, MTV, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon & VEVO, amassing two million streams and landing on the Top 100 Australian iTunes, Spotify & Shazam charts.

Band members include Conor Lawson - guitarist; Oscar Van Gass - drummer; Alfred Bangezhano - bassist/keys

King Ibis is a Perth indie-pop/rock band that makes music that feels distinctively Western Australian, while also being distinctly unique.

Their sun-bleached, stripped-down rhythms combine with soaring vocals and a cheeky sense of humour to create irresistibly catchy songs. King Ibis describe themselves as fun, heartfelt and a little bit quirky.

Band members include Nadene Burchell – singer/songwriter; Matthew Oakley – guitarist; Samantha Goddard – bassist; John McAndrew – drummer