Never before have so many major music names been in Australia at one time. Without question, Australia is the music centre of the universe right now and that is with thanks to three people … Peter Noble, Michael Chugg and Rob Potts.
Peter Noble of Bluesfest - Image By Ros O'Gorman
Firstly, Peter Noble is to be acknowledged for creating Bluesfest, one of the great music festivals in the world. This year, the 24th Bluesfest delivered the most impressive music line-up Australia has ever seen. 30 names down the list and the names are still headline acts in major venues around the world.
Noble’s Bluesfest created the opportunity to take great music to other parts of Australia. In stepped promoter Michael Chugg who with Sunset Events took those great Bluesfest names to the other side of the country with the West Coast Blues ‘N Roots Festival in Fremantle, Western Australia.
This year, Paul Simon, Robert Plant, Santana, Iggy & The Stooges, Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite, Wilco, Steve Miller, Status Quo, Steve Miller and dozens of other acts including Australia’s Russell Morris performed in Western Australia at the West Coast Blues N Roots Festival.
Then for the first time this year Chugg and Rob Potts together with the Deni Ute Muster took world-class music to inland Australia for the inaugural Deni Blues and Roots Festival with Chris Isaak, Santana, Status Quo, Tony Joe White, Jimmy Cliff, Newton Faulkner, Bonnie Raitt, Steve Miller Band and Jason Mraz.
The first Deni Blues N Roots went without a hitch. Artists were transported from Sydney or Melbourne into Deniliquin and the NSW/Victoria border and every act arrived in time and played on time.
The Deni Blues N Roots Festival has now changed the touring dynamic for Australia. If remote areas like Deniliquin can become touring destinations for major international artists like Santana and Bonnie Raitt then the opportunity for more major tours to route through inland Australia gives more inceptive for international acts to visit the country.
Rob Potts is behind CMC Rocks The Hunter and with Michael Chugg has brought country superstars Tim McGraw & Faith Hill, Alan Jackson, Dolly Parton, Brooks & Dunn and Dierks Bentley to Australian country music fans.
This week in Australia, music fans can thank Peter Noble, Michael Chugg and Rob Potts for the opportunity to see Robert Plant, Paul Simon, Iggy & The Stooges, Ben Harper, Steve Miller Band, Counting Crows, Wilco, Bonnie Raitt, Roger Hodgson, Rufus Wainwright, Jon Anderson, Wanda Jackson, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Rodriguez, Chris Isaak, Jason Mraz, Joan Armatrading, mavis Staples, Robert Cray, Taj Mahal, Tedeschi Trucks Band, The Lumineers and the list goes on.
