BluesfestThe 2026 edition of Bluesfest will not be going ahead next month, multiple sources have confirmed to The Music.
Originally set to be held across the Easter long weekend from April 2nd through April 5th, The Music understands that contract staff have been advised of the cancellation and that other stakeholders are in the process of being advised.
Multiple sources have since confirmed that the 37th edition of the event, headlined by Split Enz, Parkway Drive, Sublime, and more across the Easter weekend will not go ahead.
The ticketing website for Bluesfest is currently no longer offering tickets for sale and The Music understands that an official announcement will be made later today. The Music has also reached out to festival PR and Festival Director Peter Noble OAM for comment, though did not receive a response by the time of publication.
The 2026 edition of Bluesfest was first announced in November. It’s initial line-up reveal occurred later than usual, with organisers issuing a statement regarding the delays.
Don't miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter
“Why has it taken a little longer this year? Because we don’t want to rush it,” they explained at the time. “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.”
Upon the reveal, the likes of reformed Kiwi outfit Split Enz were named alongside massive acts such as Earth Wind & Fire, Sublime, The Black Crowes, Erykah Badu, and more. An unexpected addition of Parkway Drive also brought with it an official statement from organisers outlining their inclusion.
“Blues will always be at the heart of Bluesfest,” explained Noble.
“If you don’t love the blues, you’ve got a hole in your soul,” he added. “But if you love music, you should love great music – and that’s what Bluesfest is about.”
The 2025 edition of Bluesfest was initially planned to be the festival’s final outing, with Noble stating in 2024 that it was “time to close this chapter”.
However, Noble revealed the happy news of the event’s return during last year's event, being joined by Senator Sarah Hanson-Young and Mandy Nolan of the Greens, who launched their Festivals Support Package with a plan to bring much-needed support to keep Australia’s festival scene alive and thriving.
“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,” Noble said in a statement.
“We’re the top-selling festival in the country, and we’ve worked hard to get here.”
In December 2024 interview, Noble laid out his position, asking what he had to do to save Bluesfest. “Do we have to say it’s the last Bluesfest to get people to focus on us?”
“We’re potentially going to have our most successful festival yet,” Noble told IQ Magazine. “We’re on the path to selling out [the 2025 event], with 89,000 passes sold, and I’m sure we’ll go past 90,000 after [yesterday’s] 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.”
Bluesfest was first launched in 1990 by Byron Bay locals Keven and Karin Oxford and their friend Dan Doeppel, with Noble joining for the 1994 event.
Throughout its lifetime, the festival has snared high-profile international acts such as Bob Dylan, Grace Jones, Kendrick Lamar, John Mayer, and more, alongside myriad local artists.
The festival would run annually until 2019, when the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the cancellation of its 2020 and 2021 events, though it would return for the highly-anticipated 2022 edition.
