Bluesfest Sideshows Go Sydney-side!

By Cristina Dio on April 14, 2011 in Other

Australia’s biggest festival, Bluesfest, takes off in Byron Bay in a couple of weeks but if you can’t make it up north there is no reason why you can’t get into the spirit of the festival in Sydney with a bunch of select sideshows booked in around Easter. This year there is a strong funk, soul and reggae flavor – perfect music for getting down and celebrating life.

First up on Tuesday 19th April at The Metro is the incredible Trombone Shorty (Troy Andrews), who at just 25 years of age is already winning high praise as one of the most prodigious young jazz/funk artists to emerge in recent times. His debut release ‘Backatown’ has critics all over the world raving, and he’s just through collecting a swag of accolades at the Best of the Beat Awards in New Orleans, including Album of the Year (Backatown), Best R&B/Funk Album of the Year (Backatown), as well as Artist of the Year, Best R&B/Funk Artist, and Best Trombonist. He is on tour with his own big band, Orleans Avenue. Completing the awesome double bill is the frenetically charged LA ska-funk-punk phenomenon Fishbone. If you saw these guys last time they played in Australia you’ll know you are in for a wild musical ride complete with outrageous stage antics in a sensational show of eclectic alternative rock, big humour and sharp social commentary.

Cranking up the energy the following night, the legendary Funky Meters take centre stage at The Metro. Living up to their reputation as the founding fathers of funk, leading band members Art Neville and George Porter Jr bring to Sydney their irresistible trademark sound of funk, blues and dance grooves with the New Orleans vibe. This legendary band are an essential experience for any funk music lover. You may not realize it, but you would know many of their hits, from their first chartbuster ‘Cissy Strut’, to ‘Funky Miracle’ and ‘Just Kissed My Baby’. If you are serious about funk, you can’t miss this show.

Also flying the flag for the spirit of New Orleans is soul queen Irma Thomas(pictured), playing The Factory on Thursday 21st April. A celebrated and much-loved Grammy Award-winning vocalist, Irma Thomas is the quintessential soul diva, a treasure from the golden age of American soul music. Even though she is celebrating 50 years in music, her voice and message are as compelling and powerful as ever, and these days she’s accompanied by her 8-piece New Orleans band, complete with a full horn section. Irma’s contemporaries include Aretha Franklin and Etta James, and she is still recognised as a huge inspiration to everyone from Otis Redding to the Rolling Stones. Every soul buff should be rushing out to get tickets for this one. It promises to be a standout.

Another powerful woman passing through town is a genuine music great from the 60s. Buffy Sainte-Marie is set to pack out The State Theatre on Saturday 23rd April. An extraordinary songwriter and composer, artist, civil rights activist and educator on Native American culture, Buffy’s deep artistry has led to numerous awards and honours including Billboard Awards, Academy Awards and Golden Globes. Her career spans 18 albums of rich, joyful yet haunting music, and thought provoking songwriting, including the hit ‘Up Where We Belong’ (from ‘An Officer and a Gentleman’, which won her an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a BAFTA Film Award for Best Original Song). Her other landmark songs include her searing, political era-defining anthem ‘Universal Soldier’, arguably the finest anti-war song ever. In the mid 1960s, it became an anthem for the peace movement and the song became a smash hit that echoed right around a war weary world. This will be her first Australian tour.

For the reggae fans, and that’s probably most of us, an epic triple bill, Reggae Rising Direct from Jamaica, will hit The Enmore on the same night, Saturday 23rd April. Toots and the Maytals, one of the greatest Jamaican reggae artists ever, will be joined by one of the most important reggae singers in decades, Luciano and the Jah Messenjah Band. Together they make up this awesome triple bill with the new spirit of reggae, Warrior King.

First formed in Jamaica in the early 1960s, Toots and the Maytals have been spreading their unique combination of gospel, ska, soul, reggae and rock around the world for more than 40 years, retaining an impressive freshness as proven by their recent 2005 Grammy for Best Reggae Album, ‘True Love’, which features re-recorded versions of their classics. The show will feature all their greatest including ‘Funky Kingston’ and ‘Reggae Got Soul’.

With the release of his 1995 breakthrough album ‘Where There Is Life’, Jamaica’s Luciano emerged as one of the most important reggae singers in decades and has been put forward as the greatest hope for roots reggae’s survival in the digital dancehall era. Luciano has a vibrant and growing following in Australia, having toured here to rapturous response twice before, a reputation destined only to be enhanced with the release of his new album, ‘United States of Africa’.

His accessible, positive lyrical themes and contemporary rhythms as well as his commitment to the true spirit of Jamaican reggae have seen his followers dub him ‘The Messenger’. His deep baritone and infectious rhythms make all of his performances unforgettable.

Rounding out this awesome sideshow is an important new voice in reggae, dancehall artiste Warrior King, who burst onto the Jamaican music scene several years ago and who is visiting Australia for the first time. Reggae Rising is an opportunity for fans to experience reggae’s legends and future stars on one amazing bill!

Wrapping up a huge couple of weeks of sideshows are NZ roots reggae legends Trinity Roots, who will take us back to The Metro on Friday 29th April.

After a five-year break, Trinity Roots, one of New Zealand’s most loved bands and successful artists of this century, have reformed and are touring Australian for the very first time. The band sold out every theatre they played on their recent New Zealand reunion tour. Celebrated for their unique roots sound, Trinity Roots fuses reggae, jazz, roots and soul into a genre and style all of their own. The much-loved trio released two independent albums, ‘True’ (2002) and ‘Home, Land and Sea’ (2004), during their career, both of which went platinum in New Zealand. The title track from ‘Home, Land and Sea’ is a heartfelt anthem to Aotearoa and refers to the New Zealand Government’s handling of foreshore issues including the purchase of land by overseas interests.

Trinity Roots is made up of three of New Zealand’s most acclaimed artists – Warren Maxwell (lead vocals/guitars/keys), Rio Hunuki-Hemopo (bass/vocals) and Riki Gooch (drums/vocals) – who together embodied the unique New Zealand groove that was so groundbreaking in the country’s roots scene.

All in all a massive couple of weeks of incredible music that brings the best of Bluesfest right to our own backyard!