Shot Notes
Happy New Year 2025. This is Nahko and Medicine for the People playing on the Jambalaya stage at Bluesfest Byron Bay in 2017. He is wearing a “Make America Native Again” cap. Then as now, the world is facing uncertainty about the future. One certain thing is Nahko Bear is returning to Bluesfest in 2025, this time he is billed as just Nahko without his band. This seems to be a trend in music where the industry puts money more behind solo artists than bands, this is something Bluesfest has resisted. You will always find bands at Bluesfest.
I cannot think of anything worse than paying hundreds of dollars for a festival ticket, only to watch someone press play on a laptop. You can pay even more money to watch elaborate costumes and dance routines to hide the fact there is someone backstage pressing play on a laptop. Bluesfest is committed to supporting musicians making music with instruments rather than computers. It is a live music experience like no other.
Nahko will return to the festival in 2025, tickets are available via the Bluesfest Website.
UPDATE: In 2026 Bluesfest will be the last in a line of major festivals closed from increasing headwinds. This began before covid, with the previous state government’s legislative “war on festivals“. The new government risks letting this trend continue through inaction. #savebluesfest, international petition on change.org Sign up here.
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