DAVE HOLE, NATHAN CAVALERI AND LUCKY OCEANS LEAD TWANG! AT THE YORK FESTIVAL

DAVE HOLE, NATHAN CAVALERI AND LUCKY OCEANS LEAD TWANG! AT THE YORK FESTIVAL

Three days of blistering guitar, blues, rock, roots and live music take over historic York, WA, from 16–18 October 2026.

Some serious guitar firepower is heading to Western Australia’s Wheatbelt this October, with Dave Hole, Nathan Cavaleri and two-time Grammy Award winner Lucky Oceans leading the line-up for TWANG! – York’s Guitar Weekend, at the 2026 York Festival.

Running from Friday 16 to Sunday 18 October, TWANG! brings together Australian music legends, established WA performers and emerging talent for three days of live music in York’s historic venues, pubs, cafés and community spaces.

Saturday night delivers a formidable double bill at York Town Hall, with Nathan Cavaleri bringing his raw, high-energy blues-rock to the stage before internationally acclaimed slide guitar master Dave Hole closes the night.

One of Australia’s most distinctive blues guitarists, Hole has built an international reputation for his incendiary slide playing and electrifying live performances.

His appearance at the Festival has been made possible with support from the York Business Association, whose sponsorship is helping bring one of Australian blues music’s most acclaimed performers to regional WA.

Musical Curator Chris Gibbs said the partnership also demonstrated the wider value of bringing major live music into a regional town.

“An artist like Dave Hole gives people a very good reason to get in the car, come to York and make a weekend of it,” Gibbs said.

“For us, that means a fantastic show — but it also means visitors staying in local accommodation, eating and drinking in town, visiting shops and galleries and discovering more of York while they’re here.

“We’re incredibly grateful to the York Business Association for recognising the value of that.”
Friday night sees the Festival open at York Town Hall before Scarlet’s Way bring their blend of Americana, Southern soul, country, blues and rock to the stage.

They are followed by Lucky Oceans’ New Darling Rangers, led by the two-time Grammy Award-winning pedal steel guitarist and long-time Australian music favourite, whose genre-defying sound crosses country, blues, folk, jazz and world music.

And when the Town Hall lights go down, the guitars keep going.

Across the weekend, The Castle Hotel becomes a late-night home for a line-up including Ian Kenny’s Cold Steel Blues, Electric State, Lindsay Wells, Empire Blues and Kerry B Ryan, spanning hard-driving blues, rock, swamp blues, huge riffs and old-school guitar swagger.

The broader program also includes Paul Davies, Wheatbelt rockers Refractory Road, Interflow, York favourites Triple Engine and solo performer Nathan Ward.

TWANG! is deliberately instrument-led rather than genre-led, allowing audiences to move from blues and roots to rock, Americana and country while putting exceptional guitar playing at the centre of the weekend.

The music also moves beyond the headline venues through the TWANG! Sound Trail, with free performances popping up in locations around York including gardens and community spaces.

Guitarists can get involved themselves, with Paul Davies hosting a workshop exploring slide guitar, fingerpicking, rhythm and expression, while the next generation gets its moment in Next Gen LIVE!, a Sunday afternoon showcase of emerging WAAPA talent.

Nathan Cavaleri will also step away from the amplifier for Beyond Fear & Anxiety, sharing the extraordinary personal journey behind a career that began when he was a child guitar prodigy and has taken him through major stages, serious illness, reinvention and a return to music.

For those who like their rock photographed as well as played, In the Photo Pit at Bardo presents a free exhibition of live music photography throughout the Festival, accompanied by a Sunday conversation exploring the stories and experiences behind the lens.

Gibbs said TWANG! had been designed as a weekend for people who genuinely love live music and musicianship.

“This isn’t about one style of music,” she said.

“It’s about great players, great songs and that experience you only get when you’re close enough to really watch a musician at work.

“York gives us these beautiful, intimate venues where you can see an extraordinary guitarist without being fifty metres from the stage.

“And because everything is happening across the town, you can spend the whole weekend moving from one performance to another, finding new artists and probably hearing something you didn’t expect.”

TWANG! at the York Festival runs from 16–18 October 2026 in York, Western Australia.

Weekend Passes, Day Passes and tickets to individual performances are available, alongside a substantial program of free live music and Festival activities.

Full program and tickets: yorkfestival.com.au

Category: Aussie Tour News