When the two hour journey from Brisbane to Byron Bay turns into a painful three and a half hour mission, you know that it’s festival time in the popular seaside resort. The Byron Bluesfest is now in it’s 15th year, and with a line-up top heavy with Australian and International talent and the Godfather of Soul himself, it’s hardly surprising that Good Friday was a sell-out well before the date.

Richard Thompson was reaching the end of his set when we finally arrived on site, enthralling the crowd under the massive Mojo Stage big top with beautifully crafted songs and an endearing stage presence. Dressed in black and looking quite dapper in a stylish beret (replaced by a beaten-up adidas cap at his later signing session), his set encompassed highlights from his solo career as well as his time with seminal 60s folk rockers The Fairport Convention. Closing track “I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight” from the classic album of the same name saw his guitar skills come to the fore, with Thompson somehow managing to play seemingly disparate rhythm and lead simultaneously. His legend status is clearly well deserved.

The beauty of an event where you’re unfamiliar with many of the acts means you occasionally unearth an unexpected gem, and the North Mississippi All Stars were nothing short of a revelation. Some of the instrumental workouts were astonishing, with a brilliant twin guitar solo bringing to mind some of the Allman Brothers’ more inspired musical noodling. Just when you thought they’d hit their peak, one of the guitarists strapped on a washboard hooked up to a wah pedal and unleashed some melting percussive brilliance, the drummer kicked in with a pumping 4/4 beat, and 4000 jaws simultaneously dropped.

Femi Kuti & The Positive Force brought some much appreciated world music flavour to proceedings. The energy being generated on stage was phenomenal – the trio of sensational female vocalists in particular were indulging in such ferocious booty shaking that any hip replacement surgeons in the crowd would have been grinning with delight. Mr Kuti himself was a bundle of energy, alternating between saxophone and Hammond organ when not writhing behind the microphone like an African Joe Cocker. The positivity was radiating from the stage, and the dancefloor responded accordingly.

Over at the Crossroads stage, the John Butler Trio (plus guest keyboard player) was clearly preaching to the converted. The crowd was literally spilling out of the tent in all directions, and it’s difficult to imagine any of the faithful going home disappointed. “Zebra” rounded out yet another impressive JBT festival set in fine style, with punters so far from stage they could only make out the band as tiny specks in the distance singing along in full voice and dancing joyously.

I was a little disappointed to see Jackson Browne in solo acoustic mode (perhaps the money spent on bringing no less than 8 guitars with him prevented him flying his band down), but he held the crowd in the palm of his hand. Browne seemed not to have aged since the 70s, and nor have his songs, with “Running On Empty” sounding particularly beautiful in this stripped back format.

The Godfather of Soul. The Hardest Working Man in Showbiz. Whatever you call him, James Brown is an undisputed music legend. The sense of anticipation in the massive crowd was almost overwhelming, with a series of slow handclaps building to crescendos of cheers and whistles. When his 15 piece band finally hit the stage and executed a series of stop-start musical flourishes which included snippets of his biggest hits, you could sense something special was just around the corner. JB himself took the stage to a hero’s welcome and led the band through the opening salvo of “Make It Funky” and “Get Up Offa That Thing”, the funk flowing from his band like a living and breathing organism that took you by the hand and commanded you to dance.

All of the James Brown trademarks were there – the throaty screams, the audience call and response, even the occasional glimpse of his legendary dance moves which sent the crowd into roars of approval. If he’d indulged in his “being carried off stage through exhaustion before ignoring medical advice to return for one last song” schtick, you could have been forgiven for thinking it was 1963 instead of 2004. The quality of the songs spoke for themselves, with “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World” and a sensational reading of “I Got You (I Feel Good)” sounding as vital as they must have when they were first performed over thirty years ago. Words can’t describe the final 20 minute funk workout that was “Sex Machine”, propelled by an insistent rhythm section which was laying down the blueprint for funky breaks before our eyes.

The word legend is often bandied about, but for James Brown it is almost inadequate. If the East Coast Blues & Roots Festival continues to draw headline acts of this calibre, it is well on the way to legendary status itself.