English electronic band Morcheeba will join Russell Crowe on stage to open the 2023 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, organizers have announced today. Czech musician and actor Vojtěch Dyk will also take part in the festival’s opening night ceremonies.
Morcheeba will kick off the opening night concert of the 2023 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on the main stage outside festival headquarters Hotel Thermal from 7:00 p.m. on Friday, June 30.
Crowe and his Indoor Garden Party will follow from 10:45 p.m. Both concerts will take place free of charge at the festival’s main outdoor area.
In-between these concerts, Dyk will perform at the Mattoni Life Bar at the nearby Columnata Termal (Vřídelní kolonáda) from 9:00 p.m.
Morcheeba was founded in London in 1995 by vocalist Skye Edwards and brothers Paul and Ross Godfrey. The band has released ten studio albums to date, which include numerous hits such as Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day and The Sea.
The band released their debut Who Can You Trust? in 1996, followed by the breakthrough Big Calm in 1998, Fragments of Freedom in 2000, and Charango in 2002. Edwards left Morcheeba in 2003, but returned six years later to record the albums Blood Red Lemonade in 2010 and Head Up High in 2013.
Today, Morcheeba operates as a duo Edwards and Ross Godfrey, and has played in Prague and summer music festivals around the Czech Republic numerous times. Most recently, they took the stage at the Czech capital’s Metronome Festival in 2021. “We love Prague,” Paul Godfrey told the crowd.
Previously, Morcheeba played at the Czech online concert Národ sobě – kultura tobě during the Covid pandemic, where they debuted one of the songs from their latest album, Blackest Blue.
Before he takes to the stage outside the Hotel Thermal, Russell Crowe will take part in the exclusive opening ceremony inside the venue, where he will be presented with a Crystal Globe for Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema.
This year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, now in its 57th year, will take place in the UNESCO-listed Czech spa town from June 30 through July 8, 2023.
