Why Bluesfest Is Bigger Than The Artists

Byron Bay Bluesfest has been bringing the best musicians from all over the world to the easternmost point of our country for over a quarter of a century, and it’s hard to tell who enjoys the wonderful experience more; the attendees or the artists. With the 2015 instalment of the world-recognised event almost upon us, Festival Director Peter Noble explains that the massive and diverse line-up on offer this year has delighted many punters, while leaving just a few nonplussed.

“It seems to have polarised people a little – some people are saying that it’s the best festival they’ve ever seen, while older punters are saying ‘I haven’t heard anyone on that festival.’ I’m just like, ‘Get out of here!’” he chuckles. “But you know what? You can’t please all of the people all of the time no matter how hard you try, but I think we’ve delivered a beauty this time.”

"I think at the end of the day it hurts the artist more than the event."

Even the loss of three major drawcards this year – Lenny Kravitz, Ben Howard and The Black Keys have all been forced to cancel appearances for various reasons – hasn’t been enough to dampen spirits.

“It’s always a challenge,” Noble admits. “We’ve never had a year when three major acts have dropped off, it’s never happened; we’ve had one drop off, which has happened twice over the years. I think Dave Matthews rescheduled and maybe Roger Daltrey, but we’ve never had a year when three headliners have dropped off. That would be an absolute disaster for other events, but we haven’t been inundated with refund requests for any of the artists, and I think that goes to show why people come to Bluesfest – it’s for the event. Bluesfest gives value for money and strong events, and we don’t ever want our artists to cancel or not to come for whatever reason – I think it’s a disaster for their fans – but I think at the end of the day it hurts the artist more than the event.”

Having overseen Bluefest for nearly its entire existence you’d forgive Noble for being jaded about the line-ups, but he’s still as eager as even the most avid punter about who’s hitting Byron this year.

"Hopefully I’ve got a few more Easters in me yet."

“Oh God, where do I start?” he smiles. “I get to be an old fart who gets to be a music fan who gets to discover new artists all the time – that’s a pretty good place to be in when you’ve been in the business all your life, apart from when you drove taxis or were waiting on tables – which I did – and I’m proud to say it because like many people you don’t always get to make a living sometimes in this business. But looking at it, I’m always excited to see Ben Harper and the reformation of The Innocent Criminals is a huge coup – the fact that he decided to make us his first major event before he goes and plays Bonnaroo and the others, there’s a lot of honour in that. I’m looking forward to Paolo Nutini because I think he’s one of the best singers in the world. I think Hozier’s one of the hottest acts in the world and has a big future. I always look forward to seeing Michael Franti. I think Alabama Shakes have stepped to another level, and I always look forward to seeing great live acts like Jimmy Cliff. Then there’s great Australians like Paul Kelly and Xavier Rudd, great young acts like Hunter Hayes. I think Charles Bradley is probably the hottest soul singer out there right now, definitely up there. Frank Turner is one of my fave acts, and what about George Clinton with his 22-piece band – where do you stop? Some people are lamenting that it’s a different kind of line-up to previous years, but every year that we’ve dared to be different is the year that at the end people say, ‘That’s the best one for ten years!’ We did it in the years when it was discovery years for Ben Harper and Jack Johnson, and I think 2015 is going to be one of those years when people at some point go, ‘You know what? This is one of the great ones!’”

Pic by Evan Malcolm

It’s awesome to see an industry figure such as Noble so genuinely excited about the music, but there’s been a lot of toil involved over the years to make this dream a reality.

“It’s been hard for me, because people think that the music business that you see now is the same that it was ten or 20 years ago, and it isn’t,” he reflects. “There wasn’t a lot of interest in roots music, there wasn’t a lot of interest in blues, and we’ve worked hard to develop that in this country and I can take pride in the fact that you can go to a blues festival with blues at the heart of it and there’s a hundred thousand people showing up! That doesn’t happen in many parts of the world. It’s not really about money – I mean you’ve got to make a profit or you’re not in business, but that’s not why we do it – we do it for the music. And hopefully I’ve got a few more Easters in me yet, because I love being involved in this event. I’m like the old bluesmen – I’ll go out with my boots on. But these boots were made for walking, and they’ve some steps left in ‘em yet!”