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Take Your Pick - Dereham Blues Festival      James A Oliver and The Toby Lee Band Dereham Blues Festival 10th Anniversary Opening Show 2024 - 10th July 2024 Dereham Memorial Hall  "It was in tune when I bought it" James A Oliver, never a dull moment. Dereham Blues Festival kicked off, clashing with England’s Euros match against the Netherlands, on a warm, humid July day, perfect for wallowing in a bluesy mood.     I made it into my seat just after James A. Oliver’s band were hitting their straps. I wish I had been on time. This guy is non-stop entertainment.  What a performer and such fun!  I am sorry to have even missed a minute of his set. Oliver asked if there were any Welsh in the hall, but that was met with an embarrassed silence and a disappointed “Oh!” from Mr Oliver.  In his oversized black suit, Oliver gives the appearance of a mild-mannered science teacher, who has stepped out of his classroom to entertain the staff with h...

The Big Gig Santiago & The Soulmovers and Mississippi MacDonald Dereham Memorial Hall, Saturday  25 th  May 2024 Santiago & The Soulmovers, Dereham Memorial Hall. (c)CLP   Absolutely chucking it down.  Branches breaking under the combined weight of foliage and very heavy rain.  Perfect for the drive out through flooding, via a phantom road diversion, to Dereham for an evening of blues.   Arriving slightly frazzled by the evening’s journey, I really needed to hear something to relax me, soothe my worried mind and slow me down.  Thankfully, I found it within the comforting confines of Dereham’s picture-book Memorial Hall.   Mississippi MacDonald strolled on stage in a classic black showman’s suit with shiny seams, with mighty fancy lapels, wide as a Concorde delta wing and just as aerodynamic.  He strapped on his Fender CS ’61 as he greeted the audience with a Londoner’s  “Good evening, ladies’n’gennelmen. ...

The Big Gig: Santiago and The Soulmovers with Mississippi MacDonald At the Dereham Memorial Hall,  Saturday 25 th   May 2024  Doors at 19:00h Show Starts 20:00h Tickets £17 each Presented by Norfolk Blues Society  Every blues and music fan in the country, will be crossing off the weeks until the 10 th   Dereham Blues Festival  that runs 10 th   / 11 th   / 12 th   / 13 th   and 14 th   July, but for me that seems a way off yet.    So, this  weekend, on Saturday 25 th   May , to help keep everyone going and to give a foretaste of what's to come, the Norfolk Blues Society has laid on the Big Gig at the Dereham Memorial Hall . A thriller of a double bill of blues is lined up, with Santiago and The Soulmovers and Mississippi MacDonald .   Santiago and his compadres, The Soulmovers, Juan Gasco (drums) and Thanos Papageorgiou (bass) went down an absolute storm at the 2023 Dereham Blues Festival and are comin...

Free yourself up for The Summer Time Blues Dereham Blues Festival 2024 Wednesday 10th, Thursday 11th, Friday 12th, Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th July, 2024   Dereham   town centre  is  home to one of the UK’s very best music festivals.     Wander freely from FREE gig to FREE gig around the compact old market town.     The music is FREE in the local pubs and clubs (NO muddy fields)! If you've never been to the Dereham Blues Festival, you need to make some space in your diary.  If you have been, you just need to make sure that you do not miss this beefed-up, extra special 10th festival.  It starts on the evening of Wednesday 10 th  July with a ticketed gig and then simply rolls into a four-day weekend of wall-to-wall free blues music. I went last year and it was brilliant!  It is superbly contained  in the tight-knit town and free, apart from a handful of events. All the local pubs and bars support the event and it creates a...