It’s always a bittersweet feeling entering the Bluesfest site on the Easter Monday. There’s a certain pride in having made it this far and having the finish line in sight but also a sadness at the impending cessation of proceedings. The huge colourful wave of humanity enjoying the festivities has thinned out considerably, the lines are shorter for amenities and it’s far easier to find a good vantage point at the many stages: indeed, the only thing that hasn’t changed is the quality of music on offer, which as always maintains for the duration.
Over at Jambalaya we find the great Tony Joe White, the legendary Swamp Fox now some 50 years into his lauded career and showing no signs of slowing down. He opens on his lonesome seated in the centre of the stage with just his trademark slide guitar and that unmistakable gravelly voice, throwing in mission statement Way Down South before he’s joined by his drummer and they move onto the entirely appropriate Undercover Agent For The Blues (although no one here’s really hiding their blues allegiances at this point of time). It’s completely authentic and he seems completely comfortable being back at Bluesfest for the umpteenth time, tunes like the Southern gothic stomper Roosevelt & Ira Lee an entirely appropriate way to start the day’s proceedings.
The lines are shorter for amenities and it’s far easier to find a good vantage point at the many stages: indeed, the only thing that hasn’t changed is the quality of music on offer.
Over at the Juke Joint Oz bluegrass supergroup The Wilson Pickers are showing off their considerable chops, the five-person string band lined up across the front of stage forming a unit that exceeds the sum of its substantial parts. With so many songwriters the quality doesn’t abate as each is given their chance to shine vocally, Danny Widdicombe throwing in the good-natured Through It All, with Ben Salter toting a banjo as Sime Nugent offers up the stirring Fortitude and Andrew Morris throws in old number Can’t Steal My Love. Yet despite the unquestionable quality of their original material it’s when their voices mesh in glorious harmony for their brilliant cover of Dolly Parton’s classic Jolene that one of the day’s highlights is provided very early on. Fantastic stuff.
We hit the Delta stage to catch the very end of Ray Beadle & The Silver Dollars, local blues veteran indulging in a drawn out boogie that culminates in him peeling off raucous blues licks like they’re going out of fashion, the whole tent jumping and jiving as if their collective lives depend on it.
Back over at the outlying Jambalaya stage the pairing of Billy Bragg & Joe Henry are revisiting last year’s Shine A Light album — which found them travelling around America by train and recording songs during stops at stations in attempt to capture that nostalgic magic of the railway — and they intersperse anecdotes from this voyage with classic covers such as Ramblin’ Jack Elliott’s Railroad Bill and Leadbelly’s In The Pines. They take turns throwing in some solo numbers – Henry offering Trampoline, After The War and a cover of Allen Toussaint’s Freedom For The Stallion, while Bragg chips in with his updated version of Dylan’s The Times They Are A Changin’, a cover of Anais Mitchell’s Why We Build The Wall and his own Accident Waiting To Happen – before they join forces once again for more train songs such as the Carter Family’s Railroading On The Great Divide.
Alabaman outfit St Paul & The Broken Bones have fast become festival favourites, pulling a massive crowd to the huge Mojo tent for their gospel-inspired brand of infectious soul. Frontman Paul Janeway has an absolutely massive voice which somehow doesn’t match his bespectacled features, but he pours his entire being into tunes such as their cover of Van Morrison’s I’ve Been Working and their own Broken Bones & Pocket Change, which finds Janeway belting out the passionate torch song from under the drum riser before emerging to writhe around the stage as if possessed. They thrown in an up-tempo rendition of Call Me then finish with a gospel-heavy take on Burning Rome which leaves the entire tent exhausted but satiated, the band seeming delighted with the uncensored adulation they receive in this beautiful far-flung locale.
Back over at Jambalaya legendary multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer Booker T Jones has put together a crack ensemble to play tribute to the music produced in Memphis soul factory Stax studio while he was in the house band there late last century, completely faithful versions of classics like Carla Thomas’ Gee Whiz, Aretha Franklin’s Respect and Albert King’s Born Under A Bad Sign getting people young and old singing and dancing in complete delight. He throws in some instrumental classics from his old outfit Booker T & The MGs such as Hip Hug-Her, Green Onions and Soul Limbo, but it’s the covers of songs from classic sessions he played on such as Wilson Pickett’s In The Midnight Hour, Otis Redding’s (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay, Sam & Dave’s When Something Is Wrong With My Baby and Eddie Floyd’s Knock On Wood which really transport all and sundry back to a time when timeless songs like these were still fresh and already ruled the airwaves.
As we head over to the Crossroads we catch Aussie queen of country Kasey Chambers leading a massive cast — including Bernard Fanning and the somewhat incongruous Sophie Monk – through a massive singalong version of her early hit The Captain to finish her set, and judging from the delighted chatter at its conclusion this fine moment was indicative of a powerful homegrown performance.
While it’s still a massive shame that the great Neil Young was forced to relinquish his headlining spot at this year’s Bluesfest, when Antipodean legend Neil Finn takes the stage with his solo band – featuring both Crowded House bassist Nick Seymour, Finn’s son Elroy on drums, guitarist Dan Kelly and keyboardist/trumpet player Finn Scholes – all of that sorrow washes away in a sea of good times and timeless melodies. They open with Private Universe and then throw in a slew of Finn solo tunes before returning to a cavalcade of hits from both Crowded House and Split Enz such as Fall At Your Feet, Into Temptation, Four Seasons In One Day, Message To My Girl and Chocolate Cake. There’s so much love in the tent and a tangible camaraderie between everyone present as they continue pumping out classics such as a raucous History Never Repeats, a poignant Don’t Dream It’s Over, the inscrutable Pineapple Head and the joyous I Got You. They finish the main set with a brilliant version of Distant Sun, a massive reception coaxing them back for an almost obligatory encore which adds Sister Madly and She Will Have Her Way before a beautiful take on Better Be Home Soon offers the perfect conclusion — to not just a fine day of music but another incredible Bluesfest, the incredible celebration of artistic endeavour and community which just seems to go from strength to strength each and every year.
It’s sad to leave the site for the final time, but there’s already that kernel of excitement which comes with the knowledge that we’ll be back here next year to do it all again, a year older but no less excited to once again immerse ourselves among the Bluesfest magic.
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