The Great Music Keeps on Coming, FUNtastic THIRD artist announcement for Bluesfest 21st celebration!

27 January 2010

Playing Schedule online + One Day tickets selling FAST!
Special 5 Day Festival Ticket and Buddy Package extended until Sun 31 January!

The third major round of artists to perform at the 21st Anniversary Bluesfest has been announced today. The great music just keeps on coming! This year’s festival is fast being considered by the media the best ever Bluesfest bill - a fitting scenario for a 21st Birthday celebration.

Australia's most awarded and internationally renowned festival officially will be held at its permanent new home - at the Tyagarah Tea Tree farm just off the Pacific Highway, 12 minutes north of Byron Bay. The Easter weekend dates for your diary are Thursday April 1 through to Monday April 5, 2010!

The third Bluesfest announcement for 2010 includes:

Make those big decisions with the Bluesfest playing schedule now online!

Festival goers should also note the first major playing schedule is now online - something Bluesfest fans wait all year for! It features 5 days of detailed performance times across 6 stages. The playing schedule - often with multiple sets by artists - highlights why Bluesfest is considered to be Australia's best music festival. Clashes are unavoidable as there might easily be three GREAT bands playing at the same time you want to see. But with so many fantastic sets across the event, the playing schedule gives you a chance to make those big decisions and plan your Bluesfest experience in immense detail! Please note that 40 more artists are yet to be announced in the coming weeks.

One day tickets are also on sale – just visit www.bluesfest.com.au to see it all.

Please note - Discounted 5 day Festival and Buddy package extended until Sunday 31st of January!! Due to internet problems over the past few days some of you may have missed the last opportunity to purchase the discounted 5 day Festival & Buddy Package. Because of this we are extending the offer to this Sunday 31st of January inclusive.

To celebrate the significant milestone of achieving 21 years, Bluesfest is ensuring its patrons will have one hell of a good time with the planet's best music rolled into five days of incredible musicianship, camping, shopping stalls, plenty of great food and drink options, a relaxing family-friendly atmosphere and an abundance of good will. All this, plus the knowledge that Bluesfest is at the global forefront in delivering a green, environmentally sustainable event that respects the Earth as much as its respects the wonderful artists that visit Byron Bay each year.

Festival director Peter Noble said, "Aside from being on par with our best ever lineup, 2010 now looks like such incredible value for money with this announcement. It's certainly the best Bluesfest I've ever booked. Following on from the big headline acts in earlier announcements, our THIRD artist unveiling is full of surprises. "There's the fruitful new collaboration The Break featuring members of Midnight Oil and The Violent Femmes. There's rising stars such as blues guitarist Joanne Shaw Taylor, Aussie songsmith Jen Cloher and Irish soul/rockabilly wunderkind Imelda May; Kev Carmody one of our most respected artists who'll be joined by the cream of Australian music on stage; one of America's most exciting improv jam-bands, Umphrey's McGee; the might of soul vocalist Cyril Neville from the Neville Brothers joining the irresistible funk of Galactic; the unstoppably great Dan Sultan; the much anticipated blues return of the authentic and very important Music Maker Relief Foundation - and did I mention Poor Man's Whiskey from the US? Their jaw-dropping bluegrass version of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon complete with Theremin is destined to be the hit of the festival!"

Grammy nominated artists

Bluesfest would also like to wish the best of luck to the Grammy nominated artists playing at Bluesfest 2010: Jeff Beck, The Fray, Bèla Fleck, Oumou Sangarè and The Greencards. Special mention must also go to Joanne Shaw Taylor, whose debut 2009 album White Sugar has just been nominated for Best New Artist Debut album at the influential Blues Music Awards in the U.S. – not bad for an English artist and for someone who has yet to reach 20 years of age!

Big congratulations also go to Troy Cassar-Daley who has just won an amazing 6 awards at the 38TH Tamworth Country Music Awards of Australia for his 'Best Country' ARIA Award winning album, I Love this Place. The awards included Male Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, and APRA Song of the Year!

More room for camping in the Heart of Bluesfest!

Festival goers take note: Saturday one day camping is selling fast and is on track to sell out in the coming weeks. Also the VIP Saturday one day tickets are a very hot item. There are only very few left. Don't miss out! All other VIP single days are still available, as well as limited number of 5 Day and 3 Day VIP ticket, but running out fast. And remember - Bluesfest 2009 was held at Belongil Fields and accommodated 1,800 campers. Bluesfest 2010 looks forward to welcoming patrons on its own land - and will accommodate approximately 6,500 campers! The very spacious and natural environment is right next to the festival grounds and will include a general store, showers and toilets.

The festival itself will feature more space, more music, more stalls, and more areas to chill out, but is all about keeping in the Bluesfest tradition, which is about creating an environmentally sound, peaceful, relaxed and happy home for everyone. Regular shuttle buses will be included to and from the festival into Byron Bay, Mullumbimby and surrounding towns.

More awards for Bluesfest

Yes our Bluesfest 21st event will be a MASSIVE party - but it will also be a RESPONSIBLE one. September 2009 again saw Bluesfest recognised as an international winner in The Greener Festival awards. This was for an impressive three years in a row, more than any other Australian festival - and a tribute to the event's ongoing and long-term commitment to environmental sustainability. Bluesfest also just won the Rhythms Magazine Readers Poll for "Best Australian Festival" for the 16th time. Way to go and thank you to everyone who voted for us!

Bluesfest was also the first music festival to be nominated for a prestigious Australian Events Award. Bluesfest was nominated for the Best Cultural or Arts Event alongside the Sydney Festival 2009 and Adelaide Fringe 2009. The award eventually went to the 16th Biennale of Sydney. Bluesfest was also recently nominated as the Best Overseas Festival in the UK Festival Awards!

Unlike any other Australian event, Bluesfest has twice had the honour of being nominated as Best International Music Festival by US concert bible "Pollstar" in 2005 and 2006 alongside world renowned events such as Britain's Glastonbury and Switzerland's Montreux Jazz Festival. And closer to home, Bluesfest has twice won the prestigious Helpmann Award for Best Contemporary Music Festival in Australia, also in 2005 and 2006.

For additional details and to purchase tickets, visit www.bluesfest.com.au, or also buy tickets by phoning the Bluesfest office on 02 6685 8310.