Bendigo Blues & Roots Weekend Mini-Fest 2025

Name: Bendigo Blues & Roots Weekend Mini-Fest 2025
Start: 2025-11-07T07:00:00+11:00
End: 2025-11-09T11:00:00+11:00
Location: Handle Bar

Schedule

Fri, 07 Nov, 2025 at 07:00 am to Sun, 09 Nov, 2025 at 11:00 am

UTC+11:00

Location

Handle Bar | Bendigo, VI

An exciting musical weekend is coming your way on Friday 7 November through Sunday 9 November, thanks to the volunteer crew from Bendigo Blues & Roots Festival Inc. and 8 local host venues.
Handle Bar, The Black Swan Hotel, Bendigo Brewing, The Courthouse Hotel, Gold Dust Lounge, The Balcony (Hotel Shamrock), Tysons Reef Hotel and The Old Church on the Hill join forces to host more than 40 great local and semi-local artists (plus a couple of inter-staters and at least one international) sharing their songs for lovers of quality live music.
While the scale of the event is bigger than most community or regional music festivals, from a programming standpoint, the organisers emphasise it's still not a return to the full-blown festival fans grew to know and love - the one that ran from 2011 through 2022. (Bendigo Blues & Roots Music Festival was best known for hosting around 150 acts, over 4 days in 40-50 venues, and featured an all-day concert in Rosalind Park.)
"We've been hearing about how much everyone's missed having that one massive weekend in November to catch up with friends over some fine tunes in Bendigo's most welcoming venues" say the BB&RMF crew. "So here's your chance to enjoy a slightly scaled-back version of the full festival experience, meandering from one venue to the next - making one musical discovery after another - over three days in November."The full breakdown of who is playing where is now available for download from the BB&R website: bendigoblues.com - there are only a couple of ticketed shows, but those experiences are worth the ticket price and more if you know what's on offer. The rest will be free entry.
Who's playing? The artist line-up includes world traveling troubadours, local legends, festival favorites and teens on the rise. Here's the line-up, in case you've not seen it:
Scott Cook & The Little Rippers, ISEULA with Justin Yap, Bill Barber & The Holding Cell, Liz Frencham duo, Jungle Jim Smith, Georgia Rodgers, Grim Fawkner, Tasha Zappala, Jarrod Shaw, Mariah McCarthy Trio, Tony J King, Elly McK & The Unbelievers, Jay Howie Trio, Olivia Lay, Charlie Bedford, Skip, Pia Nesvara, Highway 79, Rachel Clark, Rhyley McGrath, Phil & Trudy Edgeley, Alister Turrill, Amy Tie duo, The Lone Vanguard, Rhaedel Pickett, The F Jays, Lloyd Dodsworth, Redjar, Piano Wizard Andrew Farrell, Dan Duggan & Friends, Jared Healy, Sherri Parry, Sean McConnell, Featherhead, Joel Havea, Louise MacGregor, Luke Watt, The Dead Clampets, Gus Wilde, Tarah Frawley, Jake Fry & Sam Pollock, Crimson Reverie, Nathan Schifferle, Emma Gleeson, Rowan Egan and more...
As always, the genres of music covered by these artists ranges from Blues (of all kinds) to Jazz, to soul, to funk, to folk, rock'n'roll, country, bluegrass, and everything in between. We can honestly say there's something for just about everyone. You want to hear singer/songwriters pouring their hearts out? We've got you. You want sublime folk songs and traditional instruments? We've got you. You want hard-rockin' bands with shredding guitars? We've got you. You want soulful funky bands that will make you want to dance? you know we've got you covered.
The Bendigo Blues & Roots crew's message to local punters? - Please keep supporting and enjoying grass-roots live music events, all-year-round, not just when a big event comes to town.
We look forward to seeing you out and about on Friday 7, Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 November.
Check out the program and plan your weekend here: https://bendigoblues.com/weekend/