Byron Bay Bluesfest Explained

Byron Bay Bluesfest
Location:Byron Bay, New South Wales
Years Active:1990–2019, 2022–2025
Last:28 March - 1 April 2024
Next:17 - 21 April 2025
Genre:Blues, roots
Founders:Keven Oxford
Organized:Peter Noble
Website:bluesfest.com.au

The Byron Bay Bluesfest, formerly the East Coast International Blues & Roots Music Festival, is an annual Australian music festival that has been held over the Easter long weekend in the Byron Bay, New South Wales, area since 1990. The festival features a large selection of blues and roots performers from Australia and around the world and is one of the world's leading contemporary music festivals.

The festival was founded by Dan Doeppel and Kevin Oxford in 1990 and is run by Peter Noble who joined Oxford for the 1994 event. It has been held at several locations in and around Byron Bay and is currently held at Tyagarah, north of Byron Bay town. Originally running for four days, it now runs for five days, from Thursday to Monday.

The Boomerang Festival is an event within the festival dedicated to Indigenous Australian performance, art and culture.

Bluesfest 2020 and 2021 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event will be held for the final time in 2025.

Ticketing and Resale

Bluesfest has partnered with Moshtix for its ticketing services, ensuring fans have a reliable and secure method to purchase their passes to the festival. Recognizing the need for flexibility and the unpredictable nature of attendees' plans, Bluesfest has also established an official partnership with Tixel.com. Attendees looking to resell their tickets can easily do so by listing their passes on the platform.[1] This partnership reflects Bluesfest's commitment to enhancing attendee experience and combatting the issues associated with ticket scalping and fraud.

History

The festival began in 1990 at the Arts Factory in Byron Bay as a four-day blues music event over the Easter weekend. It was founded by Dan Doeppel and Kevin Oxford in 1990 and is now run by Peter Noble who joined Oxford for the 1994 event.It has been held at several locations in and around Byron Bay and is currently held at Tyagarah, 11 kilometres drive north of Byron Bay town. It now runs for five days, from Thursday to Monday. From an original crowd of 6,000, it now attracts annual audiences of over 101,000 across the five days. Patrons range from locals to international visitors from a wide age range, including celebrities such as Matt Damon, Jason Momoa and Chris Hemsworth.[2]

In December 2004, Keven Oxford, a director and founder of the event, left the festival and sold his 50% share of the company to a consortium comprising Michael Chugg (managing director of Sydney-based Michael Chugg Entertainment), Daryl Herbert (CEO of Melbourne-based Definitive Events) and Glenn Wheatley (CEO of Melbourne-based Talentworks), who ran the festival with co-founder Peter Noble. Noble bought out the consortium in 2008 and now owns the festival alone.[3] In 2010 Bluesfest moved to its permanent home at the 120-hectare Tyagarah Tea Tree farm.[4]

In 2014, the Boomerang Festival was introduced as part of Bluesfest. This is an event within the festival dedicated to Indigenous Australian performance, art and culture.[5]

The event will be held for the final time in 2025.[6]

2020

Bluesfest 2020 was the first of 31 Bluesfests to be cancelled, due to event restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.[7] [8]

2021

The 2021 event, scheduled for 1–5 April,[9] was cancelled one day before it was to commence after a COVID-19 case was detected in Byron Bay. A public health order to shut down the music festival was signed by the Minister for Health Brad Hazzard.[10] As of 17 February the festival was still going ahead as the NSW Government had approved its COVID safety plan. It was to have been about half the size of previous Bluesfests, and be fully seated. Only Australian artists were to play.[11] Evelyn Richardson, of live performance industry body Live Performance Australia, estimated the sudden cancellation had caused an A$10 million loss. Eddie Brook of the Cape Byron Distillery said that Bluesfest was worth A$100 million to the local economy.[12]

Another event was arranged for October 2021, but on 17 August it was cancelled.

2022

The 2022 Bluesfest took place on 15–19 April.[13] Around 100,000 people attended the festival.[14]

2023

In November 2022 it was announced that, in addition to the 34th annual Byron Bay Festival being held on 6–10 April 2023, the inaugural Bluesfest Melbourne will take place on 8–9 April.[15] Controversy about the line-up erupted after controversial band Sticky Fingers was included in the line-up. This resulted in Melbourne band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard and rapper Sampa the Great withdrawing from the festival in protest.[16] [17] Bluesfest director, Peter Noble, defended the decision to include the band stating that the lead singer of Sticky Fingers had apologised for his past actions and called for the artists to stop living in the past.[18] After weeks of backlash, it was announced that Sticky Fingers would no longer be on the lineup. Around 70,000 people attended the Byron Bay festival.

