Bluesfest has made history today, as it is the only Australian event nominated for Pollstar’s ‘Music Festival Of The Decade’ award.
The Pollstar Awards USA are an annual ceremony to celebrate achievements in the live music industry, and Bluesfest have been a mainstay through it all – having been nominated nine out of the past 10 years at the ceremony. The year they missed out on? The ceremony didn’t go ahead.
Now, that prestige has culminated in a nomination for ‘Music Festival Of The Decade’, marking one of two festivals in the southern hemisphere to earn a nod.
Alongside Bluesfest, the nominees for the award include a string of American festivals – Coachella, Austin City Limits, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and Outside Lands. Mexican festivals earned two nominations, with Corona Capital Festival and Electric Daisy both getting a nod.
Of course, UK’s Glastonbury is up for the award, as is Bluesfest’s only fellow southern hemisphere nominee – the Brasilian edition of Lollapalooza.
“After all we have been through since the start of the pandemic, with two cancellations, including one which occurred the day before we were all set and ready to open our gates, it is a pleasure to be offered something positive for Bluesfest,” Peter Noble OAM said of the nomination.
“It’s something for our hard-working team to put their heads up and be proud of after all we have been through recently.”
Organisers of Bluesfest have spared no feelings about the cancellation of the 2021 event, referring to it as “the festival that could have happened”.
You can see the full list of awards and nominations over at Pollstar’s website.
