PD said:
Just wanted to drop you a line to say thanks for a very well organised festival. I am an SBF newbie and could only stay one night. Even so, it felt like the whole town was behind the festival and everywhere was welcoming and friendly. I only saw a couple of bands, Saiichi Sugiyama band (my main reason for coming down) and the Riverside Blues Band at the Anchor. Both were great, and It would have been nice to have stayed longer. Definitely back in October for the next festival.
It’s disappointing that the money raised was so low. Even £2.00 per person per day would be a significant increase in revenues and keep the whole event viable for you. Although I am a great advocate of free music I do think that at events such as yours there should be some sort of cover charge or way of stopping people freeloading. Would a wrist band type scheme work? The venues and other local businesses could sell the bands and even at £5.00 for the weekend you could afford to give a small portion to the sellers and still generate more cash for the festival itself. I think that most people would be happy to pay £5.00 to keep the festival alive and kicking. Just a thought.
Anyway, I had a great time - So thanks to you, the collectors, the bands, the venues and everyone involved with the Swanage Blues Festival. See you in October.
AF said:
Thanks for another fantastic weekend. Shame the buckets weren't fuller. Two requests: Please get Kris Dollimore back again. Please get Paint It Blue back again and get them to play The Grand or Swanage Bay View. Again many thanks.
ME said:
The weekend was it's usual joyous self. I'm becoming more and more convinced each time that the White Horse jams are the best show in town. Sunday's line up could have toured, the level they were all playing at.
One thing I think I will invest in is electrically heated drawers for busking on the station though.
We're looking at renting one of the flats by the quay next time. Reckon I could get away with busking out of a window and lowering a bucket
Debbie & Trevor:
Hello Steve, just wanted to say what a fantastic weekend at Swanage we (me and the missus) had last weekend. Saw some great bands and the musicianship was once again first class - we've been before. Wanted to give special mention to Pearl Handled Revolver who were brilliant and nearly brought the roof down - not literally of course. They were highly original and I do hope you can get them back for October. It's impossible to see all the acts but we did our best. Others we enjoyed were The Riotous Brothers, The Barcodes, The Dave Raphael Band and Blue Touch. And finally, congratulations to you, for once again organising such a fantastic event and a storming success.
Sue from Stroud:
Well done and thanks Steve for another great festival.
Bob said:
I have just returned home and am absolutely shattered. This festival was flat out trying to get around watching all the old bands any many of the new. Freed and Paint it Blue were for me great, its good to see young people expressing the music, with there own touch. However, I must record a special thank you to both Johnny Sharp at the Open Mic and Robin Bibi at the Jam Sessions who do a fantastic job in keeping these events moving. The atmosphere in many of the venues was fantastic with audiences showing full and raptures appreciation to the bands. It’s great to meet up with past acquaintances and also make new contacts with people who all enjoy the music. Long may it continue great work.
Dave (jump and jive spoons) said:
Just a line to say thanks to you and all the boys and girls who make it happen at the swan age blues weekend , which has now become a highlight of my year along with my other trip to swanage for the jazz festival in summer . I understand that a summer blues festival is being talked of, look forward to that if it happens. So many great bands at this years festival , my own personal favourite band as always goes to the hardest working band of the festival The Jawbreakers who really had the joint jumpin’ every way at the Sunday afternoon session.
Marvellous!!!! Till the next time
DM said:
Just a brilliant weekend - surprise package for me were Pearl Handled Revolver in the White Horse on the Saturday night - awesome band ! Many thanks Steve.
Dick said:
We had a great time at the weekend, thanks for all your hard work.
See you in October I hope !
Gavin R said:
Thank you for a great weekend. 20 people came down, mainly from the London area, and had a great time. Will Killeen was still our favourite. Only one of us wasn't too keen. Other good comments were for Pete Harris, Mustangs (me), the Crows Nest on Saturday evening, and the band on Sat in the Grand were good,
Graham S said:
Hi Steve, Hope you had a good festival despite your toothache. Didnt get chance to see you but just wanted to say well done again another great festival.
Saw 3 great acts on Sunday did the bucketering had a few beers had a lift home what could be better. Hope to see you soon
PS well done Maggie for organising the bucketeers
Les L said:
Once again Steve a brilliant festival, so many great bands it was a hard choice picking which to see.
We managed to get round most of them during the weekend. Swanage owes you a great debt for organising such a great festival Thanks again Steve thanks for all your hard work.
J said:
Thanks so much for a great weekend, really enjoyed Sunday night. Can’t wait for October. Really good to see Pearl Handled Revolver, haven’t seen them for a year and they were much improved. Hope they come back.
Ian, Live Wire said:
Congratulations on another superb event - Thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent there.
Ed & The Jawbreakers said:
Congratulations on yet another stunning Blues weekend. can we just thank you, of course, the Brilliant Bucketeers, the venues and especially The Ship whose staff were Heroes, and last but by absolutely no means least all the festival goers.
We played Sunday Afternoon at The Ship, and after such a fantastic weekend, it would have been oh so easy for the audiences to go home, but No!... they stayed and we had a brilliant time. there was dancing all afternoon.
On behalf of myself, Deano, Phil and Chris , can we, The Jawbreakers, Thank you once again!
Kris Dollimore said:
Just a quick note to let you know that it was a pleasure to be a part of the Swanage Blues Festival and to play at The Grand Hotel. I had a great gig, the audience seemed to enjoy it and I sold quite a few CD’s. The staff at the venue were really helpful and I was made to feel very welcome.
I would love to come back and play at the festival again sometime.
Pete Harris said:
Well done for another excellent weekend. We had a great time.
We were very well looked after at Tawny's, and would be very pleased to play there again, if they wanted us. The Bar Se7en gig went very well. We always enjoy playing there. The finale gig was brilliant! what a great crowd and a lovely atmosphere. We would of course be delighted to do that one again.
