Orkney Blues Weekend 2009

Blues Matters

ORKNEY BLUES FESTIVAL

Friday, 19th – Sunday, 21st September 2007

The weekend showcased eight artistes from The Orkney Islands and mainland Scotland . Seven venues across the island hosted the festivities with the centre of the action at the Stromness Hotel, The Ferry Inn and the Royal Hotel in the port of Stromness . We decided to base ourselves at the Stromness Hotel where we would get to see almost all of the bands and the grand finale on Sunday evening.

The Friday evening stint began with a laid-back acoustic session from Bluebelly. Duo Dougie Burns and Bobby McDonald, who hail from Inverness , played original numbers with a strong Delta feel. Their contrasting songwriting styles covered a variety of subjects from lust and hard drinking to Armageddon. Bobby switched from double bass midway through the set to demonstrate some neat slide guitar playing and they went down well with the audience. We particularly liked ‘Blues In My Soul’ from their album “Bluebelly”.

Next up were Blues On Tap from Perth . They had our feet tapping from the off with their brand of rock-Blues and it wasn’t long before the dance floor filled with bodies. They had everything that you could possibly want for a cracking night of entertainment, with Joe Irvine and Gog Cummings providing a driving rhythm section behind jousting guitarists Andy Telford and Stewart Methven (and some stunning vocals from Laura Boyd). The set-list included a contrast in styles with ‘Before You Accuse Me’, ‘Hideaway’ and ‘Little Wing’. Laura was especially impressive with Koko Taylor’s ‘Leave My Man Alone’.

Son Henry is an Alaskan now living in Scotland and is a virtuoso of the lap steel guitar, but also has an assorted collection of bruised and battered acoustics that he has picked up over the years that he plays masterfully in a wide variety of styles. We last saw him along with his band at last year’s Burnley Blues Festival but solo, with an intimate audience, he really came into his own. His knack for holding an audience with his storytelling reflected in his songwriting.

Blue Rooster are the cream of the Orkney Isles. A powerhouse trio of experienced musicians formed just weeks before and making their debut at the festival with Ian Cooper on guitar and vocals, John Adams on bass and Pete Phillips on drums. They played a mixture of Blues-rock covers from Cream and Hendrix and a variety of Chicago Blues standards, at times giving the numbers their own stamp and at other times only a different phrasing on a lyric – reminding the listener that they weren’t listening to the original.

The After Hours Blues Revue hail from the Caithness area of North Scotland , a ten-piece band with horns and guitars. The revue format led to a varied set-list ranging through Blues, soul, ’60s and retro tunes. For the first few numbers, Pam Sinclair featured on lead vocal, her voice giving a ’40s radio big band feel to the songs. Bettine MacKay fronted the band for some of the later numbers and the dynamic switched to more soulful overtones. They covered a broad spectrum of classics including ‘The Sky Is Crying’, ‘Finger Popping’, ‘Rescue Me’ and ‘Nadine’.

Sunday afternoon’s session featured local band Smokestack 45, definitely one for the purists, down and dirty Blues played with passion. Five extremely competent musicians featuring vocalist Keith Gooch, Mike Fairbairn on harmonica, Adam Clarkson and Robert Macgregor on guitars and Kenny Pirie on drums. Keith’s vocals were perfectly suited to Chicago Blues and Mike was pretty impressive on Slim Harpo’s ‘Shake Your Hips’.

The Sunday evening finale took place in the function room of Stromness Hotel, in our opinion, a far more suitable venue than the bar/restaurant that had been used throughout the weekend. It was opened by Orkney band Mean Business ripping through some Blues standards such as ‘Stormy Monday’ and ‘Walking’ and covers from the likes of Cream and ZZ Top, with lead guitarist John Pettigrew playing some excellent licks. Unfortunately, vocalist Walter Gorman’s throat started to give way a few numbers into the set, which was cut short. A shame because we liked what we heard.

Gerry Jablonski is a veteran of Orkney festivals and somewhat of a hero with the Islanders, practically everyone that we met over the weekend told us that “he just had to be seen to be believed.” He came on stage with just an acoustic guitar and within minutes he sounded like a complete band. His secret was a foot pedal that he used to continually sample and overlay guitar phrases building up a wall of sound. He mostly played his own material and the sensitivity of the lyrics was in stark contrast to his zany high-energy performance. He ended the set with a superb version of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway To Heaven’.

After their fantastic set on Friday evening, Blues On Tap were a great choice to close the festival which they did in style – even better than previously. Gerry and his partner, Kate Strang, joined them on stage for a few numbers and the whole house rocked as they raised the roof. Don’t underestimate a small island festival; Orkney sure knows how to party!

Tony Winfield & Sue Hickling.

The Orcadian

Jablonski gets some new fans at Gable End

The auditorium might not have been full of people, but it was certainly full of sound as Gerry Jablonski took to the stage at the Gable End Theatre on Friday night!

The concert was organised in collaboration with the Orkney Blues Weekend and gave us the chance to see and hear a top musician ahead of his performance in Stromness.

The audience for the first half might have been forgiven for thinking that people could probably hear Gerry Jablonski in Stromness — performers used to large venues are often taken by surprise by our intimate space and perfect acoustics, and it’s a shame that at one stage over-amplification threatened to empty the theatre.

Once this had been sorted, we were treated to a stunning performance by a virtuoso guitar player and passionate singer, whose energy and enthusiasm carried the audience away with him.

If brisk CD sales after the show were anything to go by, he now has some new fans in Hoy.

Organisers pleased with weekend

The second Orkney Blues Weekend was hailed a great success with every style of blues imaginable heard echoing through the walls of the seven venues.

With open jam sessions and more than 20 shows by local and visiting performers in Stromness, Stenness, Holm and Hoy, no blues stone was left unturned over the three-day event.

Returning to Orkney to perform during the weekend were five acts from south, including Son Henry, Gerry Jablonski, Blues On Tap, Bluebelly and the After Hours Blues Review.

Local bands old and new involved this year were Blue Rooster, Mean Business, Smokestack and Ms Noma & Mr Ree.

Thanks to the combined efforts of the Orkney Blues Committee, local businesses, the performers and spectators, the weekend was thoroughly enjoyable.

Lead singer of Mean Buisness and event organiser, Walter Gorman said the committe was very pleased with the second blues weekend.

“We attempted to provide a small but varied selection of blues music events over the three days and with acoustic acts such as Bluebelly and rock-blues act

Blues on Tap, I think we managed to achieve this.

“There was a great buzz around Stromness over the weekend and a great atmosphere in the various venues.”

However, there were still areas that need to be rethought for the future.

As with last year’s event, this was a learning experience for us. If we were to attempt this again next year, there are one or two changes we’d make.

“The timing of certain events needs to be looked at.

“I remain unconvinced that audiences want to listen to a blues rock band over dinner. In some venues it may be more appropriate to host the acoustic acts a little earlier allowing diners to converse with each other whilst of course listening appreciatively to performers.

“Additionally, we will have to look at differentiating between standing and sitting performances for any future event. Not everyone wants to stand, or dance for that matter, and we need to take that into consideration.

“All in all though, the feedback from perfomers, audiences and venues has been very positive and considering that this event is put together by a few willing volunteers I think it’s something to be proud of.

“As for next year, well let’s wait and see!”

The blues weekend committee will be having a meeting on Monday 8th of October at 7.30pm in the Stromness Hotel. Representatives from bands, venues and sponsors are welcome to attend to help make any future event even better than this year’s.