Enjoy the beloved festival from the comfort of your own home.
For the past nine years, the Bendigo Blues & Roots Music Festival has seen the humble town of Bendigo embrace upwards of 20,000 music lovers for a grassroots community event.
Giving music fans and community members the opportunity to enjoy world-class music, with a focus on local and independent talent from the blues and roots genres, the festival has become synonymous with creating a warm, friendly and artistic vibe amongst patrons, strolling along the street from venue to venue, hearing music from all directions and having so many options, and such amazing talent.
While the beloved festival may have postponed its tenth anniversary edition due to the coronavirus pandemic, they’ve come up with a brand-new way to celebrate live music, the festival’s music-loving fans and the many talented blues and roots musicians that make up the heart and soul of the festival.
Bringing live music directly into fans’ living rooms, the festival has announced Across The Wires – a free online music event that spans three massive days. Running from Friday November 6 to Sunday November 8, the Bendigo Blues & Roots Music Festival aims to provide the same fantastic musical experience that they have been giving us for the past nine years.
Across the weekend, music lovers can tune in to the freshly recorded live performances from no less than 65 brilliant acts from the USA, Germany, Canada, Japan and all around Australia.
Stunning performances across the three days will come from some of the blues biggest names such as Azy Eye Band, Joel Havea, Jesse Morris, Bill Barber, Josh Owen, Emilee South, Buddy Knox, Erica Hawkey Band, Sons Of The Blues, Graciana Holland, Jarrod Shaw, Flora, Alister Turrill, Benny Walker and many, many more.
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BB&RMF presents Across The Wires – online FREE music festival 6 -8 November 2020
As part of this year’s reimagined festival, Bendigo Blues & Roots Festival will host a very special live broadcast on Saturday from the Ulumbarra Theatre with performances from three of the finest artists locally and internationally.
Festival fans will be able to witness Echuca’s Benny Walker providing epic tales about his passion for the land; Yackandandah’s This Way North, a special two-piece band that is said to play with more passion and energy than a ten-piece band; and Wodonga’s Dean Haitani who will provide a unique bluesy finger-picking experience mixed with his soulful vocals.
Benny Walker’s performance will be a particularly poignant one, having performed at the opening of Ulumbarra Theatre in 2015, as one of the First Nations artists invited to bring life to this special space.
Diversity is at the heart of all good things and this festival could not have a broader representation of all musical genre’s and combinations than they do today, meaning this event one for absolutely any music fan.
From the driving guitar blues of Tasmania’s finest Pete Cornelius; the silky vocal and rock and roll infused Canadian star Tennyson King; and the sweet tones of Tongan sensation Joel Havea, to the wonderfully warm and funny Tuck Shop Ladies (Sam Lohs and Rosie Burgess) and the heavy Gypsy Rock of Japan in the guise of Fu-Ching-Gido, the end result is purely a three-day celebration of super-talented musical acts from across the world who have all been great supporters of the beloved festival over the years.
Allowing festival-goers to participate virtually in lieu of no festival, this year’s event is all about enjoying and getting behind the wonderful smorgasbord of incredible talent who are still out there, doing what they love despite the uncertainty of it all – something that’s more moving than ever right now.
Across The Wires is streaming online from Friday 6 November to Sunday 8 November 2020 via the Bendigo Blues & Roots Music Festival website, Facebook page and YouTube channel.
Bendigo Blues & Roots Music Festival Inc is a not-for-profit organisation run 100% by volunteers and this event is supported by Bendigo Venues & Events, a unit of the City of Greater Bendigo.
