KC & The Sunshine Band set for Mostly Jazz Funk & Soul Festival 2023

Florida hit-machine KC & The Sunshine Band headline final night.
Plus Kokoroko, Smoove & Turrell, and Fun Lovin’ Huey Morgan all added.
7-9 July 2023, Moseley Park, Birmingham.

US funk/disco legends KC and The Sunshine Band are the latest big-name act set for this year’s Mostly Jazz Funk and Soul Festival (Friday 7 to Sunday 9 July 2023). Formed by Harry Wayne Casey in Florida, in 1973, the band scored 10 UK Top 40 hits, including dancefloor classics Queen of Clubs, Get Down Tonight, That’s The Way (I Like It), (Shake Shake Shake) Your Booty, Boogie Shoes, ballad Please Don’t Go, and the 1983 number one, Give It Up. The Sunday night headliners have also had their music featured in hundreds of movies too, from the iconic Saturday Night Fever and Forrest Gump, to 2022’s Minions: The Rise Of Gru.

Also just-added to the Birmingham festival’s line-up are London Afrobeat and highlife influenced eight-piece Kokoroko (Friday), whose debut album for Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood label, Could We Be More, was recently greeted with universal acclaim; long-standing Mostly favourites Smoove and Turrell (Saturday),making their fourth appearance at the festival; and musician and BBC 6Music host Huey Morgan(Sunday). Huey will be presenting a DJ set just before KC and The Sunshine Band, and last visited Mostlyin 2014, when his band, Fun Lovin’ Criminals, headlined opening night.

They join an already packed line-up that includes Fat Freddy’s Drop, Goldie (Live) and Jungle DJ Set (Friday); Ezra Collective, Mr Scruff and Young Gun Silver Fox (Saturday); and Incognito, Norman Jay and Jamz Supernova (Sunday), plus many more.

Alongside unveiling the full music bill, the festival has also announced a tempting line-up of award-winning street food vendors, including Bonehead; Original Patty Men; East Asian specialists Brúm Mì; The English Indian, famed for their award-winning Indian take on fish’n’chips; Ba-Ha Vegan; and Gyoza Gyoza (Japanese). Plus Cleopatra’s Kitchen, Good Food Cartel (Mexican), That’s Amore (pizzas), Zindiya (Indian), West Midlands Jerk Centre, Carnival Coffee, Bournville Waffle Company, and Shepherds Ices.

John Fell, Mostly Jazz Funk and Soul Festival Manager, said: “We can’t wait to welcome KC and The Sunshine Band to Mostly. Their infectious ‘Sunshine Sound’ changed the course of funk and disco in the 1970s, and 50 years later, is still packing dancefloors the world over.

“They’re such a great addition to an already strong and varied line-up which also includes so
many exciting contemporary acts too, like Kokoroko, and Smoove and Turrell – who are one
of the most consistently popular acts we’ve ever booked.”