Peter Noble defends boundary-pushing Bluesfest line-up and reveals festival’s future

BLUESFEST director Peter Noble OAM has defended the latest artist announcement for the high-profile event, which includes chart-topping heavy metal band Parkway Drive and Bob Marley’s reggae band The Wailers.

While blues will always be at the heart of the festival, Noble said it has evolved to incorporate many different types of music.

“I know how musicians think – we don’t think in genres, we just think in good and bad and if people don’t like it there will be plenty of other music on other stages,” he said. “I like to book talent that’s challenging.”

The event began in 1990 and was previously known as the East Coast International Blues & Roots Music Festival before its name was changed to Bluesfest in the early 2000s.

Noble said he had been trying to book Parkway Drive, which formed in Byron Bay, for a long time and was thrilled to finally have them on board.

“I’ve been following them for years and my son went to high school with them,” he said.

The line-up for Easter 2026 also includes Split Enz, Grammy-winning US bands Earth, Wind & Fire and The Black Crowes, Californian ska-punk band Sublime, American rockers Counting Crows, Mental As Anything, Xavier Rudd and legendary bluesman Buddy Guy.

“This is as good as it gets stuff,” Noble said. “People should get excited about it and be proud we have an event regionally in our state that has done this.”

Noble, who divides his time between Australia and Indonesia, became involved with the event in the early 1990s.

He received an Order of Australia Medal for service to music, tourism and the community in 2016, and the Keeping the Blues Alive award from The Blues Foundation in Memphis in 2017.

He has also been credited with boosting the careers of artists such as Dance Monkey singer Tones and I, who won the busking competition in 2018, and said he would like to see more support for emerging female artists.

Like many other festivals worldwide, Bluesfest struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the 2020 and 2021 festivals cancelled due to lockdowns.

While it was able to go ahead after the 2022 Northern Rivers floods, heavy rainfall led to cars being bogged and some campsites experiencing flash flooding.

With what he says is inadequate support from the NSW Government, Noble initially announced the 2025 festival would be the last. But overwhelming attendance, with more than 100,000 tickets sold, convinced him to continue.

And the 76-year-old revealed he is already working on booking artists for the 2027 event.

“I’ll keep going as long as I can but if someone wants to come along and take it over, talk to me,” he said.

For more information and tickets, visit the Bluesfest website.