Brad Cox, Katie Melua, The Waifs & More Join Bluesfest Lineup

The first lineup was announced for the festival – which will celebrate its 35th birthday this year – last August, featuring international stars such as Tom Jones, Jack Johnson, and Drive-By Truckers, as well as The Teskey Brothers, Matt Corby, and more.

More and more artists were then added to the bill throughout the latter half of 2023, including Dan Sultan, Tedeschi Trucks Band, The Cruel Sea, Tim Finn, Portugal. The Man, Ziggy Alberts, and recent Rolling Stone Aotearoa Awards winners Coterie.

And now Bluesfest 2024’s fifth artist announcement has added some impressive star power. Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals will be playing exclusively at the festival, while Katie Melua, one of the best-selling British and European female artists of the 2000s, will make her return to Australia for the first time in almost 20 years.

Golden Guitar winner Brad Cox will also be performing at Bluesfest 2024, as will Infectious Grooves, a supergroup that includes Metallica’s Robert Trujillo, Slipknot’s Jay Weinberg, and more.

You can check out the full Bluesfest 2024 lineup – including all the newly announced artists – below.

“For our fifth and (probably not) final artist announcement, we are proud to present the artist who has done more to bring Bluesfest to the masses, Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, for their first performance in Australia in five years. Ben first played Bluesfest in 1996,” says Festival Director Peter Noble OAM. 

“No other artist who has played Bluesfest has had such an influence on the Australian music industry outside of B.B. King. We wouldn’t have John Butler Trio, Xavier Rudd, The Beautiful Girls, Angus and Julia Stone as they are today if it wasn’t for his influence. Ben and his band’s performances at Bluesfest are legendary. This is an experience not to be missed on Easter Sunday.”

Tedeschi Trucks Band | The Cruel Sea | Taj Mahal (Exclusive) | Tim Finn | Ian Moss
Rickie Lee Jones | Dan Sultan | The Whitlams Black Stump Band | Coterie | Playing for Change Band
Lisa Hunt’s Forever Soul | Jackie Venson (Exclusive) | WILSN | Caravana Sun
Women of Soul Collective | Jack Johnson | Tom Jones | The Teskey Brothers | Matt Corby
L.A.B | Elvis Costello & The Imposters | Peter Garrett & The Alter Egos | Tommy Emmanuel
The Dead South | The Paper Kites | Drive-By Truckers | Newton Faulkner
Steve Poltz | 19-Twenty | Taj Farrant | Erja Lyytinen | Harry Manx
Here Come The Mummies | Clayton Doley’s Bayou Billabong | Little Quirks
Hussy Hicks | Blues Arcadia | RocKwiz Live | Portugal. The Man | Ziggy Alberts | Snarky Puppy
Blind Boys of Alabama | Meshell Ndegeocello | Fiona Boyes & the Fortune Tellers
The Turner Brown Band | Pierce Brothers | Velvet Trip | ROSHANI | Sweet Talk