Festival planning comeback tour

THE Bendigo Blues and Roots Music Festival is getting into the swing of things, with a calendar of gigs leading up to its main event on 4 to 7 November.

Director Colin Thompson said organisers are excited to get shows on stage after last year’s festival was confined to online live streams.

“Our excitement is still tempered by the chance of a snap-lockdown pulling the rug out from under us at the last minute of course,” he said.

The BB&RMF team is working closely with the City of Greater Bendigo and more than 50 local venues to ensure positive experiences for artists and guests.

Mr Thompson said the support from venues is “one of the big drivers” for their confidence in hosting the 10th annual festival.

“Without their commitment to staging gigs in their venues as part of our program and pay artists for their work, there’s no way we could stage a large-scale music festival in the current environment,” he said.

“From the time we’ve been allowed to host in-person events, even on the smallest scale, we’ve been hard at work supporting local venues and artists, as well as touring artists, through our partnerships with venues like Hustler, Shiraz Republic, Handle Bar, The Golden Vine Hotel and others.

“Our ticketed shows at The Old Church on the Hill have played a big part in being able to generate meaningful gig experiences for artists and audiences as well.”

Mr Thompson said COVID-19 has taken away many opportunities for artists who are “chomping at the bit” to get back to regular gigs.

“We’ll continue to do what we can to help the artists we’ve worked with over the years, especially since so many of them are like family to us now, after running our home-grown festival for over 10 years,” he said. “I only wish we could have as many artists come and play as deserve the chance.”

A taste of the festival is coming next month, with the first BB&RMF major showcase of the year on Sunday, 15 August from 2pm to 7pm at the Golden Vine Hotel.

Mr Thomspon said they will have local acts including Grim Fawkner, Flora, Mariah McCarthy and her accompanists Cassie Ward and Ben Langdon and Jay Howie.

Visiting acts include RAMBAL and T.K Reeve from Melbourne, Charlie Bedford from Ballarat and Alister Turrill from Queenscliff.

“Hopefully we get to sell all 200 tickets, but we’re waiting patiently for restrictions to loosen again before we can release the last 100 tickets,” Mr Thompson said.

Tickets to the showcase are available at bit.ly/3i15f0h and Mr Thompson is urging members of the public to support local artists.

“It’s far more rewarding to get out and listen to someone present their own music in person than it is just listening to overproduced music on radio or TV all the time, trust me.”