2010 October

 

ARTISTS APPEARING

Assorted Buskers, Back Porch Band, Blue Touch, C Sharp Blues, Coalhouse Walker Blues Band, Dave Raphael Band, Fabulous Fezheads, Gwyn Ashton's Two Man Blues Army, Hugh Budden, John Crampton, Johnny Sharp, Kevin Brown, Martin Froud, Motel 6, Pete Harris, Robert Hokum Band, Robin Bibi Band, Saiichi Sugiyama Band, Sonny Black, Sons of the Delta, Steve Darrington, The Jawbreakers, The Jives, The Mustangs, The Riotous Brothers, The Riverside Blues Band, and Will Killeen 

COMMENTS

Rob K said...

Read about your festival in the Bournemouth Evening Echo on Saturday night and came on Sunday afternoon for the first time.

We went to the White Swan where Blue Touch were performing, The White Horse for the Jam session with Robin Bibi Band and then the Anchor for the Dave Raphael Band.

What a bloody good afternoon, they were all brilliant and of a very high standard.

Sorry but did not get to see you. We shall definitely be coming back and I will spread the word and hopefully bring friends along with us next time. Next time we will probably come with our caravan and stay for the weekend.

 

4 October 2010 23:46

 

 Paul from Riotous Brothers said...

Just a note to thank you for asking us to play at The Swanage Blues And Roots Festival last weekend. That was our fourth time now and it has truly become a highlight of our year.  

Friday night at The White Swan was very busy and good fun, but yet again the audience at The Ship was amazing! The place was absolutely packed and many people came up to me afterwards and said that they always come and see us. One couple I recognised had come from Devon just to see us.  

So once more we had a blast - and it was a revelation to Mat, our new bass player. Thanks for organising this event and for all the hard work that I know is involved.

 5 October 2010 00:45

 

 Anonymous said...

Dear Steve 

You must be totally shuttered now. Thank you very much for inviting us to play.

 We hope we made customers happy. There was a great atmosphere at all our gigs. Despite the heavy rain, the Saturday gig was packed. There were some serious repeat customers who came to all our gigs! It was a great opportunity to catch up with fellow musos and also to get to know lovely guys like the Back Porch lot. We had a gear trouble and the Back Porch drummer in the audience just turned up with his equipment. Apparently he just went out and fetched it to lend to us seeing that we were having a trouble. What a gentleman. People who work with you regularly seem to be very like you.

 The accommodation was great and you looked after us well. One of the customers asked how we came down to Swanage because he understood that all bands were paid a pretty modest fee. I told him that we loved the spirit of the Swanage festival and considered ourselves to be in partnership with you in contributing to the festival. We felt your warm personality in every venue that we played in.

 We came home happy campers. Thank you.

 From One Of The Many Bands

 5 October 2010 01:01

 

 Les L said...

What a fantastic weekend.All the Bands were brilliant the music was superb.My party thought the Back Porch Band at bar se7en on SUN evening was the highlight of the festival. Kevin Brown at the down town Tea rooms was great,would like to see him again. We would like to thank you for all your great work you put into the festivals and the Sun evenings at se7en.Well done Steve.

5 October 2010 01:24

 

 Anonymous said...

Hi.

Great blues festival. Riotous brothers at The Ship were the highlight. Superb musicianship, great feel good factor. Accomodation (Avon House) excellent. Thanks very much

Peter G

5 October 2010 02:58

 

 Another Peter G said...

This was our first visit to the Festival and what a great time we had. As I didn't know the names of any of the bands it really was pot luck and pot luck didn't let me down!

Thank you C Sharp Blues on Friday at the Ship, Langton and to Will Killeen who I could hear and almost see at the Black Swan on Saturday. This evening was made complete with Robin Bibi Band at the Ship. Sunday was a another 'perfect day' steam train to Corfe for Robert Hokum and back to the Grand for the Steve Darrington All Stars. It was all over too soon. What talent and what fun. Thanks Stevie D I'll be back

5 October 2010 05:45

 

 Maureen S. said...

Thanks Steve again for another fabulous array of music. Loved every minute of it, in particular The Robin Bibi Band (of course, and don't they work hard!), The Riotous Brothers, Saiichi Sugiyama Band, Motel 6, Robert Hokum Band, C Sharp Blues, The Mustangs, Dave Raphael Band, the whole of The White Horse Jam, and .... I could go on and on! BUT I loved discovering Gwyn Ashton's Two Man Blues Army and hope very, very much that they are back next March. They were perfect for The East Bar. Can't wait to see them again.

5 October 2010 08:28

 

 Ed said...

Steve, Another great festival, thanks from myself and the other Jawbreakers, we had a fantastic time! The management and staff art both Bar Se7en and The Ship have our thanks as well, we were right royally looked after. Huge thanks to The Bucketeers - stars, all of them. We managed to catch some of The Riotous Brothers, Robert Hokum and, of course, some your set on Saturday evening - Top Stuff! Looking forward to next year already,

thanks

Ed and the other Jawbreakers

5 October 2010 09:14

 

 Anonymous said...

What a great weekend! I relax and forget the woes of everyday life, sit back and listen to some truly great music. If I fancy something different, I can just move on to the next pub. The only restriction is the amount of space inside each venue.

This is what music is all about. Don't change a thing, I'll be back next time for more!

6 October 2010 00:08

 

 Alan from Blue Touch said...

Well Steve, you did it again! Congratulations on another successful festival ;-) Just a quick thank you from everyone in Blue Touch to you and of course to all the people that came to see us at The White Swan and The Anchor on sunday. What a great way to spend a weekend!

6 October 2010 02:30

 

 Riverside Blues Band said...

