Five-star rated mystery men Sleep Token building momentum ahead of Radar festival slot

Men of mystery and seemingly unstoppable force Sleep Token are building momentum ahead of their appearance at RADAR festival next month.
By Graham Smyth
Published 19th Jun 2023, 12:34 BST
Updated 19th Jun 2023, 14:58 BST
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Fresh from a five-star review [NME] of their latest album Take Me Back to Eden, the anonymous British genre-defiers are currently playing their way through Europe en route to Manchester for progressive and heavy music festival RADAR, which begins on Friday July 28 and runs through to July 30.

Take Me Back to Eden was met with critical acclaim and has catapulted them to previously unknown success. NME lauded the unpredictability of the album, calling it an ‘ambitious, emotional monolith of a record,’ while Kerrang gave it a four-star rating and dubbed it an ‘LP of biblical proportions.’

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This week sees the masked men in Germany, then the Netherlands on Friday night before a return to Germany and dates in France, Spain and Finland. Sleep Token will then headline the Friday night of RADAR at Manchester's O2 Victoria Warehouse, a new venue for the relatively young member of the UK’s festival scene. Unsurprisingly, given that tickets for the band’s huge headline December show at London’s Wembley Arena sold out in just 10 minutes, Friday tickets for RADAR are also sold out. Weekend tickets that also include Friday’s programme are still available.

BUILDING MOMENTUM - British heavy metal group Sleep Token performs on stage during the heavy metal music Festival Copenhell, in Copenhagen, Denmark. They're bound for RADAR Festival in Manchester at the end of July. Pic: GettyBUILDING MOMENTUM - British heavy metal group Sleep Token performs on stage during the heavy metal music Festival Copenhell, in Copenhagen, Denmark. They're bound for RADAR Festival in Manchester at the end of July. Pic: Getty
BUILDING MOMENTUM - British heavy metal group Sleep Token performs on stage during the heavy metal music Festival Copenhell, in Copenhagen, Denmark. They're bound for RADAR Festival in Manchester at the end of July. Pic: Getty

Sleep Token will be joined on stage one on the Friday in Manchester by Haken, God is an Astronaut and AA Williams. Saturday will be headlined by Igorrr, Perturbator and Thornhill, while Periphery will close out the weekend on Sunday. Stage two will also feature the likes of Monuments, Heart of a Coward and Loathe.

Co-organisor of RADAR, Ash Cook, said earlier this year: “Periphery and Volumes are both favourites, and Sleep Token blew me away with their show last week. We're excited to see what you all think – and I can’t wait!”

RADAR festival’s sell-out 2022 edition helped pave the way for a Best New Festival Award at the UK Festival Awards back in December. The festival was first established in 2019, with Sheffield’s Rolo Tomassi playing the inaugural event, prior to a Covid-enforced break and the 2022 return.

Related topics:ManchesterEden