Juniper Hill Blues Band, Burnley National Blues Festival, 25-27 March 2005

Temporarily four middle aged men but still in search of a dream

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Foreplay

The odyssey started as so many do with the M6 and with a number of loyal fans, we headed north.

So what is the Burnley National Blues Festival ? Well have a look yourself. Basically its wonderful, its been going for 18 years and its had some of the all-time blues greats playing there ................... and now us. All this and meat and potato pies and just a short distance away, the Bacup Brittania Coconut Dancers, who else ? We were scheduled to play on Saturday night in Oliver's Bar so Friday night was nominally just for settling in.

Some settling in. A lady called Anna (insert Balkan name which I forget) played some stunning guitar but then kind of ruined it by sitting on the edge of the stage, switching the guitar off and miming for a number of photographers for some time whilst the audience sat there like lemons - not very professional.

The next act was however breathtaking when a large lady sang with a large voice and then, wait for it, played the Hammond Organ with her, er, well, er, tits. Needless to say, nothing like this had been seen in Burnley since the town hall fell in the canal.

The highlight of the evening was when the author of this diary had his bottom felt by two ladies clearly having trouble with their eyesight.

Note that the band was down to four for the evening because "Desperate" Don Stuart our sax-man unfortunately had to be in Whitley Bay or somewhere on the Sunday so was unable to join us.

Saturday night with da blues

The band put together a 90 minute set for our slot at 6pm and for a special treat, Les attempted to find out who wrote the various covers that we play. This all went swimmingly until it came to "Do you ever wake up in the morning". Just try typing this into a web-browser. One of the main entries which comes back is an alien abduction site and apparently if you wake up in the morning with your genitals unusually sore, this is a sure-fire way of telling whether you have been abducted by aliens. This will come as some considerable reassurance to young adults all around the world who are clearly being abducted many times a week. Those were the days.

Oliver's Bar, 6pm, 26-Mar-2005
On your marks ......
Rock Me Baby
Colin drumming up a storm and wondering if he's packed his toothpaste
A bass man in a contemplative mood
Quick check to make sure the crowd are still there
Jerry letting rip with the Roland glued to the Hammond B3 sound. Oooohhhhh.
Help Me Baby
The roar of the greasepaint
Finale

Aftermath

So its back to the day jobs again, another festival over and already looking forward to the next one.

From the Juniper Hill Blues Band, http://www.juniperhillblues.co.uk/ to all our fans. Hi Mum.


9th April, 2005.