The Blue Mountains Music Festival of Folk Roots and Blues , now in it’s 18th year, takes place in Katoomba on the 3rd weekend of March. It runs from 7pm Friday ’til late. Saturday 10am ’til late and Sunday 10:00am til 8:00pm. The festival site is home to 8 undercover performance venues (please see map for details) on which over 100 performances occur. A one ticket entry to the festival site allows patrons access to any or all of the performances.

We do not sell single concert tickets for any of the performances unless they are specially funded community events.

There is no reserved seating in any of the venues.

 

A free festival program is provided for every festival-goer that includes performer profiles, appearance times and locations and a map of the festival precinct.

Programs are available from the Festval Shop and at the entrances some stages and venues.

Katoomba sits on the edge of a UNESCO world heritage listed wilderness. It is the most visited town in the Blue Mountains and the world famous Three Sisters and the other panoramas and bushwalks are amongst Australia’s most popular tourist attractions. A little to the west are the magnificent Jenolan Caves. Katoomba became known as a town in 1879 with the opening of a coal mine. The railway station was originally named The Crushers for its mining activity.

Coal and shale mining went on into the early twentieth century, but it was city folk coming up to take the air and dance the night away in the many guesthouses that kept the place on the map after that.

Another reason to linger in Katoomba now is the stunning new Cultural Centre which contains the Blue Mountains City Art Gallery, the World Heritage Exhibition and the new Katoomba Library. This was opened with much fanfare on November 17th this year.

The town is rich with architectural interest, with the Carrington, its grand Victorian era hotel, Art Deco 1920s boomtime buildings and scattered everywhere the much loved old miners’ cottages and Federation bungalows. The huge choice of restaurants and cafes with some of the best coffee in the world hum with contented customers and a new surge of live music.

The upper mountain towns each hold a swag of bookstores, antique and bric-a-brac palaces, art galleries and op shops.

The Blue Mountains is a magical place any time of the year. Glowing in autumn, cool in winter, colourful in spring and refreshing in summer. It is a special place of ancient landscapes, towering golden hued stone escarpments, crashing waterfalls and magnificent eucalypts all set amongst inspiring scenery that will take your breath away.

Combine the scenic wonders with the best folk, roots, blues and indie music that the world has to offer and you may not want to go home. Some people don’t.