Huge lineup announcement for 2024 Big Chill Festival

Award-winning alternative rock band The Rubens, and Australian music legend DIESEL will headline a huge line-up of national and local artists including Jack River, Kingswood, Electric Postman, Fergus James and Loren Ryan.

The Big Chill will be held at the Armidale Sportsground on 18 and 19 May 2024.

Following on from the incredible success of Big Chill 23' which saw thousands of people from Armidale and surrounds enjoy high-quality music acts and a wide array of boutique craft beers and food, Big Chill 24' is set to go one better.

Attracting such big names for a music festival is a huge coup for the city and has taken months of behind-the-scenes work by the events team to pull off.

Event coordinator Maddie Fleming said there was an extraordinary amount of work that went into pitching to, and eventually securing the talents of the artists to play at the Big Chill, but the payoff was huge.

"It was an incredible team effort from all six of us, It probably took three months to get the artists over the line and have them sign on to play."

Maddie said the final lineup was narrowed down from a spreadsheet of 150 potential artists who they thought might fit in with the festival's target market.

"Slowly, slowly, slowly the picture started to come into focus, we had to find out who was available, which is a huge part of it, and then if they agree to perform you have to negotiate terms.

"For most of these top-tier artists, you're dealing with 4 or 5 different people in the negotiating process.

"Eventually, we got it down to a shortlist of about 20 artists and then from there, we reached out to the artists to see who might best fit the headlining spots, eventually landing on the Rubens and Diesel.

The Rubens is an Australian alt-rock band of three brothers and two friends who formed in 2011.

The band was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 2013 ARIA Awards for their self-titled album and won their second APRA award in 2019 (Rock Work of the Year) for their collaboration with pop star Sarah Aarons.

DIESEL is a legend of Australian rock music. He has won several ARIA music awards and has forged a critically and commercially successful career since the mid-80s.

His mega-hit 'Tip of My Tongue' was nominated for ARIA Song of the Year in 1993.

Maddie describes the moment word came through the Rubens had signed on to play.

"It was unreal, we had their music playing on the laptop in the office, just so exciting.

"I feel the Big Chill Festival is fairly unique, and special to Armidale.

"A big part of the intent behind what we are doing with the festival is trying to get people to come to Armidale but at the same time we are making this festival for our community, so they feel that we can have these kinds of events in Armidale and have things to look forward to," said Maddie.

In addition to the extensive and diverse musical line-up of national and local artists, the event features a full program that promises something for everyone.

According to Mayor Coupland, The Big Chill celebrates the New England.

"It gathers our community and attracts visitors to the region during Armidale's beautiful cooler months - for a fun weekend that includes great music, delicious locally sourced food, craft beer, local distilleries and boutique wines."

"In 2024, The Big Chill will be open to all ages on both days with more experiences for all," he said.

"Spend the weekend with family and friends. The entire family will be able to enjoy fire pits, art installations, interactive experiences for teens, and a kids' zone!"

The full program is available on The Big Chill website, and tickets are on sale from Wednesday 13 December. They are selling fast so don't miss out!