Smiles aplenty as muddy Bluesfest 2022 thrills veterans and first-timers alike
After two years of pandemic-related interruptions, a major multi-day camping event returned across the Easter long weekend.
Live music has boomed back nationwide at almost every level, from local pub soloists and seated theatre concerts to the hard-rocking Foo Fighters stadium gig in Geelong in March.
All that was missing for a true return to normality after two years of pandemic-related interruptions was a multi-day camping event at full-crowd capacity.
On that front, Byron Bay Bluesfest delivered in the most emphatic fashion, as about 99,000 music fans of all ages gathered across the Easter long weekend to welcome back one of the nation’s great cultural fixtures.
There were first-time performers, among them singer-songwriter Amy Shark, who told The Australian that she felt like an intruder at the long-running, family-friendly event, which long ago expanded beyond its initial blues and roots focus to offer a wide range of musical flavours. “I’m so excited that I finally got here because it’s such an iconic Australian festival and I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to be asked to play,” she said.
Shark’s Saturday night performance took place under the Mojo tent, and it quickly became apparent that the Gold Coast-born artist had plenty of mojo of her own.
With Shark dressed in white and backed by a three-piece band for hits like Adore and I Said Hi – as well as playing a few songs solo, just one woman and her guitar serenading the masses – the crowd’s approval of her Bluesfest debut could not have been clearer.
There were gems scattered throughout the bumper program, which packed an extraordinary amount of Australian talent – as well as a precious few international acts – into five nights across five stages.
The likes of Paul Kelly, Kasey Chambers, Xavier Rudd and the Black Sorrows drew big crowds befitting their status as returning Bluesfest champions.
On Friday night, Midnight Oil’s headline set at the Crossroads stage was one for the festival’s hall of fame, as the rock group burned with unparalleled intensity.
The audience spilt well beyond the edge of the tent for one last chance to sing Australian anthems such as Beds Are Burning and The Dead Heart together, before the outspoken Sydney band finishes its final tour this year.
For festival director Peter Noble, the successful staging helped to bury the trauma of last year’s aborted Bluesfest, which was cancelled by a NSW Public Health Order with campers already on site after a solitary case of Covid-19 was detected in the Byron shire.
“Until the gates were open, I didn’t believe it would happen,” Noble told The Australian on Sunday. “I’ve been deeply scarred, mentally, by what happened a year ago. It’s been bloody hard, and at times really exhilarating.”
The festival site has also experienced two flash floods in recent weeks, but while much of the grounds were muddy underfoot, it was nothing new for experienced festival-goers sporting gumboots.
Instead, there was joy and relief in abundance from artists, workers and attendees alike as Bluesfest replanted its flag in the ground as one of the nation’s great cultural events.
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