Hidden Door will feature some of the most exciting new live music around when it opens The Complex on Dalkeith Road from Wednesday 31 May to Sunday 4 June. But when we put out a Live Music Open Call to play at this year’s festival, no one expected such a staggering level of interest.

For the first time, we encouraged music acts from anywhere in the UK to apply, not just Scotland, and the response was unprecedented. A total of 634 bands, singer-songwriters, electronic music producers and solo musicians responded to the invitation, making the job of selecting the handful of winning entries a challenging, but extremely rewarding, experience.

A panel comprising of twenty people from the Hidden Door team, as well as music programming partners 432presents, took on the gargantuan task of reviewing the submissions, with every single entry being listened to and reviewed by several members of the panel.

The panel eventually narrowed down the entries to a shortlist of just over 100 artists, from which the Hidden Door creative team painstakingly pieced together the final programme of 16 acts. 

We wanted to curate a programme of musical acts to complement the unique experience of each day of the festival. The final line-up of successful entries represents an eclectic mix of musical styles, but the common thread between all of them is that they are doing something interesting with the form of music they play.

And so here it is, the day-by-day line-up of successful artists from this year’s Live Music Open Call:

Wednesday 31 May welcomes Edinburgh indie outfit Dinosaur 94 and an opening night party with the larger-than-life Blue Giant Orkestar.

On Thursday 1 June, Glasgow music collective Azamiah and Leith-based folk-pop outfit The Micro Band take to the stage.

Friday 2 June features Edinburgh-based alternative Hip Hop artist Billy Got Waves and the dreamy indie-electro of singer-songwriter Sarah Carton.

Saturday 3 June sees Glasgow’s rave-punk poet Spencer Mason and Scottish / Malaysian-Chinese rapper and harpist, Queen of Harps.

Sunday 4 June presents the pulsating Glasgow-based four-piece Sweaty Palms and the sick riffs and spiteful lyrics of post-punk outfit Cowboy Hunters.

Another six artists selected through the open call will perform for audiences during the day on Saturday and Sunday before the event becomes ticketed. They are Goodnight Louisa, Peplo, Blush Club, Josephine Sillars, Rhona Macfarlane, and Blair Coron.