Each year Bluesfest Byron Bay continues to shine with surprises. With legendary and new acts coming into the fray from all corners of the world, 2020’s Bluesfest has just released a second surprisingly lit line-up.
2020’s lineup is not holding back from the excitement of previous lineups. We understand that long line-ups of well known and freshly newcomers can be mind-boggling at first, so we’ve gathered five interesting acts you cannot afford to miss.
Patti Smith
Who can ignore this colossal rock star poet? At 72 years of age, legendary artist Patti Smith has not stop to amaze audiences and listeners since her iconic 1975 debut album Horses. Smith continues to embed her art and into 21st century pop culture with individualist integrity and rebellious attitude.
What’s new in Smith’s repertoire has been her writing, releasing her new novel Year of the Monkey a biographical piece blending poetry and memoir that details one year of her life at age 70. Her last performance in Australia was in 2017 and in a dramatic presentation at the 2017 Bluesfest, Smith rallied the audience in punk fashion confessing, “Some folks are 70-years-old. So am I motherfuckers.” This is a rare opportunity to witness Smith on Aussie soil again after suggesting back in 2017 that she may never be able to perform here again.
Larkin Poe
On speaking about newcomers in the blues and rock world, this bonafide female duo are welcomed back to Byron Bay after knocking out this 2019’s Bluesfest in style. The band fronted by sisters Rebecca and Megan Lowell are descendants of American poet Edgar Allan Poe and it is no surprise that the duo create a blend of dark lyricism and electric guitar riffs to spellbound their audiences. If you didn’t get a chance to see them earlier this year at Bluesfest do not make the same mistake twice.
George Benson
With a career that spans more than 50 years, this year’s Bluesfest welcomes American guitarist giant George Benson. With a diverse range of jazz, funk and blues, Benson’s style of guitar playing continues to be experimental and progressive and surely guitar aficionados and younger audiences have been intrigue for decades. This is certainly one artist not to miss who breathes and lives music through his veins.
Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram
At only 20 years of age this blues guitarist prodigy has been mentioned as the future of blues music. Hailing from Clarksdale, Mississippi the very same place folk-tale blues legend Robert Johnson made a pact with the Devil, Ingram better known as his nickname Kingfish proclaims he has not dabbled in strange rituals but through shear practice and playing the guitar since he was 11.
According to Rolling Stone Magazine, Ingram professes he is one of the few young people in his hometown that is into blues music, “The only people who care are pretty much the elderly people, I do think I have an old soul, that I’ve been here before.”
Recently in 2019, touring with Buddy Guy and rock/indie band Vampire Weekend and celebrating with a debut album Kingfish, Ingram’s style of blues is an astounding blend of Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King and Prince rolled into one recipe. Check out his astounding cover of Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of ‘Hey Joe’ in the link below:
The Marcus King Band
In addition to the class of fresh comers, The Marcus King Band who debuted as a band in 2013 are welcomed back to the 2020 Bluesfest lineup. Fronted by the exceptional blues guitarist Marcus King, at only 23 years of age King has followed in the footsteps of his family, being a fourth generation musician. If you are fans of Derek Trucks and The Black Crowes, this up and coming Southern blues band that blends Southern slide guitar with psychedelic tones are a band not to skip.
Bluesfest 2020
9th April 2020 – 13th April 2020
Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, Byron Bay, NSW
Tickets: Oztix
Checkout the full line up below:
First round lineup announce
Dave Matthews Band
Crowded House
Patti Smith and Her Band
George Benson
Brandi Carlile
John Butler
Xavier Rudd
The Cat Empire
Morcheeba
John Prine
Jenny Lewis
Frank Turner
John Mayall
Buffy Sainte-Marie
The Marcus King Band
Walter Trout
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
Greensky Bluegrass
Larkin Poe
The War & Treaty
Second round lineup announce
Lenny Kravitz
The Waterboys (Exclusive)
Jimmie Vaughan (Exclusive)
Eagles Of Death Metal
Zucchero (Exclusive)
Ani Difranco
Cory Henry & The Funk Apostles
Amadou & Mariam
The Allman Betts Band
FIND OUT MORE
Yola
Tal Wilkenfield
Joachim Cooder (Exclusive)
Steve ‘N’ Seagulls (Exclusive)
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