Apr

29

12 Bar Blues Festival: Spring and Airbrake

April 29, 2008 |

12 Bar Blues Festival: Spring and AirbrakeBlues aficionados, lovers of good live music, and those who remember The Maritime, Club Rado, The Marquee, and the Astor Ballroom should set some time aside for the upcoming 12 Bar blues Festival @ the Spring and Airbrake (May 9-10). The festival is the brainchild of Rab Braniff, president of The Belfast Blues Society and an accomplished vocalist and harp player in his own right. Rab’s idea was to pay homage to Belfast’s musical heritage, before the troubles, when the aforementioned clubs featured artists who went on to achieve rock star status on the world stage. Van Morrison, Rory Gallagher, Gary Moore, Henry McCullough and Eric Bell were amongst those who trod the boards of these clubs in their heyday. Rab himself played with a band called The Aztecs back then. Some of the other artists that era who will feature over this weekend event are Billy McCoy (ex Just Us), Paul Divito (ex Interns) and Devogue McClean (ex Mad Lads).

Rab would also like anyone who has photographs of the bands from the old days to get in touch: he would like to collate these, produce a book to be published in aid of charity, and preserve that time for those who enjoyed the Belfast beat scene of the mid 1960’s. Please e-mail UlsterMusic.com if you have any material which may be of interest and UM shall pass the details on to the man himself.

The weekend line up is as follows:

Friday, May 9

8.45pm: The Ultimate Blues Band
10.00pm The Ronnie Grear Band
11.20pm The Henry McCullough Band

Sat May 10th - afternoon

2.15 The Gregg Coyle Band
3.20 The Mike Wilgar Band
5.20 The Roy Fulton Band

Sat, May 10 - evening

8.45pm The Maritime Blues Band with Paul Divito
10.05pm The Rab McCullough band (with Rab Braniff on harp and vocals)
11.20pm The Don Baker Blues Band

Tickets are £22 for weekend pass; £12.50 for Friday session, £3.00 for Saturday afternoon, and £15.00 for Saturday evening session. See you there!


Comments

1 Comment so far

  1. Elizabeth on May 14, 2008 12:20 am

    Hi there - my friend and i were big fans of the Interns and followed them everywhere - i still have some photos and their record “crying time” - we were very disappointed that we couldnt get to see the Maritime blues band last weekend - we remember Vinty, Nicko, Roy Abbott, Billy Williamson very well and would appreciate any up to date information and where we could go sometime in the future to see the maritime blues band - many thanks ! Elizabeth

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

Speak your mind



Featured Downloads



Featured Album



Featured Book

"MY SONG GOES ROUND THE WORLD" the book about Co. Tyrone lyricist Jimmy Kennedy, writer of "Red Sails in the Sunset", "The Teddy Bears' Picnic", "South of the Border"...