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Overview
Byron Bay's annual Bluesfest is an absolute monster of a festival, spanning all five days of the Easter weekend, and has a supersized lineup to match. But if you can't make it up north for the festival itself (though you really, really need to make that a priority) at least there are some scintillating sideshows to ensure you don't miss out on the incredible roster of artists who will be in the country in March and April next year.
To help you with your planning (and to stop the FOMO from totally taking over), we've picked eight of the best sideshows taking over Sydney next Easter.
ROBERT PLANT & THE SENSATIONAL SPACE SHIFTERS
One of the greatest frontmen in music history returns to our shores with his band, The Sensational Space Shifters. Celebrating 50 years since the release of Led Zeppelin's debut album plus their own 2017 release, Carry Fire, these shows will celebrate a whole lotta music drawn from Robert Plant's peerless back-catalogue.
The Sensational Space Shifters formed in 2002, a loose collective of brilliant musicians that take their inspiration from "the roots music of Mississippi, Appalachia, Gambia, Bristol and the foothills of Wolverhampton and drawing on influences collected in a lifetime of meandering and journeying." These shows are truly not to be missed.
Friday, March 23 at the State Theatre.
THE NEW POWER GENERATION
The extraordinary legacy of Prince lives on in The New Power Generation, a band of friends and collaborators that were the driving force behind some of the Purple One's greatest latter-era hits. Led by Morris Hayes, Prince's long-time musical director, The NPG aim to honour the life and artistry of their friend and make sure everyone in the audience parties like it's 1999 — just like he would have wanted.
Says Hayes, "This band has a huge repertoire, we have got a lot of music that we've learnt over the years and we're prepared to play whatever. We just want to make sure we touch on things that the crowd connects with and make them go 'oh that's my song! That's my jam'."
Wednesday, March 28 at Enmore Theatre.
GOMEZ — CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF BRING IT ON
When Gomez released their brilliant Mercury Music Prize-winning debut album Bring It On in 1997, Britpop was dominating the charts and Tony Blair became prime minister, signalling a new era for the UK. But Gomez never quite fits alongside Jarvis Cocker, Damon Albarn and the Gallagher brothers, writing songs that were far more bar-room blues than witty, knowing 'cool Britannia'.
20 years later, Gomez is still growling and drawling their way into our hearts, never changing their sound to suit the zeitgeist but instead doggedly persevering, steadfast in the knowledge that great songwriting and rock-solid riffs never go out of style.
Saturday, March 31 at Enmore Theatre.
HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF
At first listen, Hurray for the Riff Raff has all the trappings of so much 21st-century folk music à la Gillian Welch or Laura Marling: intricate guitar playing, lush hushed vocals, songs about introspection. But when you dig a bit deeper you start to hear sounds from New Orleans, from Puerto Rico, from the Bronx — everything that singer and songwriter Alynda Segarra absorbed after she ran away from home at the age of 17 with dreams of becoming the next great blues singer.
2017's The Navigator, their fourth album, sees Segarra becoming more and more confident in the stories she tells and in how she tells them, her life and influences intertwining like two vines growing alongside each other. It's an album about growing up, finding yourself and realising that you are a part of all that has come before you.
Monday, March 26 at the Factory Theatre.
MORCHEEBA
Morcheeba — the legends of lounge, the champions of chill-out — return to our shores after four years away. In a career spanning 22 years, they have been responsible for soulful sounds like 'The Sea', 'Even Though', 'Otherwise' and 'Rome Wasn't Built in a Day' (you're humming it already, aren't you?), and did as much as any act to popularise and make ubiquitous their style of electronic, chilled vibes.
Back with a new album and a new lease on their musical life after a few tumultuous years, singer Skye Edwards and producer Ross Godfrey are going to get you grooving.
Thursday, March 29 at the Metro Theatre.
GOV'T MULE WITH LUKAS NELSON & PROMISE OF THE REAL
Gov't Mule are one of the world's great jam bands, carrying the torch of The Allman Brothers Band and The Grateful Dead one spectacular guitar solo after another. Initially formed as a side project by then Allman Brothers Band members Warren Haynes and Allen Woody, Gov't Mule quickly became the main game after audiences fell in love with their big, bluesy sound.
Like Gov't Mule, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real boast unimpeachable music pedigree — Lukas' father, Willie, is a singer/songwriter you may have heard of. Making music with dad was one thing, but when Neil Young picked Promise of the Real to be his touring and studio band a further crash course in all things rock and roll followed. Fans will be in for an absolute treat with these two tremendous bands on the same bill.
Monday, March 26 at the Metro Theatre.
WALTER TROUT
In a career spanning six decades, Walter Trout has learned a thing or two about playing guitar — from John Lee Hooker, from John Mayall, and from Canned Heat — all of whom he has played with for significant stretches. Trout is a bluesman through and through, a guitarist and bandleader with rhythm in his bones.
Following a near-fatal brush with liver disease in 2014, Trout is playing and writing music with the zeal of a man who knows he dodged a bullet. His return to health and his long-awaited return to Australia are cause for celebration for anyone whose gospels are drums, bass guitar, a Hammond organ and an electric guitar.
Saturday, March 31 at the Factory Theatre.
CANNED HEAT
One of the iconic rock and roll bands of the 1960s, who played at the storied 1967 Monterey Pop Festival and co-headlined the original Woodstock Festival in 1969, Canned Heat is on the road again to play their hits for audiences in Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle and Adelaide.
Anchored by drummer/band leader Adolfo 'Fito' de la Parra (a member since 1967), Canned Heat are carrying their pioneering band of electric blues into their sixth decade and showing no signs of slowing down.
Thursday, March 22 at The Basement and Friday, March 23 at the Factory Theatre.
Bluesfest 2017 will run March 29 to April 2 at Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm in Byron Bay. More details and ticket info here.
Top image: Bec Taylor.