Hi Steve and thanks for having Riverside Blues Band back at the festival. We got the impression that overall numbers were slightly down (Economic climate? Actual climate?) but the town was surely much busier than any other on the south coast on a rainy October weekend and in some respects the manic nature of some of the venues was calmed a little by the reduced pressure of numbers!People could actually get in and reach the bar to buy drinks!  

Having said that, we didn't notice a drop in the enthusiasm and friendliness of the Friday night crowd at the Anchor - it really is a pleasure to play for a welcoming and knowledgeable audience. Perhaps the change in the scheduling with fewer gaps (especially in the early evening when we have previously found ourselves at a loose end, now it's a problem deciding when to eat!) has spread the attendees out more. Either way, we prefered the new setup.

As usual we played at the open mics and the blues jams which were as popular as ever - as a performer the response you can get here is hard to beat!

We played at The White Swan on Saturday and again we had a great time. Many people were extravagant in their praises and it really makes you feel quite humble (well, nearly...)

We're really looking forward to coming back in March ....

7 October 2010 12:23

  

Sue said...

Fabulous festival, thanks for all your hard work. Looking forward to 2011.

9 October 2010 02:37

 

MF said...

For years we had greater family members join us in Swanage from London just down the M3 for the seaside holiday in Carnival Week. Now they are all grown. After getting a taste for quality LIVE music this year, several family members booked into a B&B and came to your well organized Blues Festival. We saw John Crampton, Saiichi Sugiyama, the Fez group, all in their different ways brilliant. The Jawbreakers were also very good. We put more than a couple pounds each time, where PERHAPS we would not have queued for a ticket event. One of my brother in laws came straight back to London, to You Tube them all.

Well done, and another in June now, even better.

9 October 2010 05:03

 

clive.harris said...

Hi Steve,

Thanks again for a great weekend. Our thanks to all the venues, who looked after us. The audiences were as usual, knowledgable and receptive and and up for a good time. We even managed to see you at the end! The bucketeers all done a great job! We just love it!

Hope to see you in March.

Back Porch

11 October 2010 03:18

 

 Graeme said...

Another amazing weekend. I will be back next year. I uploaded a few videos onto YouTube just search "Swanage Blues 2010" - I hope they bring back some good memories and bring a smile to your face.

17 October 2010 13:05

 

 Graeme said...

Another great weekend. Highlights for me were The Riotous Brothers in The Ship and Blue Touch in The Anchor. Also enjoyed seeing some other bands for the first time namely,Saiichi Sugiyama Band, C# Blues and Gwyn Ashton's Two Man Blues Army.

I've posted a few videos on YouTube - just search for Swanage Blues 2010 - hope you enjoy them and they bring back some happy memories of a great weekend.

17 October 2010 14:28

 

AM said...

Please put me on the mailing list. I attended in Oct 2010 and plan to return in March 2011

18 October 2010 22:59

 

 GS said...

I've been to Swanage many times, as a friend of mine works at a local hotel and have been coming down for over 20 years. A great festival, enjoyed it immensely and will be down in March next year.

18 October 2010 23:02

 

G and A said...

We thoroughly enjoyed the Swanage Blues Festival recently. Thanks for all the hard work you put in to make it a success.

18 October 2010 23:18

 

TN said...

We visit Swanage most weekends and have attended the last few festivals, we really enjoyed watching The Riotous Brothers this year it was a good day out. We are already looking forward to the March festival.

21 October 2010 03:13

 

MG said...

Great festival....very well organised. I came across the festival details following a general internet search for blues music/festivals. This was my first visit and I will definitely come again....possibly even take part in the open mic session.

26 October 2010 17:35

 

TR said...

We went to the festival, it was brilliant! It was great to hear real musicians playing real music.. simply great. Unfortunately, couldn't attend the finale but we did manage to get to most of the High Street pubs & soak up the talent.

29 October 2010 06:12

 

TW said...

Loved the Swanage Blues festival - thank you so much for organising it all. Just an idea - we were really keen to buy t-shirts as a memento of the weekend and every helper we asked said they were not for sale. We were a group of 15 and I know we would all have bought one if it had been possible so maybe next year you could print a few extra to sell and it would all add to the money you raise. I think people would pay 5 or 6 pounds? Many thanks again and we look forward to coming next year

29 October 2010 06:14

 

Organiser said...

We've looked into selling tee shirts and other merchandise during the festivals, but it's so difficult without a permanent base, shop or office to work from. Anybody who is interested is welcome to contact me and I will advise them what's available to buy outside of festival time.

29 October 2010 06:16

 

MF said...

Our first visit to the Swanage Blues festival. We really enjoyed it. Standout for us was the Saiichi Sugiyama Band. We saw them Sunday afternoon at Bar Se7en. We also enjoyed Blue Touch later in the afternoon at the white Swan.

29 October 2010 06:18

 

MS said...

Hello Steve, First a massive thank you for organising this October's Festival. I feel it might have been the best yet in terms of music, although I have a feeling there were less people about so that might not be true in terms of money collected. However the Bucketeers seemed to be in greater evidence so that was good.

My main reason for writing is to say that Gwyn Ashton's Two Man Blues Army were fantastic!! Is there any chance they could come back next year please!! Thanks again.

29 October 2010 06:19

 

Bob said...

What a great time I had at the October festival. I made special effort to get around, to see new bands that I had not previously seen. The open mic sessions and the Robin Bibi Jam sessions were a blast and despite my personal virgin fears, I gave it a go.

The venues and other festival goers were fantastic, this visit, I was on my own, but everywhere I went, I ended up chatting to lots of different people, who were all out to enjoy the music.

I have already booked accommodation for March 2011 and congratulations for all the hard work and long may it last.

17 November 2010 05:12

 

 

Festival Organiser Steve Darrington thanks: