Bluesfest Wins Tourism Award, Adds Acts

The 25-year-old event traditionally held over five days during the long Easter break, won its third gold at the 26th NSW Tourism Awards for Major Festival and Event in Sydney.

Festival co-founder and director Peter Noble said, “Bluesfest 2015 had its challenges. Three of our headliners (The Black Keys, Lenny Kravitz and Ben Howard) pulled out at the last moment. We pulled together as a team through this challenge to replace them, and still presented an incredible event.” The 2015 event drew a crowd of 105,475 over the five days, 51 percent traditionally from outside New South Wales. Past figures showed the festival injecting an extra A$84 million ($60.4 million) to the local and state economies.

In the latest round of artist announcements, North American acts D’Angelo and The Vanguard, Cold War Kids, Houndmouth, Fantastic Negrito, Con Brio, roots reggae singer Mike Love, and Bros. Landreth join Iceland’s Kaleo and Australia’s Hiatus Kaiyote, Harts,Mojo Juju, Kim Churchill, Pierce Brothers and Steve Smyth. Previously confirmed were Kendrick Lamar, Brian Wilson performing Pet Sounds, Tom Jones, The National, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, UB40 with Ali Campbell, Astro and Mickey Virtue, Joe Bonamassa, and Tedeschi Trucks Band.