In addition to the official gigs, Kevin Brown invited me to sit in with him at his gig at Brooks Tea Room, and that was very enjoyable. I also once again enjoyed participating at Johnny Sharp's open mic sessions.
All in all, a fantastic weekend. Thank you.
The Riotous Brothers said:
All we can say is thanks for having us again and we had a great time - again!
Friday at The White Swan was busy and the crowd was very excitable and refreshed! It's a little small but a great vibe.
And as ever, Saturday afternoon at The Ship was our favourite gig of the year. The place was absolutely packed, with plenty of people who had come there just to see us. We know some of these people now, who keep coming back and there are plenty of familiar faces in the crowd. This is a great audience and will listen to the slow gentle stuff and dance and boogie with equal enthusiasm. We love this gig and this time we had something that really knocked us for six - a prolonged standing ovation at the end of our last set. This was even more special for us as we play a lot of original material and it was heartwarming - as was seeing people in the audience singing along to our own songs. We sold a large number of CDs and people from blues clubs in other areas came up to us at the end to talk about us playing.
For us - Swanage is a great place to come. The town is wonderful, the people you attract to your festivals are real fans, lovely people. You deserve enormous praise for mounting these events and long may you continue!
So plenty of triumphs for us, wish we had chance to catch some other bands, but you can tell the whole town is buzzing and people tell us who else they have seen and enjoyed.
Dave Raphael said:
We love coming to Swanage and playing the festival. The Anchor is a nice venue for us and we always seem to get a really good and enthusiastic crowd. We’ve made some good friends down there and really enjoy it. Very much hoping to be back again in October.
I’m glad the festival seems to have been a triumph for you – worth all the hassle of arranging it.
Back Porch said:
We all thank you for creating such a great weekend.
The BUCKETEERS did a magnificent job!
We had a smashing time. All our gigs were well attended and the people very friendly, as always.
The Grand treated us well.
The Banks Arms were thinking about changing the times of their gig in October to match the train times, as the majority left 15 mins before the end of our set. It was still great!
The Crows Nest said they would like us to play next time on the Friday night, (I told them to talk to you).
Bar Se7en gave us their normal marvellous welcome (this was a rather special gig) a fifteen minute encore.
The band thinks the format of the whole weekend is wonderful.
Thank you again, and it's in the diary for October, if you want us back!
Paint It Blue said:
What a weekend!. We were so pleased with our gig at The White Swan on Saturday, we had a fantastic response with great feedback from the crowd, selling lots of CDs and T shirts. The staff at the pub were very helpful and made us feel very welcome. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to play!
The whole band and co. enjoyed the atmosphere throughout the town over the whole weekend, it really was a great time.
Many thanks.
Pearl Handled Revolver said:
Well, where do I begin! Everything was spot on Steve. The landlord was really good to us and friendly, the sound guys were extremely competent and willing and the audience was big, loud and hugely appreciative! All the reasons that make it one of the top gigs of our year so far.
I'm certain you would have had some great feedback from our night at The White Horse as all age groups present loved what we played, with many demanding our return later in the year. So all in all a fantastic night and a great festival. Steve, you should be proud. You have a high level of dedicated supporters from far and wide, which is hard to maintain in itself, but to do it so well. Hats off to you.
The band would love to take this opportunity to thank you and all the staff involved in the Festival for making it such an enjoyable and successful evening. Of course, it goes without saying that we would love to repeat the experience, should you wish to book us again in the future.
Freezer said:
We had a great gig, it was really well received with people dancing from the get go and it was packed!!! While walking round we were amazed at how busy every pub was, great weekend.
Freed said:
What a weekend! Fantastic, despite the fact that there was a bitterly cold wind it seemed like the whole town was full of sunshine and really friendly people, no aggravation...joy. Lovely supportive crowds, live music...beer...more live music...more beer... every gig totally enjoyable. Thank you very much for inviting us to be part of the festival. We would love to do it all again so if you find you have space do please let me know.
Blue Touch said:
Just a note to thank you for the organisation that goes into the weekend, don't know how you do it but we are very glad you do! Blue Touch had a great time and a couple of really great crowds-The Anchor crowd was really quite phenomenal. We hope your tooth problem is better, it was a shame we did not see you.
The Mustangs said:
Hope it went well, we had an absolutely packed, fun night in the white horse..
The White Horse said:
Great week-end, fantastic musicians, considerate and hopefully successful buckateers, great atmosphere and most of all completely satisfied customers...
Well done mate, our thanks as usual.
The Ship, Swanage said:
Hope you are well and had a good weekend. We all certainly did, it turned out to be a busy weekend. The bands were all fantastic, especially Robin BIBI from Saturday, he brought in a great crowd.
The Black Swan said:
Steve, you are a star! Well done you for a brilliant weekend.
ARTISTS APPEARING INCLUDED:
Andrew Bazeley, Assorted Buskers, Back Porch, Blue Touch, C Sharp Blues, Coalhouse Walker Blues Band, Dave Raphael Band, Electric Jam Sessions, Fabulous Fezheads, Freed, Freezer, Groundhogs Rhythm Section, Johnny Sharp, Kevin Brown, Kris Dollimore, Motel 6, Open Mic Sessions, Paint It Blue, Pearl Handled Revolver, Pete Harris Band with Hugh Budden, Robert Hokum Band, Robin Bibi Band, Saiichi Sugiyama Band, Steamer, Steve Darrington, The Barcodes, The Jawbreakers, The Jives, The Mustangs, The Riotous Brothers, The Riverside Blues Band, Will Killeen,
Most acts play for 2 x 60 minutes or 3 x 40 minutes but all times are at the discretion of the management.
