Bluesfest Byron Bay has revealed reveals its second group of artists to perform at its 2015 incarnation.
Ben Harper And The Innocent Criminals
Paolo Nutini
David Gray
Ben Howard
Counting Crows
Gary Clark Jr
Angélique Kidjo
Jimmy Cliff
Mavis Staples
Dispatch
Ruthie Foster
The Beat
Keziah Jones
Sheppard
Playing For Change
The reunion of Ben Harper And The Innocent Criminals at Bluesfest on Easter Sunday (April 5) will be one of the major events. It is going to be the band's only performance in Australia.
Festival Director, Peter Noble, said “Ben Harper, Paolo Nutini, David Gray and Ben Howard in the one Bluesfest announcement. What a line-up, each one of these artists is gold – purely brilliant in their own way. This is starting to shape into one of the great Bluesfest artist bills and we have plenty of artists still to go in future announcements.
"I am very honoured that Ben Harper chose the first major global performance of the Innocent Criminals reunion to occur at Bluesfest. Bluesfest is their spiritual home and the last time the band performed officially was in 2007 and it was in 2008, when they decided to take a break. They did one impromptu unannounced performance – at Bluesfest in 2011 to the astonishment of their fans – who came expecting to see the Relentless 7. What an unexpected performance, it was pure magic."
"We have some of the absolute best of the next generation artists also in this announcement in Paolo Nutini and Ben Howard. They are at the vanguard of the UK music movement of now – and are rightly hailed as superstars in waiting. Between them they have topped the UK album charts, won the Brit Awards, Q awards, UK festival Awards – headlined EVERY major festival from Glastonbury to Latitude.
"Gary Clark Jr.. is fast becoming the Blues guitar player and singer of this generation. To celebrate his return to Bluesfest – we are going to have him perform 3 times – because when it’s that good – you just can’t get enough and rest assured, each show is going to be very powerful!
"Mavis Staples turned 75 on her last birthday – she is one of our all-time favourite artists at Bluesfest. Her stellar career goes back to the 1950s with the family band – The Staples Singers, led by her dad – Pops Roebuck Staples – to their chart topping run in the '70's singing such classics as – ‘I’ll take You There’, ‘If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me)’, ‘Let’s Do It Again’, ‘Respect Yourself’– and many, many more.
"With the passing of Pops Staples, Mavis has gone solo – around the beginning of this century – and shown that she has got the IT factor, winning a Grammy Award and headlining so many festivals including the Chicago Blues Festival, as well as having this year’s Newport folk Festival dedicated to her. She is one of the greats. We can’t wait to welcome her back to Bluesfest. Simply a DO NOT MISS artist.”
