18th Thredbo Blues Festival
What a weekend. The weather was generally very kind providing warm sunshine for those who wanted it and cool shade for the rest of us. Only a brief shower late on Sunday afternoon took the shine of an otherwise brilliant weekend.
Starting at 6:30pm on Friday night, the festival rocked on till almost daybreak on Monday morning. I had several late nights but I just couldn't keep going after the Schuss Bar closed around 2am on Monday morning, thus for-going the final jam session in the Keller Bar. Mind you, the highlight for me was the jam session on Sunday night in the Schuss Bar with Pete Cornelius, Jeff Lang and Kevin Borich jamming with the Harry Brus band and with many of the other artists in the audience grooving along.
I only took my camera out during the daylight hours but spent most of my time following the Blues Festival during the night-time hours. Consequently there were not a lot of photos taken.
A big thanks to all the artists, sponsors, organisers, Jen, the volunteers, staff and visitors to Thredbo for making yet another memorable music festival.
The partially cloudy weather provided some relief from the hot summer sun
Lisa Otey and Dianne Van Deurzen
It was great to see Nick Charles back in Thredbo
Nick Charles with Pete Fidler
Poolside at the Alpine Hotel was a popular outdoor venue
Also the Village Square beside the Squatter's Run apartment complex
Nick Charles and Pete Fidler outside Squatter's Run
Kevin Borich - a treat to hear again
Backed wonderfully by Harry Brus and his drummer
Then a sudden surprise shower brought a slightly premature end to the outdoor venues
An unexpected spike through an electrical cable yesterday morning made it difficult to get a coffee after the big weekend but everything appears now to be back to normal.
With the summer school holidays drawing closer to the end, life has quietened a little in Thredbo but with the mountain biking still going gang-busters. Speaking of gang-busters, I hope Callum recovers quickly from yesterday's buster after his mountain bike snapped in half on the downhill course.
It is another wonderful blue-sky, sunny day in Thredbo today and without those ghastly temperatures being forecast for some city centres around Australia.
And yes, I'm still waiting on Marion to provide the second half of her Antarctic Ski Adventure. Click here for the first segment.
Just for the record: the 2012 Thredbo Jazz, Funk & Groove Festival is on 23 - 25 March.