THE celebrations continued as day two of the Great British R 'n' B Festival of blues continued to throw familiar faces and unknowns together. Surprisingly, therefore, music was always the winner and the massed throng witnessed a real treat.

Continuing the wonderful Scottish invasion of La Nimmo Brothers from the previous night, came the sophisticated blues of the Dana Dixon band.

Edinburgh's finest gave the BritStage a gorgeous set of new material and occasional covers and were ultimately joined on stage by American superstar Johnny Marrs to "do a thing in G".

Over at the Crown, Dundee-based Big Girls Blues overcame recent tragedy by producing a fine little 40-minutes worth of music.

Catching the eye as well as the ear on the International Stage was Lowerdown, a young British blues band of immense promise, especially Graham Macy on guitar.

After a blistering set of uncompromising stuff by Aussie axe-man Gwynn Ashton, the unquestionable (and to many surprise) star of this second day burst forth - remember the name Deborah Coleman.

This gap-toothed, slim, guitar-wielding chanteuse brought the house down with an irresistible mix of soul, blues and R'n'B.

Bobby Rush, with all his Botticellian entourage, proved she was a hard act to follow and no amount of James Brown posturing could enhance an entertaining but slightly lack lustre show.

A massively-girthed Chris Farlowe over on the BritStage proved conclusively that he possesses a voice that is hard to fault.

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