American singer-songwriter Don McLean has announced the postponement of his upcoming Australian tour, including his performance at Bluesfest, until 2017. The news follows McLean’s arrest on domestic violence charges.
“Don McLean graciously accepts the willingness of the promoter to postpone the current tour to exactly the same time in 2017 in order to allow Don McLean and his family time to work at reuniting,” a statement from McLean’s rep read.
“This is an unprecedented moment in the family history. Don McLean thanks all his fans for their patience and love and he looks forward to seeing them next year.” In addition to his Bluesfest appearance, McLean had several headline dates planned.
For headline shows excluding Tasmania, all patrons will receive a full refund automatically from their point of purchase within seven days. If patrons have any questions regarding their refund they are urged to get in touch with the ticketing agency they purchased their ticket from.
Ticket holders in Tasmania have been advised to contact their point of purchase for a full refund. Bluesfest ticket holders who wish to change their Friday single-day ticket are able to do so from today until Friday, 11th March 2016 by calling the Bluesfest office on 02 6685 8310.
Meanwhile, following the conclusion of a recent Byron Shire Council Chambers meeting yesterday, Bluesfest’s application for additional events to be held at Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm Community Event Site (the home of Bluesfest) has been approved.
Byron Shire councillors gave a unanimous vote of approval for 100 days of events with up to 2,000 people attending, 10 days of events with up to 15,000 people attending, and 10 days with up to 25,000 people attending, including Bluesfest.
“The small events will be primarily for community use, such as farmers markets and wedding receptions in the functions building that will be built as a result of the approval,” a statement explained.
“It will also allow the site to hold the Boomerang Indigenous Festival, once it becomes a stand-alone event. Furthermore Peter Noble and his team can now work on attracting one day concerts to the site.”
“Today Byron Shire Council gave a unanimous 8/8 councillor vote to the Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm community event site to do additional events,” said Bluesfest founder and Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm Community Event Site manager Peter Noble.
“Although we didn’t get everything we wanted from Byron Council today, and are a little disappointed, we did get an approval where we have certainty in our future and now we can make the decisions to invest in infrastructure so that our site becomes a professional event site for community use.”
“The fear from our neighbours that we may have wanted to do another major festival on the site was addressed by council in a manner that met our approval, and seemingly those in attendance at council chambers.”
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“It is not likely that there will be any new events for some time to come. First we will build the infrastructure so that there is a functions centre on site, as well as in time, permanent shower and toilet facilities and food and beverage areas.”
“We would like to see our site be used by the community for functions, including wedding receptions and other community events. We also received an approval to do one-day concerts, as well as one more festival which we intend to be the Boomerang Festival, Byron’s Indigenous event, which we are passionate about.”
“I would like to thank Mayor Simon Richardson and every councillor as well as our local community who supports us. And further we look forward to creating more employment in the creative industries in the Byron area.”
