Festival director Peter Noble hasthat this “labour of love, a celebration of music community and the resilient spirit of our fans” has run its course, pulling the plug on a festival which began as a blues and roots event but has become a multi-style autumn staple.
Changing audience tastes when it comes to gig-going, festival-going and buying-in-advance is one factor – especially for a festival that runs four to five days. Another may be the inability to shift the demographic from an ageing, if cashed-up, audience to a generation that can develop the habit of going, maybe without even needing to know who will be playing. After all, the currency of “legends” to twentysomethings, thirtysomethings and even fortysomethings ain’t what it used to be.
This failure, if failure it is, is no orphan but has many fathers, whether they acknowledge paternity or not.Still, as many people as there are who may have had issues with this event, festivals generally or Peter Noble specifically, it’s not likely that anyone is going to say this is anything but very disappointing news. Many businesses have come to rely on supplying product and material to Bluesfest, from equipment and food to labour and transport.