The last day at Café Rene’s outdoor stage, beer tent and BBQ was crowded with blues fans, both local and from the wider area, on a very warm and sunny day.
First up we had Gloucester based band Sons of the Delta, formed by two of the top bluesmen in the South West, Mark Cole and Rick Edwards. They play a no-nonsense blend of electric and acoustic blues including occasional sidesteps into other American roots styles such as gospel, hillbilly, bluegrass, cajun and texmex.
They gave us a storming set of blues tunes including “13 Questions”, a Jimmy Reed song “Standing on the Edge”, and then a Buddy Holly song “Love too far gone”.
Next to finish the set we had one of their own songs from the Tasty Nuggets album “Too Little too Late”
After a break for setup, we had the Bristol 7-piece band Victoria Klewin and the True Tones on stage. They played a blend of blues, jazz and soul songs with strong female lead vocals from Victoria. They included some of their own songs as well as classics re-mastering into their own unique style.
The set included their own song “Work it Out”, ‘Love Me Like a Woman” by Bonnie Raitt, another of their own songs “Can’t Help Myself” and “Grover Night”. They finished with a Stevie Ray Vaughan number “Pride and Joy” and a very blues version of the Hendrix classic “All Along the Watchtower”.
Next up to an ever larger audience (enjoying the beer and food) was The Blue Horizon from Weston-Super-Mare. They are a blues / rock function band, primarily performing as a trio, covering artists such as Cream / Eric Clapton, Peter Greens Fleetwood Mac, Rory Gallagher, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, as well as old blues classics from the greats!
They included in their set “Me and My Troubles Baby”, Hendrix’s “Hey Joe”, “Got to Do” and “Pretty Mama”.
Then the enigmatic Bristol based Lewis Creaven and his band took to the stage. The band featured classics from artists such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, Robben Ford, Lenny Kravitz, Bad Company and many others, all done in their own unique high energy style. The set included the Hendrix classic “Still Waiting”.
Over at The historic New Inn the Simon Watts Trio were entertaining the crowds with their strong keyboard and guitar sounds, including some Booker T and the MGs songs including the classic “Green Onions”.
Back at the Café Rene the final two acts featured firstly the emerging young talent of Ben Poole with his great fleet fingered guitar and vocal sounds with rave reviews from the likes of Jeff Back, Gary Moore and Bernie Torme.
Ben had played at the Glastonbury festival this year as well as a range of gigs in Europe, including the Suwalki Blues Festival in Poland.
Then to headline we had the winner of the Young British Blues Artist of the Year 2014 award Laurence Jones from Shipston-on-Stour.
He was excited to announce that he was invited to play two nights at the Carnegie Hall in New York as part of the Leadbelly Fest 7th & 8th December 2015.
His set included “Southern Breeze”, “Killin Floor” and “What’s it Gonna Be” to wild dancing and applause from the crowds.
So that was another great 9 day Gloucester Rhythm and Blues Festival finished with 2016 planning already under way.
