Tweet
Over Easter six of us headed off to Australia for the 19th Byron Bay East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival. I went last year too.
Byron Bay is a beautiful little town with a lovely beach and plenty of good restaurants and bars which we made good use of when not attending the festival. There are also numerous shops which our wives made good use of to ensure that the husbands have to keep working forever.
We rented a three bedroom apartment in the middle of town which enabled us to walk everywhere except for the festival which involved a five minute bus ride. The festival buses ran regularly all day and night. The weather was excellent for the whole week.
Like last year the festival was very well organised. This year it was held on a 28 acre site instead of the 8 acre site last year so this allowed for a lot more space and new facilities including two large covered eating areas. There was always easy access to a big choice of good food, water, drinks and toilet facilities.
I didn’t see a single episode of drunkenness or violence over the five days. It was therefore safe for my wife to do her own thing. The police kept a low profile and appeared to turn a blind eye to pot smokers.
All of the performances were held under cover in five tents which varied in size from about 8000 people (Crossroads) to 100 people (Juke Joint). The sound systems in all five tents were superb. The Crossroads sound system in particular sounded like a high quality hi-fi. The volume in every tent was always loud enough but never too loud. That’s quite important when you consider that I saw 28 artists over five days.
The artists each performed for approximately one hour between the hours of midday and 11.30pm. Like last year a number of artists commented that Byron Bay was their favourite music festival anywhere in the world. Many of the artists were clearly blown away by the enthusiastic reception that they received from the crowd.
THE BIGBURNER AWARDS
Best Performance
• Wilco. It’s official: Wilco are the best band in the world. Well, that may be a big call to make but they were absolutely superb – a hugely talented band who play wonderful music. Their performance transported me.
Runners Up
• Mavis Staples. It was a privilege seeing such an icon of the music industry performing live. Mavis gave a marvellous performance, backed by a great band. She had collapsed on stage the first night that she played but was in good form on the second night when I saw her. Given her health I may never get the chance to see her again.
• Buddy Guy. Buddy was in fine form and enjoying himself so much he even did a walkabout in the crowd while playing. I’ve never seen him play better than this. He spoiled it a bit at the end by doing impersonations of other guitarists (Jimi Hendrix etc) which annoyed a few purists, but he’s a showman so I wasn’t too worried.
• Jools Holland & His Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. What a big performance delivered by a big band. There were 20 musicians on stage for the final song. Hats off to Jools for being a true leader and an inspirational organiser in the world of performing music.
Best Male Artist
• John Hiatt. I loved John’s set, which he played unaccompanied. It was 18 years since he’d last played at Byron Bay. He used four different guitars plus he performed two songs on the electric piano. He would have been a contender for the Best Performance award if he had brought his band with him.
Best Female Artist
• Patty Griffin. At times I was mesmerised by Patty’s elegance and beautiful voice.
Best Old Rocker
• Ray Davies. He and his band did plenty of songs from The Kinks’ catalogue (Ray was the leader of The Kinks). By the end of the set I was hoarse from singing along with The Kinks songs, all of which I remembered well.
Artist Who Drew the Biggest, Most Enthusiastic Crowd
• Don McLean. Don has built a successful 37 year career around just two songs – “American Pie” and “Vincent” – so how did he manage to pull the largest and most enthusiastic audience of the whole festival? I don’t know. Well I do actually – two good songs!! I wanted to see GALACTIC but having just found my wife after being separated for many hours I felt obliged to stay with her. It just goes to show that there’s something for everyone in the wonderful world of music.
The “What’s the Big Deal?” Award
• Rodrigo y Gabriela. I couldn’t believe how popular these two were. They got a crowd nearly as big as Don McLean’s. To me they did Spanish guitar for the masses. McDonalds Flamenco. Gabriela is a good guitarist (better than Rodrigo) but I couldn’t understand why they needed to perform songs like “Stairway to Heaven” when they have such a wealth of Latin music to draw from.
Tightest Band
• Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen. These guys play New Orleans jazz funk. You couldn’t have slipped a credit card between them – they were so tight. It was uncanny.
