This year’s RBC Bluesfest a ‘record success’ says festival organizer

Following nine nights of live music, the 2023 edition of RBC Ottawa Bluesfest has wrapped up, and a spokesperson for the event said ticket sales this year were unprecedented.

Joe Reilly spoke on The Sam Laprade Show on Monday, June 17, and said this was the first time several headliner shows sold out in advance.

“We’ve never experienced this before where we stopped selling three times (for individual day tickets), and for Shania Twain, we stopped selling a week in advance, which has never happened before,” said Reilly.

Shows with sold out single day tickets included Shania Twain, Foo Fighters, and Pitbull. He added that purchasing tickets in advance, including the ‘pick-3 pass’, is recommended for next year’s festival, as the sell-out will likely happen again.

While Ottawa has seen fewer stops from significant artists – compared with other Canadian cities like Toronto and Montreal – RBC Bluesfest has become a well-established festival that is attracting more artists to the nation’s capital, Reilly explained.

“Sadly, Ottawa gets missed on a lot of major tours, and this is the opportunity to bring those artists to Ottawa who might not come here,” he said.

According to the organizer, data from previous years revealed the economic impact was around 40 million dollars, and he expects that number to be even more significant this year. He added that the festival has positively impacted tourism and contributed to the city’s economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our audience is predominantly local, and we’ve always prided ourselves on making sure we’re doing something for our community, but this is also a destination (for tourists),” Reilly added.

Downtown restaurants also saw a rise in walk-ins during the festival, which helped to boost revenue for businesses in the core.

“We love that we’ve been able to keep a massive event like this in the middle of the city, with people heading to restaurants before and after gigs, not far from ByWard Market,” Reilly said.

The music festival has grown significantly since its first year in 1994, with 5,000 people attending its first edition in Major’s Hill Park. This year, the festival was located at Lebreton Flats, next to the War Museum, and saw roughly 300,000 guests in total.

Following a successful 2023 edition, Reilly said organizers are already starting to plan RBC Ottawa Bluesfest 2024 by searching for artists who are already planning tours for next summer.