EXCLUSIVE: Vivid Set To Beat Box Office Records

The Sydney Opera House' Vivid LIVE program is claiming its best year so far thanks to the run of Kraftwerk shows that sold out almost instantly.

Speaking to theMusic.com.au this morning at a press conference for the upcoming Sounds Of The South performance, Creative Director Fergus Linehan said he was relieved at sales.

“[They've been] really good, best year so far. Thank God. Yeah, it's been a really, really strong year. I mean, Kraftwerk helped 'cause it sold out before everything else. But in general, it's been our best year so far.”

The festival was originally featured guest curators – Brian Eno, Lou Reed and Stephen Pavlovic have all had a go – before organisers decided to keep it in house and allow themselves the ability to negotiate upcoming acts in advance.

“We've a list [of artists] and we're always 'at' a bunch of people,” Linehan confirmed. “Sometimes it's special projects and a lot of people have very busy schedules and they can't confirm until the last minute but you just have to keep on asking them.

“It's getting easier and easier to kind of program the more adventurous stuff. Even though it's got a fundamental 'poppy' sensibility, people are becoming more and more kind of interested in the festival rather than just its composite parts.”

A highlight of this year's event, Sounds Of The South will see Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, Frazey Ford, Megafaun and Matthew E. White reinterpret Alan Lomax's legendary Sounds Of The South – A Musical Journey From The Georgia Sea Islands To The Mississippi Delta Recorded In The Field By Alan Lomax collection.

“You know, if you try to do something like this at any other time of year – it probably wouldn't be so great,” Linehan said, “but every year it's getting a little bit more like that, like a proper festival where people go, 'Oh this is a time of year I book something I wouldn't ordinarily go to', as well as those more familiar acts.

During the press conference Vernon expressed a love for Lomax's recordings, describing them as “fucking awesome”.

“I don't live in the South, but clearly the music from there speaks to people universally,” he said. “I think, the fact that we're all the way around the world – there's something clearly going on historically and consciously.”

We took a sneak peak at the performance, which will take place on Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 June, and you can watch it below: