H.R.H. Blues fest

This is a weekend long event, but as we had wanted to be at the Nathaniel Rateliff gig last night we only attended today.

King King were headlining, but the artists that we saw through the afternoon were all very good. As we walked in someone said “ they were awesome “ ... pity we missed Catfish then, as next on was Chris Antonik, who didn’t really hit the spot for me. However, a band from Sweden, Pontus Snibb’s Wreck Of Blues were good.

When Geoff Achison came on I realised why I recognised his name as we’d seen him doing an acoustic set in Australia last year.

I’d heard good things about Ben Poole and wasn’t disappointed. I’ll be looking out for him again when he tours nearby.

The penultimate act was the Stevie Nimmo Trio, plus One, with Dave Devlin stepping in to help. Stevie’s broken arm is still not fixed well enough for him to play guitar for the whole set, although he did manage a couple of numbers.

I’d been standing at the front with fellow KK lovers for 7 hours, whilst Sav and our 2 gig mates that had come with us wandered about and even managed to find the second stage where they also watched some great music. When King King came on, they made us forget all about tired legs and were allowed back on for an encore ( everyone else had been on a strict schedule ), with Stevie Nimmo, who is the big brother of King King’s singer, Alan. This is always a popular move, the King King family love having both boys up on stage together.

These indoor festivals are a great idea. Not dependant on the weather, no tents ( we didn’t need accommodation, but hotel packages were available ), clean toilets and a smaller attendance figure, so no problem to be separated from your friends. I’m going to the Download rock festival in a couple of months - outdoor, huge attendance, lots of stages ... let’s hope the phone reception is good, as I’m bound to get lost!

Extras: Geoff Achison, Dave Devlin, Stevie Nimmo, King King with Stevie, Ben Poole