Best New Artist
• The Lost Dogs. This band featured Australian singer/songwriter Kasey Chambers, her husband, her father plus a bass player and drummer. They played covers for this one-off performance, but performed them all beautifully. I’ll definitely look out for Kasey in the future.
Biggest Disappointments
• Stanley Clarke / George Duke Project. The sound of Stanley’s bass guitar was poor (muddy and low) and I didn’t like his playing style (he plays it as if it were a 6-string guitar). I left half way through and went to see Seasick Steve who was far more entertaining. One concert goer I met told me that Stanley and George sounded and performed much better on the second night (I went to the first show).
• KT Tunstall. KT and her very ordinary band did nothing for me, which was a big surprise because I quite like her “Eye to the Telescope” album. I would have left after three songs if I had not promised to stay with my wife. I just can’t see myself ever getting another KT Tunstall album after that performance, which included stopping in the middle of one song to tune her guitar. Oh dear.
• The Black Crowes. I was really in the mood for a big rock performance on the final night of the festival but all that these guys could deliver was a wall of unpleasant noise with no single instrument being clear. I left after four songs and went to see Patty Griffin.
Artist I Most Regretted Not Seeing
• John Fogerty. John happened to be playing at the same time as The Black Crowes and Patty Griffin, and I ended up seeing Patty. However, some people whose opinion I value told me that Fogerty delivered a blistering set. I would love to have been there.
THE FULL LIST OF ARTISTS THAT I SAW
Thursday
• Keb' Mo'
• Stanley Clarke / George Duke Project
• Seasick Steve
• Wilco
• Buddy Guy
Friday
• Sugarland
• Jeff Lang
• John Hammond
• Mavis Staples
• Ian Brown
• Don McLean
• Ray Davies
Saturday
• Michelle Shocked
• Ruthie Foster
• JJ Grey & Mofro
• Jools Holland & His Rhythm and Blues Orchestra
• Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen
Sunday
• Chain
• Martinez
• Clare Bowditch
• The Blues Preachers
• Rodrigo y Gabriela
• John Hiatt
Monday
• Collard Greens & Gravy
• The Lost Dogs
• KT Tunstall
• The Black Crowes
• Patty Griffin
Nigel.
Byron Bay is a beautiful little town with a lovely beach and plenty of good restaurants and bars which we made good use of when not attending the festival. There are also numerous shops which our wives made good use of to ensure that the husbands have to keep working forever.
We rented a three bedroom apartment in the middle of town which enabled us to walk everywhere except for the festival which involved a five minute bus ride. The festival buses ran regularly all day and night. The weather was excellent for the whole week.
Like last year the festival was very well organised. This year it was held on a 28 acre site instead of the 8 acre site last year so this allowed for a lot more space and new facilities including two large covered eating areas. There was always easy access to a big choice of good food, water, drinks and toilet facilities.
I didn’t see a single episode of drunkenness or violence over the five days. It was therefore safe for my wife to do her own thing. The police kept a low profile and appeared to turn a blind eye to pot smokers.
All of the performances were held under cover in five tents which varied in size from about 8000 people (Crossroads) to 100 people (Juke Joint). The sound systems in all five tents were superb. The Crossroads sound system in particular sounded like a high quality hi-fi. The volume in every tent was always loud enough but never too loud. That’s quite important when you consider that I saw 28 artists over five days.
The artists each performed for approximately one hour between the hours of midday and 11.30pm. Like last year a number of artists commented that Byron Bay was their favourite music festival anywhere in the world. Many of the artists were clearly blown away by the enthusiastic reception that they received from the crowd.
THE BIGBURNER AWARDS
Best Performance
• Wilco. It’s official: Wilco are the best band in the world. Well, that may be a big call to make but they were absolutely superb – a hugely talented band who play wonderful music. Their performance transported me.
Runners Up
• Mavis Staples. It was a privilege seeing such an icon of the music industry performing live. Mavis gave a marvellous performance, backed by a great band. She had collapsed on stage the first night that she played but was in good form on the second night when I saw her. Given her health I may never get the chance to see her again.
