Bluesfest is one of the festival highlights of the year, shining a light on local, national and international legends when it comes to blues, roots, soul and rock.
There’s something so surreal about the scope of the Bluesfest lineup each year. I mean, where else in Australia can you find yourself checking festival set times and thinking, ‘oh, Midnight Oil’s about to start’?
It seems like a pipe dream that somehow, Bluesfest continuously manages to pull off, and most notably, in a way that feels so equalising for the artists. Considering most of the acts featured on this year’s lineup are large scale arena headliners in their own right, it almost felt like there wasn’t one main headliner, instead, feeling like an overall celebration and showcase of good musicianship regardless of their previous achievements; following or tenure as a band.
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Kicking off the five-day event for me was Tijuana Cartel, a group that’s been turning heads on the Gold Coast for quite a while now. After seeing their live show, it’s evident why. Through combinations of flamenco guitar; trumpets, bongo’s and MPC’s, the group impressively manage to capture sounds from multiple eras and cultures in an effortlessly unique style.
This is something that can also be said about the Thursday night headliners, The Cat Empire, who after 23 years was sadly playing their final show as an original lineup. Although, that didn’t mean it was a sombre affair, from the opening horns of ‘How To Explain?’ it was pretty evident that the crowd was more so there to revel in the vibrant party vibes of the group. With the band blasting through tracks off all of their albums, with each song receiving an equally loud singalong, it felt so clear how much of a beloved treasure the group are. In fact, it was unmissable, with newer songs such as Bulls receiving as much of excited response from the crowd as hits like Two Shoes and Hello. When they finished with The Chariot, the crowd went into a frenzy, screaming along with the infectious hook of the horns as if it was a European football crowd. It was truly an unforgettable moment.
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Friday brought on a much heavier vibe, with its lineup being almost a who’s who of the Australian pub rock circuit over the last 30 years.
The Living End wasted no time in matching the energy of the crowd, who were still pretty revved up from The Angels’ blistering set. Stepping onto the Bluesfest stage for the first time. Opening with ‘Second Solution’, before immediately going into ‘Roll On’, The Living End the punk rockers tore through a setlist that could have easily comprised a ‘greatest hits’ album, with tracks like ‘Second Solution’, ‘All Torn Down’ and ‘Prisoner Of Society’, all getting inclusions, rallying some of the craziest crowd participation of the whole event.
Rounding out the night after the Hoodoo Gurus was Midnight Oil, who for the past four decades have been regarded as one of Australia’s most impressive live outfits. Having released their 13th studio album Resist earlier this year, it wasn’t much of a surprise when their set opened with the slow-burning ‘We Resist’, what was a surprise was the early addition of ‘Dreamworld’, which saw (by this point) exhausted punters find a quick second wind, with Peter Garrett revelling in the crowd atmosphere and stating, “this one of the only weekends that I wish I had my own pair of gumboots.” With US Forces, Only The Strong and The Dead Heart being clear crowd favourites, it felt like the singalongs couldn’t get any louder. Then, they busted out Rob Hirst’s water tank and played ‘Blue Sky Mine’, which gave way to massive chants as well as screams of admiration as Garrett performed the harmonica solo. With the band utilising on stage horn players, Beds Are Burning was performed with immense power, as was their incredible cover of The Saints’ ‘Know Your Product’, which was dedicated to the recently deceased Chris Bailey. Closing with ‘Hercules’, the Oil’s showed yet again why they are one of Australia’s most iconic groups, with the incorporation of different instruments (to the recording) adding such a punch behind the song’s anthemic chorus.
Morcheeba absolutely stole the show on Saturday, with their smooth basslines, loungy trip-hop beats and melodic guitar licks providing for an absolutely mesmerising live display. In particular, the group’s vocalist Skye Edwards, who possessed an enigmatic on-stage presence and casually poised vocals, which at times made their performance feel like the title scene of a James Bond film, it was truly a spectacle. Considering their set clashed with Paul Kelly, it wasn’t much of a surprise that they didn’t pull the biggest crowd turnout of the festival, but for the ones that were there, it was clearly a highlight, with the group being one of the few over the weekend to receive an encore.
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Fat Freddy’s Drop was also a highlight, with their unique combination of dub, jazz, reggae and hip-hop providing the perfect Sunday afternoon set. Performing hits like Blackbird, Wandering Eye and Shiverman, the New Zealand seven-piece had the packed out tent absolutely moving.
George Benson rounded out the party vibes of Sunday night (night 4) with an extended performance of the groovy disco classic ‘Give Me The Night’ that had the crowd in very high spirits.
By day five, the crowd was exhausted and muddy, but that didn’t stop them coming out to finish off the festival.
Ex-Snarky Puppy keyboardist and vocalist Corey Henry’s solo project stood out due to his impressive combinations of organs, synths and breakbeats alongside gospel-esque vocal harmonies and heavy basslines.
As did Grammy-winning worldbeat artists Amadou and Mariam, whose psychedelic guitar licks and linguistic mix between French and African dialects had their more intimate crowd in awe.
The Teskey Brothers brought in the Monday night, sounding as good as ever as they smashed through hits like ‘Carry You’ and ‘I Get Up.’ Performing with more rock and roll swagger than previous sets, Josh’s gravelly vocals absolutely shined, especially during ‘Paint My Heart’, which rounded out the group’s triumphant set, (before returning to bring it home with the acapella ‘Hold Me,’ for their encore).
Considering they have been regarded as one of Australia’s best live groups over the past decade, it felt pretty unbelievable rocking up to The Juke Joint Stage for Hiatus Kaiyote’s closing set to find maybe 50-60 punters. It didn’t matter. When the crowd donned the stage they received a big applause as ever and by the time they were two songs deep, finishing off the jazzy And We Go Gentle, the tent was packed. Performing a handful of new songs, as well as older classics such as ‘Molasses’, Hiatus absolutely owned the stage, with their ethereal and dissonant cover of Bowie’s ‘Within You’ (from the film ‘The Labyrinth’,) proving to be a standout memory over the epic five days of music that was Bluesfest 2022.
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Bring on Bluesfest 2023.
