Bluesfest To Break Record

Bluesfest founder Peter Noble says this year’s Easter event will draw a record 100,000 fans to Byron Bay, Australia.

Four nights have sold out, a fifth is about to, and the newly added sixtth day “is well on the way to a full house.”

Noble says this is a strong result, given “It’s a soft festival market in Australia. Google it and you’ll get 10 pages of festival cancellations.”

The 100-strong bill – with Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Ben Harper, Leon Russell, Indigo Girls, Blind Boys of Alabama feat. Aaron Neville, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Osibisa, Elvis Costello and Jethro Tull – includes acts from every continent. Even Hollywood is represented, Noble quips: Tim Robbins and Aussie actor Jack Thompson.

In the meantime, Bluesfest’s sister event in Singapore, the Timbre Rock’n’Roots festival – including Dylan, Legend and Michael Franti and held a week before the Byron Bash – has topped last year’s ticket sales. Noble says 14,000 are expected over two days.