The Ultimate Guide To Bluesfest 2023

Bluesfest is returning to Byron Bay this Easter long weekend, with the festival making its first-ever stops in Melbourne and Perth to make for an epic five days of blues, rock and soul music. 

This year’s event will bring in international superstars for the first time since 2019. After 2021’s devastating cancellation on the eve of the event and flash flooding impacting last April’s festival, this year’s bill is reminiscent of 2019 and prior. 

About the event's lineup, Festival Director Peter Noble stated: "Whilst there are still plenty of Aussie artists.... it is wonderful to once again in 2023, after four long years, be able to bring back some of the greatest blues, roots, soul, rock, hip hop, R&B, world and Americana artists (and so much more) back to our shores after so long. As well as, of course, the stars of tomorrow.”

With this year’s event around the corner, we’ve rounded up everything you need to know about Bluesfest 2023.

Line-up

This year, Bluesfest has grown more diverse than it’s ever been, featuring artists from across the globe from different backgrounds and all ages. You have Mavis Staples, Elvis Costello, Tash Sultana and Gang Of Youths performing at the same festival - where else is that likely to happen? Here’s the massive line-up for Bluesfest Byron Bay:

19-TWENTY | A HEARTFELT TRIBUTE TO UNCLE ARCHIE | ALLISON RUSSELL I THE ANGELS I ASH GRUNWALD I BACKSLIDERS I BECK I BETH HART [EXCLUSIVE] I THE BLACK SORROWS I BOBBY ALU I BONNIE RAITT | THE BROS. LANDRETH I BUDDY GUY | BUTTERED I THE CAT EMPIRE | CHAIN I CHRISTONE 'KINGFISH' INGRAM | CLARENCE BEKKER BAND I COTERIE I COUNTING CROWS I DAMI IM I DANIEL CHAMPAGNE I DOG TRUMPET I THE DOOBIE BROTHERS I ELECTRIC CADILLAC I ELVIS COSTELLO & THE IMPOSTERS | ERIC GALES I EUGENE “HIDEAWAY” BRIDGES I FEMI KUTI & THE POSITIVE FORCE | FOOLS | FRANK SULTANA I FRANK TURNER I GANG OF YOUTHS | GREENSKY BLUEGRASS I HUSSY HICKS I JACKSON BROWNE | JASON ISBELL AND THE 400 UNIT | JEROME WILLIAMS | JOE BONAMASSA [EXCLUSIVE] I JOE CAMILLERI PRESENTS A STAR-STUDDED TRIBUTE TO THE GREATS OF THE BLUES I JON STEVENS | KALEO | KEB' MO' BAND | LACHY DOLEY AND THE HORNS OF CONVICTION | LARKIN POE I LOOSE CONTENT I LP | LUCINDA WILLIAMS | MARCUS KING I MAVIS STAPLES | MICHAEL FRANTI & SPEARHEAD | NATHANIEL RATELIFF & THE NIGHT SWEATS I NIKKI HILL[EXCLUSIVE]  I PAOLO NUTINI I ROBERT GLASPER | ROCKWIZ LIVE I ROSHANI I ROUND MOUNTAIN GIRLS I  SOUTHERN AVENUE I SPINIFEX GUM I ST PAUL & THE BROKEN BONES| STEVE EARLE | STEVE’N’SEAGULLS I STEVE POLTZ I TASH SULTANA | TROMBONE SHORTY & ORLEANS AVENUE I VINTAGE TROUBLE I XAVIER RUDD I YIRRMAL

Playing Times

A few weeks ago, Bluesfest unveiled the Byron Bay set times. The queen of blues, Mavis Staples, plays earlier in the day on Thursday, 6 April, with her set starting at 4:30 pm and finishing an hour later. 

On the Thursday and Friday, Elvis Costello & The Imposters close the Mojo stage, but these artists are playing at the same time: Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, The Black Sorrows and Larkin Poe (Thursday), while on Friday, Gang Of Youths, Rateliff, and St Paul & The Broken Bones are either all playing at the same time, or in the case of St Paul, ending just 15 minutes before the headliner takes the stage. 

It’s a massive line-up with tons to see and do, with four stages hosting music: the Crossroads, Mojo, Delta and Juke Joint stages. Check out the full timetable below.

Getting There

Bluesfest is located on Bundjalung Land at Byron Events Farm, approximately 10 minutes north of the iconic Byron Bay and 5 minutes south of the picturesque Brunswick Heads.

With a locale only 30 minutes from Ballina Airport and 40 minutes from Gold Coast Airport, you can access vehicle hire cars from SIXT after arriving at Ballina Airport, while campers have access to free parking as long as their cars don’t leave the site. There is also a shuttle bus service, which you can view the times for here.

All The Venue Upgrades

Bluesfest has announced site improvements ahead of its 2023 event to combat previous issues of flooding and excessive mud.

In a detailed social media post shared earlier this year, the Bluesfest team explained: 

"Mick, our amazing head of infrastructure, has been working tirelessly to make the Bluesfest 2023 space incredible," they said.

"The flash flooding of 2022 highlighted some weak points at the Bluesfest site, which had slowly worn down after years of dancing. So Mick and his team have been hard at it ever since in the hope that mud is a thing of the past. Is that possible? We're going to try! 

"Firstly, all the performance spaces will be levelled using a laser bucket. This process achieves a high level of accuracy in land levelling (usually for farmers to ensure maximised water efficiency). We want maximised water eradication!

"So we have levelled the ground in a way that allows the water to run off and disappear into the drains. The space will be then treated with sand and gravel and topped with a fine blue metal to allow for better drainage, better dancing, and, you guessed it, no mud! But then we have the question, can a festival be called a festival if there's no mud?

"The Mojo field is completed, and Crossroads is soon to be completed."

Food & Market Stalls

The days of music festivals only selling hot dogs, pies and pizzas are long gone: festival food has gotten pretty damn good. 

At Bluesfest, punters can enjoy authentic Turkish cuisine while perusing the Sunsara Jewellery market stall. Yum Cha, churros, teppanyaki noodles, That Arancini Guy, Pipi Cucu Empanadas, Greek food, crepes, and much more will be available for hungry festivalgoers across five days. Check out the full menu here.

The Music’s Bluesfest interviews

Part of celebrating a massive event like Bluesfest is interviewing a number of artists on the bill as well as Festival Director Peter Noble. Check out our interviews below.

Read More: Peter Noble: 'We're Not Like Any Other Festival'

Read More: Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats: 'I Feel Like There Still Has To Be Hope'

Read More: Tash Sultana: ‘I Just Don't Give A F**k About Competing With Anyone’

Read More: Steve Earle On ‘Copperhead Road’: ‘That's F*cking Immortality Right There’

Ticketing information

There are still some tickets available to attend Bluesfest Byron Bay. You can purchase VIP, five-day and camping tickets here.