Bluesfest, one of Australia’s longest running music festivals, has called it quits after 35 years.
The Byron Bay music festival announced on Wednesday that it’s four-day event starting April 17, 2025, will be its ‘final curtain call’.
‘Bluesfest Byron Bay, Australia’s premier and most awarded music festival in Australia ever, proudly announces that the 2025 edition will be its final curtain call,’ organisers said.
‘After 35 years of celebrating the very best in Blues, Roots music, and beyond, the legendary institution that has brought the world’s greatest artists to Australia, plus a whole bunch of our own, will host its last festival.’
The final Bluesfest will take place from April 12 to 20 on Byron Events Farm.
Festival Director Peter Noble OAM said Bluesfest was a ‘labour of love’ and celebration of community, music and resilient spirit of the fans.
However, Mr Noble, who has been at the helm of the festival since 1994 and in the music industry for more than 50 years, said it was time to ‘close this chapter’.
‘After the 2025 festival, as much as it pains me to say this, it’s time to close this chapter,’ he said.
BluesFest has announced its 2025 festival will be the last
The music festival has been staged in Byron Bay since 1990
‘To my dear Bluesfest family, I want to make it the most unforgettable experience yet. If you’ve been thinking about it, now is your last chance to experience our beloved festival.’
Fans were urged to buy tickets and be part of Bluesfest’s iconic legacy and history, with the 2025 lineup promising to include many of the festival’s greatest artists.
Like many Australian festivals, Bluesfest has faced many challenges including cost increases, changes in ticket-buying behaviour and being forced to shut down due to the Covid pandemic and extreme weather.
Bluesfest was shut down in 2020 due to state imposed mass gathering restrictions and in the following year was cancelled just days before it opened after a sole Covid case was detected.
The festival returned with a bang in 2022 with a combined audience attendance over the five days of ‘about 100,000’ people.
The 2022 festival was headlined by some of Australia’s biggest artists including Jimmy Barnes, Midnight Oil, Paul Kelly, The Teskey Brothers and The Cat Empire.
However, the 2023 and 2024 Bluesfest events did not sell out, which put Mr Noble under financial pressure.
Music Festival Director Peter Noble said Bluesfest was a celebration of music, community and the resilient spirit of the fans (pictured, 2023 festivalgoers)
Pictured, Jess Gomes and Nicole Trunfio at Bluesfest
Next year’s festival has also been trimmed down from five to four days due to cost increases and falling ticket sales.
Bluesfest, which has been staged in Byron Bay since 1990, has drawn some of the biggest names in blues and roots music.
International stars including Bob Dylan, Jethro Tull, Tom Jones, Kendrick Lamar and Paul Simon have performed on the festival’s stage.
Other local talent including Cold Chisel, Kasey Chambers and Dan Sultan also made appearances over the years at the festival.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also graced the Bluesfest stage in 2022 but was booed by fans while introducing rock legend Jimmy Barnes.
Bluesfest is the latest in a long line of Australian music festivals which have been axed this year.
Splendour in the Grass, also based in the Byron area, which was set to be held from July 19 to 21, was scrapped earlier this year.
Sources claimed the festival was most likely cancelled because of poor ticket sales, but organisers said in a statement it was due to ‘unexpected events’.
One of Australia’s largest music festivals Groovin the Moo was also forced to cancel its upcoming tour of shows just two months before it was set to start.
In February, organisers announced that the festivals across regional Australia wouldn’t be going ahead in 2024, citing poor ticket sales.
In January, ValleyWays – a music festival featuring some of Australia’s biggest bands – was cancelled just weeks before it was set to take place.
ValleyWays was getting ready to host revellers at Onslow Oval in Camden, in Sydney’s southwest, on February 17, until it was announced that it will not go ahead.
In the same month, Tent Pole Music Festival cancelled their event just weeks before it was due to kick off with organisers, blaming the ‘impossible’ economic climate.
It was set to go ahead on February 17 at Mt Duneed Estate in Geelong, Victoria, but was forced to offer ticketholders a full refund after it was canned.
Creative Australia’s SoundCheck report ‘Insights into Australia’s music festival sector’ published in April found ticket sales dropped by 24 per cent among the festivals’ key demographic.
Ticket sales among 18 to 24 year-olds dropped from 41 per cent in 2018/19 to 27 per cent in 2022/23.
The report also cited the National Arts Participation Survey which also found ticket sales fell due to the expense of attending when necessities like rent, groceries, and household bills were soaring.
The cost of tickets remained the most common barrier to attendance, impacting 55 per cent of respondents to the survey. One-third said they did not attend an event in 2022 because of high ticket prices.
Money issues were also most pronounced among party-goers aged under 35, with nine out of 10 experiencing financial difficulty in 2023.
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