Sydney Festival and ATP today announced that the renowned All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival is coming to Sydney Harbour’s Cockatoo Island as part of Sydney Festival 2009. All Tomorrow’s Parties will be headlined and curated by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.

Named after the Velvet Underground song and described as the “ultimate mix tape”, All Tomorrow’s Parties is a boutique festival that goes against the grain of the larger, more commercial music festivals. Each new All Tomorrow’s Parties invites an artist or band to headline and then handpick their favourite performers to play at the festival.

For Sydney Festival 2009, All Tomorrow’s Parties will present a one day program on Saturday January 17, which will then repeated on January 18. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ All Tomorrow’s Parties will feature special guests, The Saints – featuring original members Ed Kuepper, Chris Bailey and Ivor Hay – and include performances by seminal international artists including Spiritualized, Silver Apples, James Blood Ulmer, Harmonia, Fuck Buttons, Afrirampo and Michael Gira alongside Australians Laughing Clowns, Robert Forster, Bridezilla & The Necks.

Cockatoo Island is Sydney Harbour’s largest island and has been a former prison, reformatory for wayward girls and a shipbuilding yard. The industrial and maritime landscape together with the picturesque backdrop of Sydney Harbour make this urban island the perfect setting for this unique event.

Sydney line-up: NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS, THE SAINTS, SPIRITUALIZED, ROBERT FORSTER, SILVER APPLES, M GIRA, FUCK BUTTONS, JAMES BLOOD ULMER, AFRIRAMPO, HARMONIA, BRIDEZILLA, THE NECKS, LAUGHING CLOWNS

Tickets will be on sale on Monday November 10 at 9.00am from www.sydneyfestival.org.au or via phone 132-849.