• Buddy Guy. Buddy was in fine form and enjoying himself so much he even did a walkabout in the crowd while playing. I’ve never seen him play better than this. He spoiled it a bit at the end by doing impersonations of other guitarists (Jimi Hendrix etc) which annoyed a few purists, but he’s a showman so I wasn’t too worried.
• Jools Holland & His Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. What a big performance delivered by a big band. There were 20 musicians on stage for the final song. Hats off to Jools for being a true leader and an inspirational organiser in the world of performing music.
Best Male Artist
• John Hiatt. I loved John’s set, which he played unaccompanied. It was 18 years since he’d last played at Byron Bay. He used four different guitars plus he performed two songs on the electric piano. He would have been a contender for the Best Performance award if he had brought his band with him.
Best Female Artist
• Patty Griffin. At times I was mesmerised by Patty’s elegance and beautiful voice.
Best Old Rocker
• Ray Davies. He and his band did plenty of songs from The Kinks’ catalogue (Ray was the leader of The Kinks). By the end of the set I was hoarse from singing along with The Kinks songs, all of which I remembered well.
Artist Who Drew the Biggest, Most Enthusiastic Crowd
• Don McLean. Don has built a successful 37 year career around just two songs – “American Pie” and “Vincent” – so how did he manage to pull the largest and most enthusiastic audience of the whole festival? I don’t know. Well I do actually – two good songs!! I wanted to see GALACTIC but having just found my wife after being separated for many hours I felt obliged to stay with her. It just goes to show that there’s something for everyone in the wonderful world of music.
The “What’s the Big Deal?” Award
• Rodrigo y Gabriela. I couldn’t believe how popular these two were. They got a crowd nearly as big as Don McLean’s. To me they did Spanish guitar for the masses. McDonalds Flamenco. Gabriela is a good guitarist (better than Rodrigo) but I couldn’t understand why they needed to perform songs like “Stairway to Heaven” when they have such a wealth of Latin music to draw from.
Tightest Band
• Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen. These guys play New Orleans jazz funk. You couldn’t have slipped a credit card between them – they were so tight. It was uncanny.
Best New Artist
• The Lost Dogs. This band featured Australian singer/songwriter Kasey Chambers, her husband, her father plus a bass player and drummer. They played covers for this one-off performance, but performed them all beautifully. I’ll definitely look out for Kasey in the future.
Biggest Disappointments
• Stanley Clarke / George Duke Project. The sound of Stanley’s bass guitar was poor (muddy and low) and I didn’t like his playing style (he plays it as if it were a 6-string guitar). I left half way through and went to see Seasick Steve who was far more entertaining. One concert goer I met told me that Stanley and George sounded and performed much better on the second night (I went to the first show).
• KT Tunstall. KT and her very ordinary band did nothing for me, which was a big surprise because I quite like her “Eye to the Telescope” album. I would have left after three songs if I had not promised to stay with my wife. I just can’t see myself ever getting another KT Tunstall album after that performance, which included stopping in the middle of one song to tune her guitar. Oh dear.
• The Black Crowes. I was really in the mood for a big rock performance on the final night of the festival but all that these guys could deliver was a wall of unpleasant noise with no single instrument being clear. I left after four songs and went to see Patty Griffin.
Artist I Most Regretted Not Seeing
• John Fogerty. John happened to be playing at the same time as The Black Crowes and Patty Griffin, and I ended up seeing Patty. However, some people whose opinion I value told me that Fogerty delivered a blistering set. I would love to have been there.
THE FULL LIST OF ARTISTS THAT I SAW
Thursday
• Keb' Mo'
• Stanley Clarke / George Duke Project
• Seasick Steve
• Wilco
• Buddy Guy
Friday
• Sugarland
• Jeff Lang
• John Hammond
• Mavis Staples
• Ian Brown
• Don McLean
• Ray Davies
Saturday
• Michelle Shocked
• Ruthie Foster
• JJ Grey & Mofro
• Jools Holland & His Rhythm and Blues Orchestra
• Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen
Sunday
• Chain
• Martinez
• Clare Bowditch
• The Blues Preachers
• Rodrigo y Gabriela
• John Hiatt
Monday
• Collard Greens & Gravy
• The Lost Dogs
• KT Tunstall
• The Black Crowes
• Patty Griffin
Nigel.