With the likes of Crowded House, Lenny Kravitz, Patti Smith and Dave Matthews Band throwing their hat into the ring for Bluesfest 2020, it’s already shaping up to be one for the ages.
Well, the folks behind the iconic Byron Bay festival have dropped an early Christmas gift in the form of a third lineup announcement led by iconic US funk/soul/disco outfit Kool & the Gang!
Responsible for such groove-laden dancefloor fillers as Celebration, Jungle Boogie, Get Down On It and Ladies Night, Kool & The Gang will have the festival faithful shaking their hips with abandon on Easter Saturday and Bluesfest head honcho Peter Noble couldn’t be more chuffed.
“Household names, R&B funk masters, Kool & the Gang are the winners of two GRAMMY Awards and with 70,000,000 album sales – their performance this Easter Saturday is going to be a standout,” he said.
If that wasn’t enough, legendary flamenco/pop outfit The Gipsy Kings, featuring co-founders Nicolas Reyes (original lead singer-songwriter) and Tonino Baliardo (original lead guitarist and songwriter) will bring their salsa and ramba-inspired sounds and such hits as Bamboleo, Djobi Djoba, Bem Bem Maria.
The international contingent on the third announcement is rounded out by Dweezil Zappa, who will be playing his dad Frank’s seminal 1969 album Hot Rats back-to-back, Finnish songwriter and European Guitarist of the Year winner Erja Lyytinen and US soulmeister Allen Stone.
Stone is making a welcome return to the Bluesfest stage after his much-talked-about performance at this year’s iteration.
The remainder of the lineup reads like a ‘who’s who’ of Oz music with Guy Sebastian, Troy Cassar Daley, The Waifs, Ash Grunwald and the Godfathers of Australian blues, Chain.
Byron Bay Bluesfest is on from Thursday 9 to Monday 13 April. Head here for the full lineup, more info and tickets.
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