Redacted

I was about to blog about a new music festival feature Lil' Wayne and Kid Cudi, which included stops in Cairns, Townsville and Brisbane, but it got cancelled rather quickly. Within days of the first announcement actually.

Weird.

Blues-fucking-fest

I'm not normally one to get excited by Bluesfest, but next year, Byron is going to be crazy.

It's already being hyped as the best yet. Here's just the first announcement, the second is meant to be better:

Bob Dylan
B.B. King
Ben Harper & Relentless 7
Elvis Costello & the Imposters
Michael Franti & Spearhead
Rodrigo y Gabriela
The Cat Empire
Blind Boys of Alabama featuring Aaron Neville
Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band
Robert Randolph & the Family Band
Fistful of Mercy
Mavis Staples
Xavier Rudd
Trinity Roots
Little Bushmen
Tony Joe White
Indigo Girls
Kate Miller-Heidke
Eric Bibb
Washington
Ash Grunwald
Ruthie Foster
C.W. Stoneking
Jeff Lang
Saltwater Band
RocKwiz Live

I've bolded the ones that made me lose my mind. Like, wow. That is just amazing. The man himself, Bob Dylan headlining. B.B. King, the bluesmaster himself. Ben Harper, playing in two of his bands (Relentless 7 and Fistful of Mercy with George Harrison's son), Elvis-fucking-Costello, my dad's top 10 band the Blind Boys of Alabama and one of the greatest slide guitarists you'll ever see (maybe the only if you're not cultured enough) in Robert Randolph and his Family Band.

If you can't tell, I'm massively excited. I don't do camping festivals ever, but this may be an exception. See you in Byron April 21-25!

Good Vibrations

It was announced on Friday, but I've been fairly intoxicated since then. So here's the Good Vibrations festival lineup.


This could be the year I actually go to Good Vibes. I love Faithless' electronica, Phoenix are just charming French indie, Cee Lo was great last time I saw him play with Gnarls, Ludacris is my favourite rapper from my teenage years and the Nas and Damian Marley album is my favourite hip-hop album of the year so far.

And it's on my birthday! February 19, at the Gold Coast Parklands. I've just got to convince myself to put up with all of the idiotic festival goers.

I hate to say I told you so....

But the Bam! festival has been cancelled. I feel bad for them, as they had a reasonably good idea: a festival that doesn't stop, but continue all throughout the night. Unfortunately for them, they've put it in the middle of a great festival year and with a lineup that doesn't have any major drawcards. And all for a reasonably high price in a cash strapped economy.

The official statement from the Bam festival organizers:

It is with great sadness and disappointment that we here at BAM! HQ wish to announce that have not sold enough tickets to run this event. As a result, BAM! Festival has been cancelled.

After the release of our 2 for 1 offer, the slight improvement in ticket sales was last night decided to be insufficient to warrant the financial risk involved in proceeding with the festival.

While profit was not our goal, and our entire team were volunteers, our responsibility in being able to provide payment to our suppliers was paramount to our success. While everything else for a great festival is prepared, without ticket sales we are unable to go ahead.

We would like to thank every single person who has spent time and effort supporting and creating BAM! Festival. Your efforts did not go un‐noticed, and we are truly grateful for your assistance.

To all those who bought tickets to BAM! and were looking forward to the new and different type of festival we were trying to create – thank‐you for your sign of commitment to the festival, and we are sorry that there weren’t more people like you. We hope that you will continue to be supportive of the local music industry in the future.

Apparently they did a 2-for-1 ticket push, and over the last month they only sold 60 tickets. Hard luck guys.

No Sleep Til festival

I mentioned it a while back, but there's an official release now for the festival featuring the Descendents. It is the No Sleep Til festival.


The poster says it all. December 19th at the RNA Showgrounds. Apparently it's going to be about $140 a ticket. And feel sorry for Perth, they pay the same and don't even get all of the bands.

Summafieldayze

Of all the festivals of festival season, Summafieldayze is probably the one I get the least excited about. Probably not surprising, given my taste in music most days aren't really what they play at these festivals. However, each year there's always one or two bands that make me want to leave my indie/hardcore/punk shell and go hang out with the fluoros dancing away the night in a giant field with glowsticks while on acid.

And looking at this year's lineup, those bands would be N.E.R.D. and Justice. Will I? Probably not. I would love to see those two bands though.

January 2nd, at the Doug Jennings Park on the Gold Coast.

BAM! Festival

I mentioned this new festival on my previous blog and I felt kind of dubious about it. It's a 3 day festival, playing 24 hours a day, out at Peaks Crossing. That's south of Brisbane, where I go hiking occasionally.

They've announced the first line-up and the first impression is simply... "Who?"

I've heard of maybe 4 of those bands and seen probably only 2. At the first look, I cannot be bothered going. They are going to have to get some big international headliners if they want to get a lot of people coming to it.

But if you are interested, its October 8th-10th and tickets are $205.