tenby blues festival

Tenby Blues Festival

Hot on the heels of the Boia Festival was the long running Tenby Blues Festival. As usual there were some great acts there playing on the big stage in the De Valence Pavilion and also in pubs and hotels around the picturesque town of Tenby. It brings a good vibe to the town with music spilling out of venues on the Blues Trail and the main hall always packed out for the headliners. A few acts in the pics below including The Cadillac Kings, The Zac Schulze Gang, Kara Grainger, Southern Fried Groove Queens, Martin Harley, Guy Davis and closing the weekend; Dana Gillespie.

Tenby Blues Festival 2018

At the weekend I had the pleasure of being the official photographer for the annual Tenby Blues Festival. Over the three days the daily Blues Trail has a timetable of acts playing in local pubs, restaurants and hotels before the main evening events take place in the De Valence Pavilion. The festival has been going for over a decade now but this was my first time sampling it. It’s always great to see high quality acts in Pembrokeshire especially when they have made the effort to come from another continent to get here and this year, Malcolm, Chris and the rest of the team put together a great lineup. Here’s some shots of the weekend… and you know me, I couldn’t resist popping out to get a shot of the sunset on a beautiful Sunday night in Tenby.

Dave Arcari kicked things off single handed on Friday night with a high energy show…

“Dave plays like he got his skin turned inside out and pretty soon my skin was inside out too listening and it was all good. That boy bleeds for you – he a real down deep player and a soul man…”  Seasick Steve

Afterwards The Paul Garner Band from London took to the stage and the night was rounded off with some groovy blues from Lighnin’ Willie and the Poorboys.

Saturday night kicked off with Husky Tones , the duo creating a fantastic sound with guitar, stand up drums and vocals. The British blues legend, Eddie Martin followed with his band before The Reverend Shawn Amos brought the night to a close with a sensational show.

The audience on Sunday night were given a real treat with Jodie Marie and Bella Collins teaming up to produce what was for me, the standout performance of the weekend. A spine tingling set made all the more amazing for the fact that they’d barely played together. That’s chemistry I guess. The result was sublime and had the audience on their feet at the end. They made way for Catfish which was a change of pace before the night and the weekend was brought to a close by the soulful voice of Kyla Brox and her band.

A great weekend of music and a festival that is well worth checking out. A good excuse for a November trip to Tenby.

Look out for tickets for next years event https://www.tenbyblues.co.uk/