Bluesfest Gets Permanent Home

After a year of battling red tape, the East Coast Roots and Blues Festival in Byron Bay, Australia, will be allowed to move into its permanent home next year, in time to celebrate its 21st anniversary.

Co-founder Peter Noble says the 260-acre tea tree site is six times larger than its current site at Belongil Field.

It is an agricultural and livestock farm that also yields a rare Jelly Bush honey crop, which Noble says has a “mystical quality – it can be used to heal open wounds on the human skin.”

While Noble says having a permanent home gives the acts that keep returning to the festival “a deeper sense of home, heart and belonging,” it is believed he is annoyed that the local council capped daily attendance at 17,500 instead of the 20,000 he wanted.