East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival
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The East Coast International Blues & Roots Music Festival, also known as Byron Bay Bluesfest, is an annual music festival held for five days over the Easter long weekend at Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia. It features a large selection of blues and roots performers, both international and Australian.
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[edit] History
The festival began in 1990 as a four day indoor event at The Arts Factory in Byron Bay, drawing a capacity crowd of 6,000 people in its first year.
In 1993 the event moved outdoors to Belongil Fields (1993-1996), Red Devil Park (1997-2007) then back to Belongil Fields in 2008. After running four stages for some years, it ran five stages in 2008. On most days performances begin around noon and end at midnight. As of 2007, capacity at Red Devil Park was 16,000 attendees each day.
The festival won the Robert Helpmann Award for Best Contemporary Music Festival in Australia for 2004 and 2005. It was a finalist in the US-based Pollstar Concert Industry Awards for two years, placing the festival alongside names like Montreux and Glastonbury.
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 Noble. Noble bought out the consortium in 2008 and now owns the festival alone.[1]
The festival has two sister festivals, one in Victoria called the Point Nepean Music Festival which so far only ran in 2008, and a festival in Western Australia, West Coast Blues & Roots Festival put on by Sunset Events, which often features similar artists.
[edit] 2007 line-up
The line-up for the 2007 festival (5 April to 9 April 2007 at Red Devil Park) included:[1]
- Rodriguez
- Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals
- John Mayer
- Missy Higgins
- Wolfmother
- Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
- Bonnie Raitt
- Bo Diddley
- Taj Mahal
- Tony Joe White
- The Roots
- Kasey Chambers
- John Butler Trio
- Fat Freddys Drop
- Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars
- Fishbone
- Gomez
- Fred Eaglesmith
- Kieran Kane & Kevin Welch with Fats Kaplin
- Feist
- The Waifs
- Ben Kweller
- Flogging Molly
- Xavier Rudd
- The NEO
- Pappa Jam
[edit] 2008 festival
The 2008 festival was held at Belongil Fields, the original outdoor venue. Belongil Fields is on 26 acres (110,000 m2) with limited camping and ample parking adjacent. 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, The Beautiful Girls, Newton Faulkner, Seasick Steve, Charlie Musselwhite, Mavis Staples, John P. Hammond, John Hiatt, Ray Davies, Maceo Parker, Loudon Wainwright III, MOFRO, Ruthie Foster, Jake Shimabukuro and Xavier Rudd.
[edit] Future
The organisers hope to move the festival in 2010 to a new permanent home at Tyagarah, about 15 minutes drive north of Byron Bay.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Bluesfest buy-out". dBMagazine (451). 15 October 2008. http://www.dbmagazine.com.au/451/Industry.shtml. Retrieved 14 February 2009.
- East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival (December 1, 2004). Bluesfest Change Of Ownership.
[edit] External links
