The cancellation was announced on Friday, with the festival organisers citing increasing costs as the reason that the multi-day event will not go ahead.
“After 36 years as Australia’s most awarded festival, Bluesfest has made the difficult decision not to proceed with the 2026 event,” said a statement posted to the Bluesfest website.
“Rising production, logistics, insurance and touring costs, together with a more challenging environment for major live events, mean it is not possible to deliver the festival to the standard audiences, artists and partners expect.
“A liquidator has been appointed to manage all financial matters, including vendor and partner obligations. Ticket holders, including parking pass customers and campers, will be contacted directly by the appointed liquidator with further information regarding the process for submitting claims and any potential refund arrangements.”
The festival, held over the Easter long weekend just north of the iconic northern NSW town of Byron Bay, has in the past attracted more than 100,000 attendees each year.
It has been a turbulent few years for the festival, with the event cancelled three times in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. The 2021 Easter festival was cancelled a day before it was due to take place, after a single COVID-19 case was identified in the region, and a second attempt at staging the festival in October of that year was cancelled in August, due to an ongoing pandemic lockdown in NSW.
In 2024, the festival’s director and owner, Peter Noble, said the 2025 event would be the last Bluesfest, but tickets to the 2026 festival were on sale by the time the well-attended 2025 event was wrapping up.
The festival received $250,000 in funding from the NSW Government’s Contemporary Music Festival Viability Fund in 2025 but does not appear to have received any support through the same program in 2026.
