Our review of the festival

This review appeared in Blues Matters! Magazine

ORKNEY BLUES FESTIVAL
Friday, 21st September Sunday, 23rd September 2007
The weekend showcased eight artistes from The Orkney Islands and mainland Scotland. Seven venues across the island hosted the festivities with the centre of the action at the Stromness Hotel, The Ferry Inn and the Royal Hotel in the port of Stromness. We decided to base ourselves at the Stromness Hotel where we would get to see almost all of the bands and the grand finale on Sunday evening.
The Friday evening stint began with a laid back acoustic session from Bluebelly. Duo Dougie Burns and Bobby McDonald who hail from Inverness played original numbers with a strong Delta feel. Their contrasting song writing styles covered a variety of subjects from lust and hard drinking to Armageddon. Bobby switched from Double Bass midway through the set to demonstrate some neat slide guitar playing and they went down well with the audience. We particularly liked ‘Blues In My Soul’ from their album “Bluebelly”.
Next up were Blues On Tap from Perth. They had our feet tapping from the off with their brand of Rock - Blues and it wasn’t long before the dance floor filled with bodies. They had everything that you could possibly want for a cracking night of entertainment with Joe Irvine and Gog Cummings providing a driving rhythm section behind jousting guitarists Andy Telford and Stewart Methven (and some stunning vocals from Laura Boyd). The set list included a contrast in styles with ‘Before You Accuse Me’, ‘Hideaway’ and ‘Little Wing’. Laura was especially impressive with Koko Taylor’s ‘Leave My Man Alone’.
Son Henry is an Alaskan now living in Scotland and is a virtuoso of the lap steel guitar but also has an assorted collection of bruised and battered acoustics that he has picked up over the years that he plays masterfully in a wide variety of styles. We last saw him along with his band at last years Burnley festival but solo with an intimate audience he really came into his own. His knack for holding an audience with his storytelling reflected in his song writing.
Blue Rooster are the cream of the Orkney Isles. A powerhouse trio of experienced musicians formed just weeks before and making their debut at the festival with Ian Cooper on Guitar and Vocals, John Adams on Bass and Pete Phillips on Drums. They played a mixture of Blues Rock covers from Cream and Hendrix and a variety of Chicago Blues standards, at times giving the numbers their own stamp and at other times only a different phrasing on a lyric reminding the listener that they weren’t listening to the original.
The After Hours Blues Revue hail from the Caithness area of North Scotland, a ten piece band with horns and guitars. The revue format led to a varied set list ranging through Blues, Soul, 60s and retro tunes. For the first few numbers Pam Sinclair featured on lead vocal, her voice giving a 1940’s radio big band feel to the songs. Bettine MacKay fronted the band for some of the later numbers and the dynamic switched to more soulful overtones. They covered a broad spectrum of classics including ‘The Sky Is Crying’, ‘Finger Popping’, ‘Rescue Me’ and ‘Nadine’.
Sunday afternoon’s session featured local band Smokestack 45, definitely one for the purists, down and dirty blues played with passion. Five extremely competent musicians featuring vocalist Keith Gooch, harmonica Mike Fairbairn, Adam Clarkson and Robert Macgregor on guitars and Kenny Pirie on drums. Keith’s vocals were perfectly suited to Chicago Blues and Mike was pretty impressive on Slim Harpo’s ‘Shake Your Hips’.
The Sunday evening finale took place in the function room of Stromness Hotel, in our opinion a far more suitable venue than the bar/restaurant that had been used throughout the weekend. It was opened by Orkney band Mean Business ripping through some Blues standards such as ‘Stormy Monday’ and ‘Walking’ and covers from the likes of Cream and ZZ Top with lead guitarist John Pettigrew playing some excellent licks. Unfortunately vocalist Walter Gorman’s throat started to give way a few numbers into the set, which was cut short. A shame because we liked what we heard.
Gerry Jablonski is a veteran of Orkney festivals and somewhat of a hero with the Islanders, practically everyone that we met over the weekend told us that “he just had to be seen to be believed”. He came on stage with just an acoustic guitar and within minutes he sounded like a complete band. His secret was a foot pedal that he used to continually sample and overlay guitar phrases building up a wall of sound. He mostly played his own material and the sensitivity of the lyrics was in stark contrast to his zany high-energy performance. He ended the set with a superb version of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway To Heaven’
After their fantastic set on Friday evening, Blues On Tap were a great choice to close the festival which they did in style even better than previously. Gerry and his partner Kate Strang joined them on stage for a few numbers and the whole house rocked as they raised the roof. Don’t underestimate a small island festival; Orkney sure knows how to party!
Tony Winfield & Sue Hickling