Review

Review 1st Newark Blues Festival

12th September 2009

The beautiful ruins of Newark Castle provided the backdrop for the main stage of the 1st Newark Blues Festival, whilst fringe events took place at various venues around the town. We weren't able to attend the full weekend, but Saturday night at the Castle was a treat. The grounds were neatly laid out with the stage at the far end, and a collection of food vendors and the bar truck at the back, leaving plenty of space for deckchairs, picnics and dancing. The sound, lighting and organisation was excellent and the whole event was very well thought out.

First up for the evening was local band Unusual Suspects. A capable 4 piece with a horn, they provided a varied set of covers including numbers from Dr Feelgood and Eric Clapton. An enjoyable foot tapping start to the evening's entertainment.

Another local band Stormy Monday followed, a five piece outfit with keyboard, offering a choice collection of covers and some excellent own material. Part way through the set they introduced a 3 piece horn section, and the band was popular and very well received by the appreciative crowd.

As darkness fell the ruins were lit by subtle lighting effects which provided a wonderful atmosphere. By now the audience were in party mood, and the Oli Brown Band took to the stage with their brand of jazzy funky rocking blues. We last saw these guys at the Leicester Blues Festival last year, and we were impressed by the more mature, confident and relaxed performance since then. A classy set with some super guitar work and self penned material, and a couple of covers thrown in for good measure, including 'Complicated' with nice harmonies from the bass player, 'Everyday I Have The Blues', Stone Cold' and an encore of 'Black Betty'. I'm sure these guys will appear in Newark again before long as they scored a great hit with the crowd.

King King set the night on fire as they blazed into the finale with a superb set of one great song after another. The dance floor buzzed as they rocked through numbers including 'Good Time Charlie' and 'Heart Without A Soul', and Alan Nimmo held the audience in his hand with the classic 'Feels Like Rain'. A brilliant performance by the whole band.

Our only regret is that we didn't spend the entire weekend in Newark sampling the rest of the fantastic entertainment on offer.

Well done Newark, here's to next year's festival.

Sue Hickling