The 2021 Adult Swim Festival has officially begun.
Described as an unparalleled immersive experience, the two-day cultural event will offer audiences a wide range of entertainment, including never-before-seen videos, discussion panels, exclusive interviews, and musical guests. This year’s festival will be strictly digital once again, and can be streamed on Adult Swim’s official YouTube channel.
Lil Baby and Karol G will co-headline the event, which will also feature live performances from 21 Savage, Flying Lotus, Alessia Cara, Angel Olsen, and 070 Shake. Other highlights include a video premiere from Run the Jewels; panels for Rick and Morty, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and the new series Blade Runner: Black Lotus and Smiling Friends. There will also be watch parties for fan-favorite episodes selected by series’ creators. The watch party lineup will include episodes of Robot Chicken, Teenage Euthanasia, Sealab 2021, Mr. Pickles and Metalocalypse, and will feature a live chat that allows fans to connect with series’ stars.
Adult Swim Festival 2020 was also forced to go digital due to the global health crisis. According to Animation Magazine, last year’s event garnered more than 10 million views from around the world; however, Jill King—the senior vice president of marketing and partnerships at Adult Swim—told the Los Angeles Timesthe event will likely return to its in-person format in 2022.
“We made the decision to continue with virtual because we are learning a lot,” King explained, before touching on the advantages of an online event. “...We want to make sure that we’re here as a support to bring [artists’] vision to life. A lot of our artists give nontraditional performances because they’re not held to the big festival stage. They were able to get creative and express themselves and their show in a different way.”
You can check out the full Adult Swim Festival schedule above and cop event merch at the Adult Swim website. Day 2 can be streamed below on Saturday.
You can also check out Run the Jewels’ “Never Look Back” video.
