Bluesfest Addresses Line-up Announcement Delays

It’s mid-September—a month after Bluesfest would usually announce its first artist announcement—and we’re only 200 days away from next year’s festival.

That’s the kind of development that would concern some punters, but the Bluesfest team has issued a statement, confirming that the line-up is on its way and assuring fans that it will be worth the wait.

“Dear Bluesfest Family,

“We’re officially 200 days out from Bluesfest 2026 - and yes, we know what you’re wondering… where’s the line-up?” the team wrote in a statement posted on social media today (17 September).

The statement continued, “We hear you! We know you’re eager to see who’s going to be performing at the festival next Easter. We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to secure a line-up worthy of our next chapter, and we thank you for your patience.

“Rest assured, we have over 20 great artists confirmed already and we’re now just putting the cherry on top.”

Addressing the delays, the team said they “don’t want to rush” getting the 2026 line-up into the world.

They added, “Why has it taken a little longer this year? Because we don’t want to rush it. This line-up had to be right, and you’ll see why. We are bringing the world to Byron, sometimes that means waiting on international agreements, but we promise the wait will pay off.

“Bear with us while we put the finishing touches on this line-up, it will be worth the wait!”

During this year’s Bluesfest, which was initially billed as the final-ever event, festival organiser Peter Noble confirmed that Bluesfest would return in 2026.

Next year’s event will begin on Thursday, 2 April, and end on Easter Sunday: 5 April.

In a statement, Noble said of the festival’s 2026 return, “We’ve had the highest attendance of any Australian festival since pre-COVID at 109,000 attendances - the third-biggest event we’ve done in the history of the festival.... festivals are back.

“We’re the top-selling festival in the country, and we’ve worked hard to get here.” 

He added, “That support means Bluesfest fans have kept this dream alive. It’s a clarion call for me. People want this event. People want it to continue.” 

Last December, Noble laid out his position regarding labelling Bluesfest 2025 as the final event. He discussed the marketing behind the move and asked, “Do we have to say it’s the last Bluesfest to get people to focus on us?”

He explained, “We’re potentially going to have our most successful festival yet. We’re on the path to selling out, with 89,000 passes sold, and I’m sure we’ll go past 90,000 after [another] artist announcement. We’re probably the best-selling festival in Australia at the moment. We’ve been shown that people care about events and culture.”

This year’s Bluesfest boasted a huge line-up of local and international stars, including Chaka Khan, Toto, Christopher Cross, Tom Morello, Crowded House, Gary Clark Jr, Allison Russell, and many more. You can read The Music’s reviews of Bluesfest 2025 here.