Just when you thought we had forgotten you – and Christmas was going to be bleak and lean – BLUESFEST brings you a World Premiere Announcement. Bluesfest is the first date in the world to be announced for the re-united SABOTEURS.
AND … This will be the first time ever that THE SABOTEURS have played in Australia.
THE SABOTEURS (known outside of Australia as THE RACONTEURS) is made up of four friends who got together in Detroit way back in 2005. Jack White, Brendan Benson, Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler, hailed from other influential bands of the time – and together released two albums, ‘Broken Boy Soldiers’ (2006) and the Grammy-Award winning ‘Consolers Of The Lonely’ (2008), spawning the singles: ‘Steady As She Goes’, ‘Salute Your Solution’, ‘Many Shades Of Black’ and ‘Consoler Of The Lonely’ . THE SABOTEURS have graced the prestigious stages of the Montreux Jazz Festival, Coachella, Glastonbury, Austin City Limits and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
Now they come to Australia for the very first time and we are delighted they have chosen to help us celebrate our 30th Anniversary by closing Bluesfest on Easter Monday.
THE SABOTEURS – Jack White, Brendan Benson, Jack Lawrence & Patrick Keeler – are back with the release of their first new music in more than 10 years. The two new songs released by Third Man Records, ‘Now That You’re Gone’ featuring Brendan Benson on lead vocals and ‘Sunday Driver’ with Jack White singing lead, are available digitally worldwide today. This release coincides with the delivery of the only physical version of the tracks available on 7” vinyl as part of Third Man’s Vault Package #38 celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the bands’ acclaimed second album, CONSOLERS OF THE LONELY.
Unique companion videos accompany both tracks and, in true Raconteurs fashion, were shot only one week ago and are available for your enjoyment now.
‘Now That You’re Gone’ and ‘Sunday Driver’ both stem from recent sessions for the long-awaited new Saboteurs LP, due for release sometime in 2019. “We’re knee deep in the trenches of our first new album in a decade,” White said to Mojo Magazine recently. “We have a vast amount of genre-pushing songs that bridge the gap between Detroit and Nashville rock and roll. The album sounds like a World War. It’s great to be co-writing songs with Brendan Benson again, the man is a song craftsman.”
Recorded and released in March 2008, the unannounced arrival of The Saboteurs’ CONSOLERS OF THE LONELY shocked the world at a time when coordinating a worldwide physical and digital surprise release was even less easily accomplished than it is today. The album – which takes its title from an inscription on the frieze of a Washington D.C. post office – proved a phenomenon, making a top 5 debut on the Billboard 200 on its way to earning the GRAMMY® Award for “Best Engineered Non-Classical Album,” as well as a nomination as “Best Rock Album.” Indeed, CONSOLERS OF THE LONELY finds the Saboteurs at their mightiest, exploring what it means to be a rock band in the classic sense. Full-on bombastic horn arrangements and gut-wrenching murder ballads sit side by side as the swaggering riffs and confident licks firmly establish the LP as one of the pre-eminent releases of the aughts.
This is a special announcement for Bluesfest Festival Director, Peter Noble OAM, who says:
“It’s not every day you get to have a simultaneous worldwide announcement of one of the world’s great bands, The Raconteurs, known in Australia as The Saboteurs. The members include Jack White, who is someone I have wanted to present at Bluesfest for a very long time. In fact, this began as a Jack White headline performance, but literally morphed into The Saboteurs when the guys decided to get back together again after 10 years, and Bluesfest has the ONLY announced show in the world currently.
There is a lot to be said about this, however, I’m sure the media will be on fire about this announcement, so please let me say this……Bluesfest has had many great artistic bills over the years…. I now believe we are up there for our 30th Anniversary Festival in 2019 with our best festival bills…. it is a testament to the tireless work of our team, and the belief of artists and their representatives all over the world that allows us to do this, and our Bluesfesters, who support us in coming to revel in our spectacle…
To all of you I wish a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
By the way … our next artist announcement is in January…. and it’s a beauty !!! “
With only 118 days to go until we swing open the gates to the beautiful Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm just outside Byron Bay, this very special artist announcement really puts icing on the cake for our 30th Anniversary Celebration, taking place over the Easter long weekend (Thursday 18th April to Monday 22nd April 2019). Bluesfest has captured the hearts of music lovers at home and abroad and, as you can see from the line-up, this is a celebration not to miss – it will definitely be a Bluesfest to remember!
The 2019 playing schedule so far is available here – with more artists still to be announced.
Tickets are now on sale through bluesfest.com.au
Previously announced artists for 2019:
Jack Johnson – Iggy Pop – Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals – Paul Kelly
Hozier – David Gray
Ray LaMontagne
Norah Jones – Julia Stone – Kasey Chambers
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
Mavis Staples - Gary Clark Jr.
George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic
Tommy Emmanuel – Snarky Puppy
Meshell Ndegeocello – Colin Hay - Imelda May
Kurt Vile and the Violators – Keb’ Mo’
Allen Stone - St. Paul and The Broken Bones
Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real
Melbourne Ska Orchestra
Archie Roach – Shakey Graves – Arlo Guthrie
Nahko and Medicine for the People – Tex Perkins
I’m With Her – Ruthie Foster - Richard Clapton
Russell Morris - Flogging Molly - Backsliders
The Marcus King Band – Fantastic Negrito – Samantha Fish
The War and Treaty - Deva Mahal - Larkin Poe
The Black Sorrows - Vintage Trouble - Pierce Brothers
Mojo Juju - Trevor Hall - Irish Mythen - Anderson East
Melody Angel – Hussy Hicks – Thando
The California Honeydrops - Elephant Sessions
Caiti Baker - Little Georgia
Benny Walker – Dallas Woods
RockWiz Live
