Excitement is building around the second Bendigo Blues & Roots Music Festival, taking place from November 8th through 11th, 2012.
Another incredibly talent-filled line-up is assured, featuring approximately 80 acts, spread across roughly 20 great venues in and around town, over the four day program. The main event of the festival will again be an all-day, family-friendly, free-entry concert on Saturday November 10th featuring 16 great acts (and other attractions) and will be held at Civic Gardens surrounding and incorporating our magnificent Town Hall.
Of course there will be another strong contingent of some of Australia’s finest Blues & Roots practitioners visiting the region to perform at this year’s BB & RMF (Dallas Frasca, Jimi Hocking, Josh Owen, Sal Kimber & The Rollin’ Wheel, Archer, Abbie Cardwell, Ash Davies, Stringybark McDowell, Genevieve Chadwick – to name just a handful). The festival will again proudly feature many of the brilliant Central Victoria-based acts, who hunger for the opportunity to have their talent showcased in an event such as this.
One of the most rewarding by-products of putting this festival and its supporting events together, has been the opportunity to shine a light on just some of the incredible talent pool that exists right under our noses here in Central Victoria.
The supporting events I speak of have been an integral part of getting the festival off the ground – in more ways than one. The fundraiser/showcase events we’ve staged at various venues over the course of the last two years have served to not only raise capital and show potential supporters that we’re serious about this endeavour, they’ve also helped us to build a following for a festival that really is in its absolute infancy. It’s allowed us to build the kind of momentum and awareness of what we’re doing that wouldn’t have been possible if we’d stuck to staging nothing but the festival itself. It’s also been brilliant to see so many performers come out of the woodwork over the last couple years – young, old and in between – who otherwise might have kept their talent hidden. Its also been exciting to see a dramatic increase in the number of people who’ve been reminded of the fun to be had just by witnessing live music first-hand again. There are a lot of individuals and groups in Bendigo right now doing their part to help get the live music scene jumping again and to ensure it’s something future generations can enjoy as well. I’m very proud of the group that’s behind the Bendigo Blues & Roots Music Festival and what we’ve been able to contribute to that effort so far – and we’re just getting started. Keep an eye out for the various Showcases and partnered events which are staged all-year round at one venue or another by BB & RMF’s committee, support crew and partners.
There is still a lot more is in store for 2012, not only for the festival itself, but with numerous other events we are staging in the lead-up to November… The next fundraiser/showcase event will take place at the Newmarket Hotel on Sunday September 2nd and be another multi-band bonanza! This one will be a little more “rockin’” than our previous events of 2012.
One of the most exciting additions to this year’s festival will be the “Blues Tram” – see more below from BB & RMF Treasurer, Julius Porlai, who is chief organiser of this particular initiative. Not content to wait until the festival in November to launch the Blues Tram, we are going to run two Saturday afternoon rides, featuring some of the best Blues/Roots acts you could hope to enjoy at close range, on September 22nd and October 27th. Please check our website at: www.bendigobluesandroots.com.au and find us on facebook at: www.facebook.com/bendigobluesroots for further updates and full details of the above mentioned shows as the line-ups are announced in due course. Ticketing information will also be available via our website and facebook page respectively.
