Peter Noble, the Festival Director of Bluesfest, has issued a statement following the 2024 edition of the festival wrapping over the Easter long weekend. In it, he asserts his full confidence that Bluesfest will return next year – in spite of the current wave of 2024 festival cancellations, which most recently impacted fellow Byron Bay multi-day music festival Splendour In The Grass.
“Bluesfest will be 125 million per-cent back in 2025,” he said. “We’re still calculating the numbers, but we know the attendance for Bluesfest this year was at least the same as in 2023. We have held our position, and as much as we would like to see more people come it’s not going to happen until the interest rates drop. We do ask our government to support our industry until then.”
Noble went on to sing the praises of artists that performed at the festival across the board. This included Tom Jones, with the Bluesfest audience keeping up the long-standing tradition of throwing their bras and undergarments at the Welsh singer. “We counted more than 40 pieces of underwear thrown on-stage,” Noble added.
Tom Jones – ‘Delilah’
Noble also singled out veteran Australian acts such as Peter Garrett, The Teskey Brothers and the returning Jimmy Barnes as highlights from the weekend. “Australian artists showed time and time again that they could give international artists a real run for their money – and, in many cases, [perform] better,” he said.
“I have booked many, many editions of Bluesfest in the past, but I have not had one come together as well as this one did in so many ways. There were brilliant performances every single day of the festival.”
Bluesfest marks one of the few Australian festivals to run successfully in 2024, alongside WOMADelaide and Knotfest. By and large, however, the first quarter of 2024 has proven disastrous for Australian music festivals. Groovin’ The Moo, Falls Festival, Dark Mofo, Tent Pole, Wanderer Festival and Now & Again are just some of the festivals to either cancel outright or take a year off in advance.
Some music festivals, however, are currently still planning to go ahead. This includes The Gum Ball later this month, as well as the Airlie Beach Festival Of Music in November.
Further Reading
Here’s Why Splendour In The Grass 2024 Was Cancelled
John Fogerty Removed From Country Fest Queensland, Says He Was “Blindsided”