Awards

Summary (Bluesfest)

Bluesfest Awards

Bluesfest nominations

Past lineups

2007

The line-up for the 2007 festival included:[19]

2008

The 2008 festival was held at the 26acres Belongil Fields, the original outdoor venue. The 2008 festival had more food and craft stalls, a covered area where festival goers could eat at tables, a chill-out area, plus an area for an additional, fifth stage.

Artists in 2008 included Buddy Guy, Eskimo Joe, The John Butler Trio, Gotye, The Beautiful Girls, Newton Faulkner, Seasick Steve, Charlie Musselwhite, Mavis Staples, John P. Hammond, John Hiatt, Ray Davies, Maceo Parker, Loudon Wainwright III, Ozomatli, Ruthie Foster, Jake Shimabukuro, Keith Urban, Amali Ward, Lior, MOFRO, Dan Sultan, Jeff Lang, The Cat Empire, Clare Bowditch, Raul Midon and Xavier Rudd.

2011

The line-up for the 2011 festival included:

2012

The line-up for the 2012 festival included:

2013

The line-up for the 2013 festival included:Thursday, 28 March

Friday, 29 March

Saturday 30, March

Sunday, 31 March

Monday, 1 April

2014

The line-up for the 2014 festival included:Thursday, 17 April

Friday, 18 April

Saturday, 19 April

Sunday, 20 April

Monday, 21 April

2015

The line-up for the 2015 festival included:Thursday, 2 April

Friday, 3 April

Saturday, 4 April

Sunday, 5 April

Monday, 6 April

2016

The line-up for the 2016 festival included:Thursday, 24 March

Friday, 25 March

Saturday, 26 March

Sunday, 27 March

Monday, 28 March

2017

The line-up for the 2017 festival included:Thursday, 13 April

Friday, 14 April

BOOMERANG:

Saturday, 15 April

BOOMERANG:

Sunday, 16 April

BOOMERANG:

Monday, 17 April

2018

The line-up for the 2018 festival included:Thursday, 29 March

Friday, 30 March

BOOMERANG:

Saturday, 31 March

BOOMERANG:

Sunday, 1 April

BOOMERANG:

Monday, 2 April

2019

The line-up for 2019 included:[20]

Thursday, 18 April

Friday, 19 April

BOOMERANG:

Saturday, 20 April

BOOMERANG:

Sunday, 21 April

BOOMERANG:

Monday, 22 April

2020

Bluesfest 2020 was cancelled on 16 March 2020 due to the Public Health COVID-19 Public Events Order 2020.

The line-up for 2020 was set to include:[21]

Thursday, 9 April

Friday, 10 April

Saturday, 11 April

Sunday, 12 April

Monday, 13 April

2021

Bluesfest 2021 was cancelled on 31 March 2021 by order of the Minister for Health and Medical Research, due to the discovery of a positive COVID-19 case in Byron Bay the previous day.[10]

The line-up for 2021 was set to include:[23] [24] Thursday, 1 April

Friday, 2 April

Saturday, 3 April

Sunday, 4 April

Monday, 5 April

Bluesfest 2021 was rescheduled to Friday, 1 October 2021 to Monday, 4 October 2021.[25] The revised line-up for 2021 was set to include:[26] Friday, 1 October

Saturday, 2 April

Sunday, 3 April

Monday, 4 April

On 17 August 2021, Bluesfest 2021 was once again cancelled due to COVID-19, and will not be rescheduled. The majority of the announced lineup has been confirmed for Bluesfest 2022, which took place over its original Easter weekend scheduling.[27]

2022

Thursday, April 14 (Thursdaze)

Friday, April 15

Saturday, April 16

Sunday, April 17

Monday, 18 April

2023

The 2023 Byron Bay Bluesfest ran from the 6th to the 10th of April and the line-up included the following artists.[28]

