Broadbeach, Gold Coast, Queensland, May 2017.
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Briefly interrupting the stream of posts on South Georgia for a post on a Blues Festival….

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I photographed a wedding for some friends and they shouted me and my partner Jools a weekend away at the Blues on Broadbeach Festival (though Jools was unable to come).

 

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The Turner Brown Band was one of the highlights of the festival.  Dom Turner has been an eminent player on the Australian Blues scene for decades and he brought Nikki Brown and the Browns back from Ohio to play with him in Australia.  Friday was a day of torrential rain and they were moved inside to a small café.  I was lucky to be in early and be able to get up front.  Raw rollicking energy plus expert musicianship.

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This is Mojo Webb, whom I hadn’t seen for many years, with the rain thundering down outside the tent.

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I ducked back to the flat for some reason and this is the view from the corridor near the lift, in the pouring rain.

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Fortunately we had (free) tickets to Russell Morris, who has been around since the 60s but who has reinvented himself in the last few years with a series of great albums.  Almost all other gigs were cancelled from 7:30pm but we were able to relax in a huge concert hall with 2,000 other people.  This is taken from a long way back.

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Ezra Lee (playing with his band), still going in a pub late on Friday night.

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The next morning, this is Craig Bracken and Hal Tupaea of the Flaming Mudcats, from Auckland New Zealand.  A great band previously unknown to me (though I have often seen Hal playing bass for Ray Beadle).

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Gloria Brown, Turner Brown Band.  Different day, different venue.

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Louie Shelton Bluesband.  Louie, from USA but living in the Gold Coast, has played as session musician for many eminent rock bands over the years.

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Tomcat Playground, from Canberra and Sydney.  A very familiar band but always great.

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Peta Lee, with the rhythm and blues band The Vibrolators, from Western Australia.

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Kevin Borich.

The big event on Saturday night was the Are You Experienced 50th Anniversary Concert, with a succession of maestro Australian guitarists.  (This and following three images).  It was played from a marquee at the end of a road with a huge crowd on the road so it was difficult to get close.  These images were taken at as much as 600mm equivalent and may be further cropped.

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Harts.

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Jimi Hocking.

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The 50th Anniversary stage near the climax of the concert.

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Next morning I went to have breakfast at a café with enticing music issuing forth.  This is the James Street Preachers.

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Shane Pacey Band.

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A block away from the skyscraper zone, here is the beach and it is now a fine day.

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Little Billie.

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Al Britten, playing with Wards Xpress.

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Wards Xpress, at the climax of a number.

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Darren Jack, whom I have often seen at festivals, playing in a small crowded venue with an excellent band.

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Ian Moss, the big act to provide a crescendo for Sunday.

I wasn’t official photographer so I had no need to try to cover all bands.  However, this festival showed me that my Fuji equipment lags behind my Nikon equipment for this purpose, mainly for autofocus.  Especially at 12,800ISO, it could take several seconds to find focus and focus was not always precise.  I still got good shots but missed more than usual.

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Phil Barlow of Phil Barlow and the Wolf, playing in a small bar in the dying hours of the festival.

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There are links to many more images from Broadbeach 2017 on the Other Blues Festivals page.

Alternatively, there is the direct link in JAlbum (with overview images and images by band organised by folder).

For other images of a particular band I may have taken since 2006, see the Musicians and Bands Page, which lists links alphabetically by band.