Bluesfest Byron Bay Announces Final Edition: ‘It’s Time to Close This Chapter’
BRISBANE, Australia — Bluesfest Byron Bay will wave bye-bye after its 2025 edition.
The event is an institution on the Australian festivals calendar, staging performances from the likes of Bob Dylan, BB King, Paul Simon, John Mayer, Mary J Blige, and Kendrick Lamar, plus homegrown stars Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil and Crowded House, across its 35-year history.
Its place and time is unique, presented each year over the Easter long weekend, the final fest of the warmer months, doing so from its home of Byron Bay, the picturesque beach town that sits on the most easterly point of Australia.
“To my Dear Bluesfest Family, and after more than 50 years in the music business, Bluesfest has been a labour of love, a celebration of music, community, and the resilient spirit of our fans,” writes Peter Noble, Bluesfest festival director.
After the 2025 fest, “as much as it pains me to say this, it’s time to close this chapter,” he continues.” Next year’s festival is “definitely” happening, “but it will be our last.”
Bluesfest is one of the most-popular, and longest-running, multi-day shows of its kind in Australia. Its organizers boast a swag of domestic and international awards, including multiple Helpmann and Pollstar trophies.
History apparently means little in a marketplace where the cost-of-living crisis, changing ticket-buying behavior and a slew of factors are crushing the wider festivals business.
No brand is immune.
This year alone has seen a remarkable lineup of casualties, including Splendour In The Grass, Groovin The Moo, Spilt Milk, Caloundra Music Festival, Harvest Rock and others.
During its heyday, Bluesfest averaged 85,000 attendees. That figure swelled to 102,000 in 2022, when live music returned from the lockdown years. The most recent show, however, counted fewer than 65,000 attendees.
When Bluesfest collected the best festival award at Variety Australia’s Live Biz Breakfast in June, Noble, speaking from the podium, delivered a rallying cry for festival organizers in these particularly tough times.
“We’ve really got to be as one as an industry. We need to speak to government,” he remarked. “We need to say this is the time you support our industry because we are facing an extinction event and that event can be looked at during the times of COVID, government delivered a lot of funding… come on government. Give us a hand up, we don’t want a handout. We can get through this because our industry is worth it.”
The final edition of Bluesfest will be a four-day event, from April 17 to 20, 2025, on the 300-acre Byron Events Farm, about 7 miles north of Byron Bay.
The first artist announcement for Bluesfest 2025 will be made next week. “This final edition is not just the end of an era,” reads a statement, “it’s a celebration of everything that Bluesfest has stood for over the past 35 plus years – music, community, and unforgettable experiences.”
Lars Brandle
Billboard
