Oh Hark, The Sun Approaches!
The Byron Bay Blues and Roots Festival (aka Bluesfest) and sun are not two things that necessarily come hand-in-hand – think more along the lines of rain and mud. Like any good festival, really. But this year Mother Nature gave attendants a bit of a treat – amazingly beautiful weather, at the new permanent venue: the Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm. Unlike Red Devil or Belongil before it, the new venue is a good 20 minutes drive out of the town centre, not exactly walking distance – but it’s a splendid location.
The grounds are vast, and will be a brilliant investment for the years to come. Of course there were some teething problems – too few showers for campers, the lines for buses on Saturday night being absolutely ridiculous – and of course there was the unfortunate carnival accident on the final night – but none of this takes away from what an amazing 5 days Bluesfest was. And despite being a new, larger venue, the organisation was outstanding – and the lineup was their best in years!
Over the next few days, I’ll be posting my reviews of the bands that played the 5 days, alongside a few interviews that went down while we were there. So without any further delay, let’s jump straight into the first night of the festival:
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It’s been 3 years since I last made the journey up to Byron Bay for the annual iconic Bluesfest. In that time, Peter Noble and co. finally found the permanent campsite and showgrounds they’d always wanted: the Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm. After checking into my hostel in town (I religiously stay at the Arts Factory every time I’m in Byron – highly recommended), I jumped on the bus to the site, and was immediately impressed by the relative ease of entry, and the layout of the venue. Indeed, there would be a bit more walking around than we were used to, but there’s no harm in that! And with plenty of undercover eating areas, I could already see this year going a lot smoother than my past experiences, if the raid were to bucket down.
I arrived just in time to catch the end of The Avett Brothers (pictured in header). While they’ve been pumping out music for almost a decade in their hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, they’re only just starting to get attention on the international stage – thanks to their big-label debut (with Sony) “I And Love And You”. And this was not only the first time I’ve had the opportunity to see the ‘punkgrass’ band, but as far as I know, this was the first time I’d even heard them!
To say I was blown away is an understatement. This is a band so tight, so full of raw talent and power, that I found it difficult to pull my jaw off the floor. Their set is varied, full of so many influences and sounds, that you can’t help but be transfixed from the moment you set your ears on them. Ending with “Go to Sleep”, I couldn’t have picked a better band to get my Bluesfest experience rolling. If you like pop, rock, blues, folk or country music … hell, if you like MUSIC you’ll love this band. Check them out, they’re going to be massive.
I made my way from the main (Mojo) stage over to the Jambalaya stage to catch iconic instrumental outfit Galactic next– performing at the festival with special guest Cyril Neville (pictured above), often called the last great voice of New Orleans. I can now see why – the voice is phenomenal!
They took us to New Orleans and back again, playing a bit of classic hip-hop on the way, with Neville proving a charismatic and powerful front man for the group – hitting us with the trombone, the vocals and even the drums. This was the sort of show that you come to Bluesfest to experience – raw, classic, powerful and dance provoking. They ended the set with the first song Cyril ever wrote, which he dedicated to “Papa Funk” – someone who was definitely in the room on this occasion.
A.L.O. (Animal Liberation Orchestra), who were introduced to me at the 2007 Bluesfest, were next on the Mojo stage and played an impressive set which included “Girl I Wanna Lay You Down” and “Maria”. The big difference with this appearance was that people were singing along! With the aforementioned playing a set the next day, I spent the second half of their set having a gander at who else was on. The New Orleans Blues legend that is Dr John and The Lower 911 was jamming on the Crossroads stage, and is showing little sign of slowing down. Doctor John shows the kids how it’s done! Meanwhile, at the always packed APRA stage, Daniel Champagne was playing an impressive set; the 20 year old showing how much sound a solo singer/songwriter/guitarist could make if you gave him the stage. A standout talent.
Speaking of talent, Old Man River followed on the APRA stage and played through his well known tracks, a few new ones, and a brilliant cover of The Beatles’ “Within You Without You” – which led beautifully into “Sunshine”. I often wonder what will come next for Old Man River – he had so much content saturation in a very short amount of time, and then not much followed. What’s coming next? Well I guess we’ll just have to wait and see…
While Old Man River played to the converted, Ozomatli (pictured above), fresh off an American tour, were pumping out the jams on the main stage. Performing tonight as a 7-piece, the multicultural band from Southern California played a string of tracks off their new LP, Fire Away – including standout “45”. As expected, they ended the set with party-starters “Afterparty” and “Saturday Night”. Ozomatli play the sort of tunes that the Blues Brothers championed – a beautiful blend of Trumpets, Saxes and, ahem, awesome – leaving the crowd with no choice but to dance / occasionally lose their shit. If you have yet to experience Ozomatli then do ensure you remedy this as soon as possible.
One of the more unfortunate clashes of the festival saw Jack Johnson and Jools Holland in the same spot on opening night. Thankfully, Jack would reappear to play the largest crowd the festival would see on Saturday night (Thursday night, per tradition, wasn’t too busy). So I put my focus on Jools, while still catching a bit of Jack, who had donned a Ben Stiller-esque hairdo since his last visit. Jack performed a brilliant cover of “The Joker”, alongside pretty much every one of his hits I can think of.
Jools Holland and his 20 piece Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, meanwhile, performed a few originals, and a lot of covers – including tracks like “Mojo Rising” and “L-O-V-E”, the latter of which guest vocalist Rico Rodriguez did proud. All the guest vocalists were impressive, with Jools, ever the showman, introducing them one by one. Of regular appearance were the beautiful soul singers Ruby Hunter and Louise Marshall. The set was epic, taking us over a wide range of musical landscapes. Much like Avett Brothers were the perfect way to end our first night at Bluesfest – Jools helped bring to an end a near perfect day.
Bluesfest, I’m Yours.
