Kick off those winter blues with a weekend of live music and grooving. The Delft Blues Festival 2014 comes to town again on February 14 and 15. This time, over fifty-five shows will be performed across thirty venues – all open to the public for free!
Delen
The theme for year is Blues Divas and celebrates the contribution of women to this genre of music. Three top lining bands at the festival have female vocalists – Bradley Circus, Tangled Eye and Hellhounds – and were invited in keeping with the theme.
“We start off the celebration with the national premier of a film called Blues Diva, which is about women singers in the American blues scene. This is the first time this film will be screened in the Netherlands and we wanted to mark the moment by creating our programme around it,” says John Zwetsloot, programme manager of the festival.
The film will be screened at the Lumen Filmhuis on February 13. Tickets are €9. Shot extensively at the Ground Zero Blues Club (co-owned by Morgan Freeman), it features eight blues women from Deborah Coleman and Irma Thomas to Renee Austin.
Bands include Willie B & the Blue Sparrows, 69 Comeback, 12 Bar Grooves, Paul Chevrolet & His Rocking Cadillacs. You can find a live performance at pretty much every corner in town – from Het Proeflokal and De Wijnhaven to De Kerk, De Waag and Plan B.
Besides the performances, there are special side events- which include a workshop on playing the Blues Harp (€15) and a maste rclass on the Blues Guitar (€10). There’s also a session on Blues Poetry and a quiz to wrap it all up.
Now in its 11th year, the festival has expanded from a much smaller programme. Today it is one of the most coveted events on the local calendar. “Every year 15,000 to 20,0000 visitors attend the Delft Blues Festival. It is among the first such festivals in the year and that really increases the number of people who attend,” adds Zwetsloot.
What: Delft Blues Festival
When: February 14 to 15
Entry: Free
Comments are closed.