2024

The 2024 Byron Bay Bluesfest ran from the 28th of March to the 1st of April and the line-up included the following artists.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: FAQs . 2024-04-10 . Byron Bay Bluesfest . en-AU.
  2. News: Stars feel the blues this Easter. The Courier-Mail. 2017-11-08. en.
  3. 15 October 2008. Bluesfest buy-out. DBMagazine. 451. 14 February 2009. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20081203145331/http://www.dbmagazine.com.au/451/Industry.shtml. 3 December 2008. dmy-all.
  4. Web site: Bluesfest Byron Bay Tickets. Oztix.com.au. 12 November 2014.
  5. Web site: Boomerang Festival returns to Byron Bay Bluesfest in 2019. Australian Arts Review. 11 February 2019. 28 November 2022.
  6. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-14/bluesfest-final-festival-2025-cancelled-byron-bay-blues-roots/104220672 Bluefest announces it will end for good after 2025 event
  7. Web site: Bluesfest 2020 Has Been Cancelled. Paul. Cashmere. 16 March 2020. Noise11.com.
  8. Web site: Public Health COVID-19 Public Events Order 2020. Health.gov.au.
  9. Web site: Martin. Josh. Byron Bay Bluesfest announces 2021 return, confirms new dates. Nme.com. 19 January 2021. en-AU. 19 March 2020.
  10. News: Elsworthy. Emma. Byron Bay Bluesfest cancelled for second year running after local man tests positive for COVID-19. 1 April 2021. ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 31 March 2021. en-AU. This action is being taken to minimise the risk of the highly infectious COVID-19 variant of concern being transmitted in the local area, as well as across states and territories. − NSW Health statement.
  11. News: Fuamoli. Sose. Bluesfest will definitely go ahead for 2021, becoming the first COVID-safe festival of its size. 17 February 2021. Radio Triple J. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 17 February 2021. en.
  12. News: Elsworthy. Emma. Byron Bay Bluesfest cancellation over COVID case angers music industry and fans. 1 April 2021. ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 31 March 2021. en-AU.
  13. News: Condon. Dan. Bluesfest will not happen in 2021, as festival announces 2022 plans. 17 August 2021. Double J. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 17 August 2021. en.
  14. Web site: Galvin. Nick. 2023-04-09. Slimmed-down Bluesfest rocks on despite all the dramas. 2023-07-05. Sydney Morning Herald. en.
  15. Web site: Artist Lineup & Play Dates. 2023-02-21. Bluesfest.com.au. en-AU.
  16. Web site: Boulton. Martin. 2023-02-21. Bluesfest director doubles down after Sticky Fingers controversy. 2023-02-21. The Age. en.
  17. News: Burke. Kelly. 2023-03-02. Bluesfest removes Sticky Fingers from lineup after boycotts and backlash. en-GB. The Guardian. 2023-03-03. 0261-3077.
  18. Web site: Watson. Meg. Boulton. Martin. 15 February 2023. 'Stop living in the past': Bluesfest director backs adding Sticky Fingers to line-up. 21 February 2023. The Age.
  19. http://www.bluesfest.com.au/lineup2007.html Line-up 2007
  20. Web site: Byron Bay Blues Festival Playing Schedule. Byron Bay Bluesfest. https://web.archive.org/web/20190216042530/https://www.bluesfest.com.au/pages/?ParentPageID=90&PageID=289. 16 February 2019. 16 February 2019.
  21. Web site: Byron Bay Blues Festival Playing Schedule. Bluesfest.com.au. 30 September 2023.
  22. Web site: Australian Americana Music Honours 2020. Cooper. Chryss. 23 February 2020. Bluesfest.com.au. 30 September 2023.
  23. Web site: 2021 lineup. https://web.archive.org/web/20210331080922/https://www.bluesfest.com.au/2021-lineup. 31 March 2021. Bluesfest.com.au. usurped. 30 May 2021.
  24. Web site: Playing schedule. https://web.archive.org/web/20210330050701/https://www.bluesfest.com.au/playing-schedule. 30 March 2021. Bluesfest.com.au. dead. 30 May 2021.
  25. Web site: Bluesfest 2021 rescheduled dates!. Bluesfest.com.au. 13 May 2021 . 30 May 2021.
  26. Web site: 2021 lineup. Bluesfest.com.au. 30 May 2021. 31 March 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210331080922/https://www.bluesfest.com.au/2021-lineup. dead.
  27. Web site: Condon. Dan. 2021-08-17. Bluesfest will not happen in 2021, as festival announces 2022 plans. 2021-08-17. Abc.bet.au. en.
  28. Web site: Byron Bay Bluesfest contemporary Blues & Roots music festival. 2023-02-21. Bluesfest.com.au. en-AU.

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