The Chemical Brothers, Overmono, Róisin Murphy, Little Simz, more announced for Bristol's Forwards festival

Bristol is getting a new city festival, Forwards.

Scheduled for 3rd and 4th September at Clifton Downs, the inaugural edition of the event will be headlined by the Chemical Brothers and Jamie xx. 60,000 people are expected to attend across the event’s two days.

Also scheduled to play are Overmono, Caribou, Floating Points, Róisín Murphy, Shygirl, Fred again.., Little Simz and Khruangbin. More names will be added to the bill in the coming months.

In addition to the live music offering, Forwards’ organisers have said they want to “challenge what metropolitan festivals can be today and how they can do good, from the inside out”. Part of this will see them set up an area called The Information, described as “a space for activism, examination, debate and understanding on today’s current affairs and cultural issues”.

Forwards is also partnering with Big Team CIC to open up opportunities to young people in Bristol “who have historically been excluded from, and are under-represented in, the festival and events industry”.

Pre-sale tickets for the inaugural Forwards will go live this Thursday, 24th February, with the general sale following a day later. Find more information via Forwards’ website.

The Chemical Brothers are also scheduled to play live at Yorkshire’s Castle Howard this summer, in addition to a headline appearance at London’s Field Day.