Review of the 30th Thredbo Blues Festival 2025
17th -19th January
Words - David Roman (The Mystery Train 2SSR 99.7FM)
Photos - courtesy of Murray Foote
The Foreday Riders - photo: Murray Foote
The Thredbo Blues Festival (TBF) celebrated its 30th year and certainly put on a great lineup to mark such an important occasion.
My personal belief is that there are some essential elements that make a Festival work and allow the attendees to really enjoy the music, entertainment/hospitality and experience that Festivals strive to achieve. These are quality of lineup; size and quality of venues; ease of getting into and out of venues; overall sound quality in venues; crowd dynamics and vibe; and importantly weather conditions especially if you have outdoor venues and outdoor lifestyle/recreation opportunities.
This being my first TBF, I have to say the festival achieved all my elements brilliantly and for some of those element exceeded my expectations.
We had fabulous weather conditions all round (yes, it got a bit chilly at times, and from Saturday afternoon to all day Sunday, pretty hot) and this made the event such a pleasure to attend.
Darren Jack - photo: Murray Foote
The venues (mixture of small/medium and large outdoor) allowed for easy movement between venues as the bulk of the venues were located in the main Thredbo Alpine Hotel complex. The sound quality in all venues was, on the whole, very good, even though in the smaller Schuss Bar, it felt like I was under sonic boom attack when listening to the Darren Jack Band and 19-Twenty. However, the audience seemed not to care as they danced and cheered and drank themselves into a frenzy!
And this was the crowd vibe all through the Festival weekend. No venue (other than the Schuss Bar) was overcrowded, everyone was cool, happy, excited about the bands and artists and really intent on having a good time.
It’s just impossible to see all the bands and artists perform at the Festival so my comments only relate to those bands and artists that I was privileged to check out.
Friday 17th Jan
So many great bands were featured. Owen Campbell Trio (in fact there were 4 in the band) started proceedings in the Village Square and played 2 fine sets of country/americana/blues inspired music that really impressed me. He had a band of young dudes with him (an exceptional lead guitarist) who all were very talented musos.
The Bondi Cigars (with guest guitarist James Southwell in the place of Shane Pacey recovering from surgery) and the Foreday Riders (featuring Steve Edmonds in Shane Pacey’s absence) played with their usual brilliance and kept the blues lovers in raptures. Two outstanding gigs from two of Australia’s finest blues and roots bands.
The Bondi Cigars - photo: Murray Foote
Mal Eastick with the Leanne Paris band rocked the Keller bar with some killer sets and showed the audience what a master of the guitar Mal Eastick is. It was amazing seeing Mal in full flight.
Saturday 18th Jan
Jeff Lang in the main outdoor venue (the quaintly called Alpine Bar) delivered a powerful 2 sets of intricate and compelling music that really has no borders. His professionalism and expertise on guitar and all manner of other instruments is truly mind blowing. Mal Eastick and the Leanne Paris band took to the big outdoor stage after Jeff Lang and put on another incredible performance.
The Pub venue, which is a great relaxing outdoor venue hosted Darren Jack Band and the Steve Edmonds Band in the afternoon, with the hot sun and blue skies all contributing to a very pleasant laid-back afternoon of fine music from two exceptional bands washed down with cold beers all round. A lovely way to spend the afternoon. Special mention to 19-Twenty who played the Village Square and just blew everyone away. What an exciting and professional outfit they are. And great fun too.
Fiona Boyes & The Fortune Tellers - photo: Murray Foote
A highlight for me was seeing the fabulous Fiona Boyes Band early evening, at the Keller bar doing her love of Delta blues, bantering to the audience about her experiences in Clarksdale (and yes, don’t we all love visiting Red’s Bar) and playing some outstanding slide guitar. Her band were awesome, and it was just a fabulous gig all round.
Lisa Ohlback and her band followed Fiona Boyes and wowed the audience with her incredible vocal talents and the inspiring playing that the band is so well known for. Rick Mellick on keys is such a fine musician and singer and equally impressed the audience with some stirring keyboard playing and vocal talents on a couple of songs.
Sunday 19th Jan
Special mention to Genevieve Chadwick who was first to play at the outdoor Alpine bar and gave another powerful and impressive performance. The highlight for me on this very hot Sunday was getting the gondola (yes all chairlifts and gondola are free with your Festival ticket) to Merritts restaurant half way up the mountain above Thredbo village and catching the Bondi Cigars again. What a brilliant location, relaxed and so pleasant to hear the Cigars again blast away with their signature style and groove.
Back to the village and back to reality, and for a change of pace and groove, I checked out Ray Beadle’s new project Ray Beadle Two Tones (featuring Johnathon Schwartz on bass) at an intimate gig at the Après Bar, packed solidly with enthusiastic Beadle fans. A very laid-back Ray Beadle doing quite a range of beautiful songs with his impeccable guitar style and finesse attesting to what we all know that he is an exceptional guitarist and singer.
For me finishing my Festival experience with the Mighty Reapers and the Foreday Riders at the Keller Bar was a perfect way to end a wonderful music Festival. The Mighty Reapers with Dave Brewer flying in from Perth on guitar, and what an exceptional guitarist he is, Ray Beadle on bass and off course Continental Robert on harp and vocals, Antero laying down the solid groove on drums and the ever-amazing Clayton Doley on keyboards played 2 brilliant sets of funky Soul/RnB/Blues that had the crowd roaring with appreciation.
Rosie Westbrook, Danny McKenna, Jeff Lang - photo: Murray Foote
My final goodbyes to the night and the Festival were with the Foreday Riders at the Lounge Bar who demonstrated so perfectly why they are truly the “university of the blues” and universally loved by blues audiences and musician's alike. Ron King’s delicate and emotional harp playing in the true Chicago blues style and his fine vocals, Jeff King’s outstanding guitar and slide guitar skills, Rossco Clark’s signature drums groove, Steve Edmonds mighty guitar playing and Sleepy Stan Mobbs keeping the bass humming along all came together for an outstanding final gig to much applause and acclaim from the enthusiastic audience. As Ron King mentioned, the Thredbo Blues Festival is the band’s favourite festival, and that sentiment was shared by many other performers and band members who I chatted with over the last three days.
If you get a chance to visit the TBF in the future, go and do it and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.
You can check out more of Murray's photos from the festival here