BBRMF director Colin Thompson said it was good to see the city increasing the number of live music shows being put on.

"It certainly feels like a return to normality this last couple of weeks," he said. "There's lots of great live music for people to get out and enjoy at all different times of the day and night from Thursday through Sunday - even if we weren't able to deliver our planned 46 venue festival featuring over 120 acts this weekend."

Read more: Bendigo Lost Trades Fair to get new funding, return in March

Fifteen acts will take to temporary stages across the five gigs starting on Friday afternoon with a pop-up performance at Hargreaves Mall.

Frank Bell, Amy Tie, Steph Bitter, Bill Barber and Sherri Parry will lead a host of acts from 11am to 4pm.

The Hargreaves Mall pop-up will again be featured on Saturday from 11am to 4pm with Innes Harrington, Mannix Harrington, Jake Fry, Kerryn Fields Trio and Nathan Schifferle on the line-up.

The Dai Gum San's Chinese Gardens will also host two pop-up performances this weekend with the first on Saturday from 11am.

It will feature a line-up of female performers from the Bendigo region with Mia Mazzarella, Sherri Parry, Mandy Connell and Flora taking to the stage.

On Sunday, Mariah Watts, Rough River, the Kerryn Fields Trio and the Mariah McCarthy Trio will perform at the Chinese Gardens from 11am.

Mr Thompson said gig organisers made the necessary adjustments to present the shows on a reduced budget and within patron restrictions.

"The outdoor gigs are the result of our work with the City of Greater Bendigo's Tourism and Major Events team and the 'can-do' attitudes of the local musicians involved," he said.

"We're rapt to be able to put on some daytime gigs in a family-friendly way that is accessible and free of charge. It's our way of reminding the general public of the talent that is at work around them all the time, as well as a reminder of what a great vibe can be created in so many of our public spaces."

Read more: Greater Bendigo's active coronavirus cases rise above 1000

Adding to the docket of live music in Bendigo this weekend is Sing a Song of Sixpence, a collaborative show that sees the six performers sitting in a circle, talking and telling the stories of their songs before performing them.

The Old Church on the Hill will host Sing a Song of Sixpence on Friday night from 7.30pm with musicians Van Walker, Sarah Carroll, Grim Fawkner, Delsinki and Joyce Prescher taking part.

"We have a lot of concerts coming back to The Old Church on the Hill, which is very exciting, starting of course this Friday night with the Sing a song of Sixpence show, featuring an incredible line-up of talent," Mr Thompson said.

"We've constantly got events coming up - bigger, smaller and in between. We're partnering with a lot of other events (on the music side) that are returning like Strategem Bendigo Wine Growers Festival, Bendigo on the Hop, and others.

"In the meantime, we'll be out there making gigs happen every week at the many great venues who continue to support live music on the grass roots level."

The BBRMF had originally been re-scheduled to go ahead this weekend before organisers again postponed it to November, 2022, due to the high risk to its volunteers, artists, technicians and attendees.

Uncertainty around venues being able to operate with staff shortages and capacity restrictions was also an issue for organisers. The festival is now set for November.

"I'm glad we made the decision we did, as current restrictions mean that indoor venues are still limited in how many patrons they can accommodate," Mr Thompson said. "Unfortunately we couldn't say, let's do the outside stuff and pick and choose which indoor gigs we could confidently run.

Read more: Local veteran donates WWI inspired painting to Bendigo and District RSL

"The program is a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. You can't pull certain pieces out without it coming completely apart. We also didn't want to run a 'half festival' or run a full festival to half the usual crowd.

"Punter confidence isn't fully back yet and that will take time to get back to where it needs to be. Safety, practicality, feasibility, there are lots of considerations to make before being able to confidently move forward with an event the size and scope of BBRMF."

Preparations for the BBRMF - which will be the 10^th event since its inception - are in full swing.

"We've been lucky enough to move around 99 per cent of what we programmed for this weekend to the new dates of November 3 to 6," Mr Thompson said. "We're fortunate also that the change back to November means a couple of our venues are able to do more with us than they originally could.

"There will be lots of awesome surprises when we finally get to publish the program in a little while. The best news is that the program will be published a lot earlier than usual, as we've never had this much of a head-start before."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: