Last updated 13:05, Wednesday, 01 October 2008

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Marc Almond, who appeared with Jools Holland at the Maryport Blues Festival

SUNDAY 

THE 10th MARYPORT Blues Festival has drawn to a triumphant close.

Sunday night saw Jools Holland and His Rhythm And Blues Orchestra really get the crowd going in the main marquee with a mix of boogie woogie and blues.

Holland, who told the biggest marquee audience of the weekend that he really enjoyed the Maryport event because of its atmosphere, grinned from ear to ear from the moment he stepped out on stage until the band left the stage after their second encore.

The crowd was in a party mood, thanks in part to electric bluesman Sherman Robertson, who opened the evening session.

But what people were waiting for was Holland and as feel-good tune followed feel-good tune, they weren’t disappointed.

Fantastic musicianship from the orchestra was complemented by the three featured vocalists.

Louise Marshall, Ruby Turner and Marc Almond brought an added depth and soul and Almond’s version of Tainted Love, made famous by him in the 1980s as part of duo Soft Cell, was a fantastic sing-a-long finale to his section of the set.


SATURDAY

THE sun shone as Maryport Blues Festival's second day got underway.

With the main marquee getting over the legendary Chuck Berry’s performance on Friday night, the town trail kicked into full gear.

More than 30 local, national and international acts appeared at 19 venues in Maryport.

Hundreds of people crammed into Senhouse Street, surrounding roads and the harbour area, as they went on the trail.

Highlights included the two outdoor stages, on North Quay and at Maryport Rugby Club, Mealpot Road, which attracted big crowds because of fine weather.

Meanwhile, the main marquee’s first afternoon session of 2008 hosted, for several blues fans, the best act of the festival so far.

Earl Thomas, from the USA, got the crowd jumping with a mix of blues, rock and soul.

During the evening session, tiny Beth Rowley dominated the stage with towering vocals and headliner Jimmie Vaughan, with his Tilt-A-Whirl band, wowed the 1,800-strong crowd and showed his technical ability to the full – playing guitar behind his head.

FRIDAY 

MARYPORT’S 10th blues festival got off to a successful start last night in the main marquee.

About 2,000 people packed into the tent at the town’s Netherhall Rugby Club to hear headliner Chuck Berry prove you’re never too old for rock ‘n’ roll.

The festival was opened by local act The Evidence, who won a battle of the bands competition for the privilege.

The six-piece band – three of whom are headteachers in West Cumbria – got the party going with a mix of rhythm and blues and newer material form bands like The Killers.

Alex Wilkinson, head of Fairfield Junior School in Cockermouth, said they were delighted to be playing to the biggest audience of their career and being on the same bill as the legendary Chuck Berry.

Alex, who plays the saxophone and guitar, said: “We weren’t suffering from stage fright, we were looking forward to playing. The audience was amazing and it was great to get that support.”

They were followed by all-female group Little Jenny and the Blue Beans, from Scandinavia, and Alvin Youngblood Hart.

But what the crowd were waiting for was Chuck Berry. In fact, Frank Scott, 59, of Rannerdale Drive, Whitehaven had been waiting about 45 years to see one of his musical heroes.

He said he wanted to see the rock ‘n’ roll legend in the 1960s but his mother wouldn’t let him go because he was too young and he’d been waiting ever since.

Berry wandered on stage about 30 minutes before his 11pm start time. Despite his microphone not working during the first song and the band being dressed in their “street clothes” because they lost two suitcases between Dublin and Manchester, he appeared in a chirpy mood.

The 81-year-old father of rock ‘n’ roll asked for the lights to be turned off because they were too hot and he and his band – including son Chuck Berry Junior on guitar and daughter Ingrid Berry-Clay on vocals and harmonica – appeared to be tuning up before the show was kicked off properly.

This included a sing-along version of his novelty hit My Ding-A-Ling and C’est La Vie, made famous in film Pulp Fiction, but his short set omitted Johnny B Goode.

His last number involved several members of the audience getting up on stage to dance with the band, including Jackie Clemence, of Seaton, near Workington.

She said: “It was fantastic and strange to be asked up on stage with the band and I really enjoyed the experience. It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

The only trouble in the marquee arose when two women began to fight but police intervened quickly and took them outside.

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