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Newcastle Herald

Madeline Link

100 bands, 12 stages, nine venues: photos from West Best Bloc Fest

Marina Neil West Best Bloc Fest Dylan Oakes Newcastle

Colour and action from West Best Bloc Fest. Picture by Marina Neil

Sailor and The Flavour perform at West Best Bloc Fest. Picture by Marina Neil

West Best Bloc Fest drew crowds in Newcastle on Sunday. Picture by Marina Neil

Hey Lenny performs at West Best Bloc Fest. Picture by Marina Neil

Mishayla performs at West Best Bloc Fest. Picture by Marina Neil

Annie Smith and Alex Bult. Picture by Marina Neil

Dave Wells performs at West Best Bloc Fest. Picture by Marina Neil

C.O.B.B at West Best Bloc Fest. Picture by Marina Neil

100 BANDS, 12 stages, nine venues and pumped crowds gave West Best Bloc Fest its name as Newcastle's biggest celebration of local music.

Returning for its third year, the festival is the only event of its kind in the city where 100 bands perform at venues on one block in Newcastle West.

Different venues drew different crowds, with some fans heading out to catch specific sets and others just following their nose.

Festival founder Dylan Oakes said the vibe was high as the event heated up.

"We've got a block full of people, happy people, the sun's out, and we're really stoked it's the third year in," he said.

Mr Oakes said around 1600 to 1800 people had turned out to the event by mid-afternoon, and said venues were full and the punters were stoked.

"From the business side of things, we're filling their venues, we're putting live music on and some of them aren't live music venues, so all in all from our side and the venues' everyone is really happy today," he said.

All of the 100 bands performing are from the greater Newcastle area and Mr Oakes said it's an important nod to the city's musical history.

"This was here 30-odd years ago, and we're just seeing whether it's a generational thing, but we are seeing a lot of young kids picking up instruments," he said.

"Whether that's a COVID thing, the important of it is honing them and pushing them on to bigger and better things once they get older.

"For the city itself, that patriotism that we have here in Newy, it gives us a leg up nationally within the music sector."

This year the Mad Poet and Antijitos jumped on board as new venues, with more small additions to the festival here and there.

Most of the venues hosted more than 10 acts with a mix of new and veteran artists.

Mr Oakes said as the festival continues to grow he hopes to see more people travelling to Newcastle for the experience.

"You can see a wide variety of new acts that if you're just hanging out with buddies having a beer, you can see new things that you probably haven't come across," he said.

"The energy down at the block at the moment is very, very high."

The tunes kicked off at midday on Sunday, with stages set up at different venues on the block between Steel, Union, Hunter and King streets.

The festival is funded in part by City of Newcastle's Special Business Rate (SBR) program, which supports the city's CBD precincts creating vibrant, activates spaces for the community and visitors to enjoy.

SBRs are collected from businesses in the Newcastle City Centre and Darby Street, Hamilton, Mayfield, New Lambton and Wallsend for the promotion, beautification and development of those precincts.

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