The sleepy northern New South Wales town of Byron Bay wakes up over the Easter weekend and the suddenly bustling town is even busier with the East Coast Blues and Roots Festival taking place for the 19th time in a row.
The five day festival is a bit of a stretch for the middle-aged crowd, with few of the people I spoke to throughout the marathon festival actually attending each day, but how could you choose? With such great artists playing every day, how could you stay at home?On Thursday, the music started at 5pm and despite some great performances from the mind-destroying Stanley Clarke/George Duke Project and the beautiful alt-country craft of Wilco it was Buddy Guy that stole the show.
Guy, who for those of you who don't know was a major influence on Jimi Hendrix, amongst countless other guitarists, sounded like the concord was taking off in front of you, and had the power to knock you over as though you were standing right behind its jets.
Guy's trademark walk through the crowd took him so far that his remote guitar had begun to cut out as he neared the adjacent market stalls.
Friday saw some interesting performers, including Tennessean native Seasick Steve delivering his swampy brand of blues on his roughly tuned three string guitar, jazz legend Lee Ritenour who's guitar entranced a small, but captivated audience and Louden Wainwright III, who's quirky take on American life made his sometimes serious political message easier to digest.
As night fell, some of the bigger names of the festival took to the stage, including Sinead O'Connor, who's music is probably better enjoyed on record, former Stone Roses front man Ian Brown, who was unknown to all but a few of the festival's younger attendees and soul legend Mavis Staples, who's catalogue of classics both as a solo artist and as a member of the Staples Singers was more than enough to keep fans entertained, even if her voice was badly affected by a cold.
American songwriting legend Don McLean stole the show. The man, who many had low expectations of, had an aura about him and while he did sit on 'American Pie' for way too long, milking it for more than it was worth, his whole set was surprisingly entertaining.
He was followed on the Crossroads stage by Ray Davies, who played almost exclusively Kinks songs. His two hour performance was one of the highlights of the whole festival as he ripped out classics like 'Lola', 'Dedicated Follower of Fashion', 'Well Respected Man', 'Victoria' and plenty more.
Saturday was highlighted by two classic Australian bands both on their reformation tours playing one after the other. First up, Weddings, Parties, Anything opened with a ballad version of Thin Lizzy's 'The Boys Are Back In Town' and proceeded to entertain the nostalgic looking crowd, warming them up for The Cruel Sea.
It was the 'Sea that saw the Crossroads Stage packed beyond capacity and the fast becoming intoxicated crowd grooving to the band's surf-inspired rock.
By far the slowest day of the festival was Sunday, when those who had been there for days on end were becoming exhausted - even with the slow, relaxed nature of the festival.
Still, with a lesser known line up, that just left more to be discovered. The spectacular Kora master from Mali, Mamadou Diabate played on the tiny Juke Joint stage, hidden in the forest to a tiny audience who stood, mouths open, at this instrument that many of them (myself included) had never seen before.
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, The Angry Tradesmen belted out some electric blues-inspired Aussie pub rock. The band features Martin Rotsey and Rob Hirst (both ex Midnight Oil) and Dom Turner (who together with Hirst make up the Backsliders).
The Martinez Trio and Martinez Electric Band showcased the amazing classical guitar talents of Victor Martinez, backed by his sons and various other family members. Beginning with Victor on stage alone, the pace kicked up when his solo act became a trio but the band truly kicked off into the cosmos when the full electric band belted out some hardcore jazz-fusion centred around a classical guitar.
The classical guitar theme continued with who was undoubtedly the highlight of the day, Mexico's Rodrigo y Gabriela. While it's safe to say that they're a commercialised pop version of true Latin music, it's undeniable that two people with a guitar each having that much power over a few thousand adoring fans is an astonishing feat.
A crowd favourite was when the band launched into 'Stairway To Heaven', off their debut self-titled album, preceded by a medley of classic guitar riffs including The White Stripes 'Seven Nation Army', Metallica's 'Master of Puppets' and Hendrix's 'Purple Haze'.
Headlining the Crossroads stage that night was Maceo Parker, who I had held in such high esteem after seeing perform with Prince earlier this decade and was shattered to see a flat, dull and lifeless performance. From the look in Maceo's eyes, he knew it too and he glared daggers into his band.
Heartbroken, my festival companion and I decided to give him a second chance as we left the festival for the last time on Monday. Parker was due to perform again and close the Crossroads stage and in the 24 hours between sets, the band had ironed out whatever was wrong and delivered one of the most exciting and incredible sets of the whole festival.
Parker's Sunday set left audiences amazed, despite fantastic performances from The Black Crowes and John Fogherty (of whom not much could be seen - by the time the trek to the Mojo stage was made by the hoards of Crowes fans after their set, the Mojo tent was crowded a good 50 metres from the back!) it was this genius of saxophone that left an exhausted crowd dripping with sweat from an hour of solid dancing. Simply put, if you weren't dancing, you're probably a statue.
All in all, this fantastic festival is made even better by the excellent selection of food available (special thanks to the French Crepe stand for sustaining me for five days - your "Country French" crepe will not soon be forgotten!), the easy to navigate layout and the general easy going nature of Byron Bay and it's people.
I'm told 2008 was a good year to go to my first Blues Festival, since it wasn't raining sideways for a majority of the time... in fact, apart from a few sprinkles here and there, the weather was quite pleasant, but even with heavy rain you would have a hard time having a bad time at this festival.
