Review: Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival, Colne (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Review: Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival, Colne

10:10am Tuesday 31st August 2010 in Pendle By John Anson, Features editor

THOUSANDS of music fans descended on Colne for the 21st annual Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival this weekend.

If you were putting together a fantasy festival line-up to represent the best of British R&B from the past 30 years, Friday night’s opening night at Colne would come pretty close.

Sure, the quartet of bands on offer have all appeared at the festival several times before, but this familiarity leads to absolute enjoyment rather than contempt.

The Hamsters are known as one of the country’s hardest working bands and spending most of the year on the road they are an incredibly tight outfit.

This powerhouse trio certainly were the perfect openers for a Bank Holiday weekend full of live music and the Muni was bursting at the seams.

With a set ranging from their own material to superbly realistic Hendrix and ZZ Top covers, the Hamsters launched into a hour-long set which set the benchmark for he rest of the night.

If anything the international stage venue became even more crowded for the arrival of Dr Feelgood.

Widely acknowledged as one of the most influential British bands – and clearly undergoing a resurgence in popularity following the excellent Oil City Confidential documentary – there was a keen sense of anticipation in the air.

If any young band was looking for tips on how to work a festival stage the Feelgoods put on a mini masterclass on Friday night.

Frontman Robert Kane was the puppetmaster, involving the audience and showing Jagger-esque swagger as he pranced around stage.

And guitarist Steve Walwyn, complete with massive Peter Withe-style sweatband, crunched his way through riff after riff.

All the classis were there including Roxette, Down at the Doctors, She Does It Right and Milk and Alcohol and the energy was formidable.

For an encore Dennis Greaves of Nine Below Zero was brought on to spearhead a twin guitar attack on a raucous Route 66.

A quick change of clothes (and out of the Hush Puppies) and Greaves was back with his own band.

Again after over 30 years on the road, Nine Below Zero are another band who show no signs of slowing down and for Colne they put on a perfect party set.

Among their own songs we had covers of the Four Tops, Bad Company and even a loose version of Let’s Twist Again.

With ex-Rory Gallagher bassist Gerry McAvoy trading licks with Greaves and Mark Feltham’s harmonica soaring above them both, NBZ were a true class act.

With the witching hour approaching it was left to Eddie and the Hotrods to bring the curtain down on the first night of the four-day event.

And the second night proved just as big a hit, with all three of the main venues full to capacity.

The town had a party atmosphere with hundreds of people lining the streets.

Having swapped flowers in her hair for a leather jacket and electric guitar, Sandi Thom kicked off the Saturday evening at the International Stage.

Playing to a sell-out crowd, she performed a set which included a blues version of her hit song I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair) as well as House of the Rising Sun.

On the British stage, up-and-coming blues star Chantel McGregor wowed the audience with her guitar skills, playing her own songs and finishing with a cover of the Jimi Hendrix classic Voodoo Chile.

Chantel said: “The Chicago Acoustic Blues Session on Friday was absolutely superb and Sandi Thom on Saturday night was class.”

Late replacement she may have been, but Imelda May made a stunning impact on the Monday night.

The Muni crowd took her and her band to their hearts and were wowed by the stage presence and power of a singer who, if their is any justice in the music world, deserves to be a major star.

Those who like to label everything will class Imelda May as rockabilly but she has so much more to offer.

Given a little more stage time than some bands over the festival, she certainly put it to good use showcasing new songs from her forthcoming album Mayhem as well as rolling out a number from her debut CD Love Tattoo.

Among the new songs Eternal, a terrifying Psycho and the current single Mayhem all stood out.

To see a band in their prime clearly enjoying themselves on stage is a real treat and guitarist Darrel Higham, bassist Al Gare, Dave Priseman on trumpet and Steve Rushton on drums all contributed massively to making this a show to remember.

Steve Rushton, who was making a return to his home town, was a constant blur behind the kit.

If Animal from the Muppets ever needs someone to dep for him, then Steve’s the man.

But the centre of attention was the charismatic Ms May.

A rendition of I’m So Sad reduced a crowded Muni to library like silence and a raucous Johnny’s Got a Boom Boom then brought the crowd to a frenzy.

We were even treated to a couple of encore’s included a rocking version of Tainted Love.

There were some fine performances during the four day Colne festival, but none will have bettered Imelda May’s.

With acts of this quality putting on shows of this quality, it is no wonder Colne has become one of THE dates in the music calendar.

Click on the link below for our photo gallery from the festival.