The Lineup for This Year’s Soul’d Out Festival is Here

It may not be as zeitgeist-y as pervious years, but it does offer a solid mix of national and local legends, as well as buzzy wild cards.

Leikeli47. IMAGE: Tyler Adams.
By Shannon Gormley

For six days in April, Soul'd Out Music Festival fills venues across Portland with an eclectic mix of R&B, soul, funk and hip-hop.

This week, the festival announced the preliminary lineup for its 10th iteration. This year's headliners are recently reunited Golden Age rappers Eric B. and Rakim, blues legend Buddy Guy and smooth funk hitmakers Tower of Power.

The currently released lineup may not be as zeitgeist-y as pervious years—Erykah Badu and Noname played last year, Solange the year before that. But it does offer a solid mix of national and local legends and buzzy wild cards. Besides, it's only the preliminary lineup, so it's possible that there will be more exciting announcements on the horizon.

Perhaps the strangest inclusion is Ukrainian folk quartet Dakhabrakha, while one of the most exciting is Leikeli47, who got a streaming boost when her single "Girl Blunt" was included on the last season of Insecure and whose 2018 album Acrylic is hard hitting, luxurious and beyond catchy.

Soul'd Out will take place April 16-21. Passes are on sale now.

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