So howzit going? I was on the booking committee in 1984 when this madness first started. This weekend I was in Ketchikan, AK, unable to attend … what did I miss?
Lordy, I miss the real ole Sweet Home Chicago blues. Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Big Walter Horton, Hound Dog Taylor. On their home turf.
And KoKo Taylor. Miss her as well.
I went on Saturday. It was mostly cloudy, with quite a bit of mud in the field, but it was still a lot of fun.
They closed the entrance near the Van Buren station (made it “Exit Only” actually) so anyone coming in from the train was funneled directly into the food stands. We usually enter by the Fountain and head into the park from there, so walking directly into commerce was a little jarring, but other than that, it was good.
The bands on Saturday were less Mississippi Mud bluesy, and a little more funky than normal. But excellent musicians all around.
One huge, terrible change - NO MORE FLAGS! We couldn’t fly our Spankfest flag, no Metro flag, no Blues Patrol flag. We’re working on finding out why the change was made and seeing if we can’t get it changed…
Good luck with that, huh? 
As usual, it was too cold and wet to go. I love the Blues Fest, but I wish they would move it to later in the Summer, when Chicago weather has a chance to be tolerable!..TRM
I was not as impressed with the lineup at this year’s Blues Festival so I skipped Saturday’s artists and went and saw The Nicholas Tremulis Orchestra at The Old Town Art Fair.
Ilove the Chicago Blues Festival though this year on Saturday I went and saw The Nicholas Tremulis Orchestra at The Old Town Art Fair.Call it an unfortunate scheduling bloop to have such great artists playing at the same time{one thing that happens all too often in Chicago},But the chance to see the NTO in such an intimate setting was too much to pass up.The boys were instrumental in Koko’s last recording further carrying on Chicago’s blues legacy.