The high point of the Festival was undoubtedly Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, a primarily instrumental band which moved between acid jazz, funk and ambient music. Futureman, the drummer on a high tech drum machine that looks like a guitar (drumitar!), gives the group a very new age sound and duels with Bela Fleck on his electric banjo, mandolin, guitars etc. The message is Left of Cool, their first studio album in 5 years. Bela Fleck is the only musician to be recognised with Grammy nominations across categories of pop, jazz, bluegrass, spoken word and country. The bluegrass set had the audience stamping their feet so hard the tent poles were wobbling. Jeff Coffin on saxophones, clarinet, flute and singing bowl had us all spellbound with Victor Lemote Wooten bass and cello. "Raise the tent form the ground" was the order of the day with their high tech diversity and a generous serving of soul. It's hard to imagine that music could get much better than this.
	The other major soul experience was Marva Wright and the BMW's. Well Marva, short for marvellous and also known as 'the marvellous one', has only been singing professionally for the past twelve years. At the age of 52 she made the move from being a church-singing secretary to a professional blues singer... whilst still in the church. A show stopper from hell- well heaven actually!! Whether performing on stage at concerts, in nightclubs, riverboats, casinos, conventions, TV or radio, Marva sings from the heart and soul and electrified us all with her love of song. Being from the church, and it being Sunday, Marva sang "A Closer Walk with Thee" to an audience passing around tissues and napkins - there was hardly a dry eye in the house. That's what the Blues Festival is all about. Feeling all those feelings that one doesn't normally have the time or the inclination to feel. At the Blues Festival one becomes whole again by surrendering to the rhythm of the soul and allowing all the peaks and valleys to flow through with the some of the best music ever played.
Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin and Big Bill Morganfield (Son of Muddy Waters) launched the Festival by committing the unholy act of actually playing the Blues in daylight! With that kind of talent at the beginning how could it get better one might ask. Actually the whole Blues experience is defined by the feeling of just when you think it can't get any better than this - it does. Big Bill is beyond human - a force to be reckoned with. Channelling the blues from his father to us was enthralling and electrifying. A big, big man with a taste for fancy clothes, a love of music and sharing his gift had our mojo's working overtime! The Australian bands Papa Lips, the Backsliders, Jeff Lang (check our Woodford Folk Festival Review for more on Mr Lang), Steve Boyd, Psycho Zydeco and Marlene Cummins floored us all with their passion, skill and talent to seduce us all, shattering any illusions that only the Black Americans can play the Blues. The main disappointments were ZZ Top. It must be hard for them to perform at a festival with so much talent when they have so little. They are the perfect example of what Noam Chomsky has termed "manufactured consent"- the power of marketing and image making is amazing. How two old men ( one looks like he's about to drop dead from anorexia or some kind of toxic addiction) can make a lot of loud noise and still get the people in is beyond me. Oh well, the Blues festival has something for everybody I guess. The big red beards are now grey and they still make a big noise. Much ado about nothing I say. Also being late probably didn't do much to curry favour from me and the crowd started throwing beer cans onto the stage. The natives were getting restless!! And I was bored.
	The Rastarfarian high priests, Burning Spear and Lucky Dube came off a little too full of their own self importance and a too bit preachy to really give what the Blues demands. Let's face it, Reggae is light and fun and not very interesting. The difference between them and the real Blues people is a natural outpouring of soul for them to us the audience..a dialogue is happening..a recognition of truths of daily life is shared and expressed. The reggae is a performance, a show and misses that essential ingredient of heart to heart communication. Still thousands of people rocked on with them and loved every minute of it. This year there was more Blues country representation with Junior Brown. Lots of people were complaining about the over representation of country but I like it. Junior Brown is a real Texas man with a ten gallon hat and his own double-necked guitar named Big Red. Yes, we mightn't like country, but we do like what he does. Australian 23 year old Kasey Chambers and the Dead Ringer Band has the country thing down pat with her family backing her and her Patsy Cline voice wooing us all. She was hot! Her meteoric rise to ARIA fame is totally deserved. I think we can expect to see a lot more of her.
Country lovers or not, the East Coast Blues and Roots Festival has it all. An eclectic array of talent and the rare opportunity to see them all in one place at one time. There is something for everybody. Just don't forget your gumboots. The food is great, the company even better and the music - well what to say? Just don't miss it next year. Discounted tickets are on sale for locals of the region for one week only in Byron Bay the first week in January for 30% of the total price. I paid $120.00 and felt like I had my money's worth in the first three hours. For $180.00 the full price tickets were really value for money considering the class of artists performing. Get there next year to be inspired, encouraged, and have your soul nourished on the best Blues and Roots music in the world. ~Ruby Thunder~