- The festival, promoted by the Bilbao City Council, will schedule concerts and free activities for all audiences in the Arenal.
- The poster for the second edition is starred on this occasion by female voices with a very special nod to the essence of the Villa through the traditional Carolinas.
The great blues party returns this summer to the Villa with a free program full of leading figures of the genre and activities for all audiences that will take place in the Arenal as the main stage. After the success of last year, the Bilbao City Council once again promotes, from July 28 to 30, this international festival that will offer, as in its first edition, free concerts at street level and for all ages.
For the Bilbao City Council Councilor for Economic Development, Commerce and Employment, Xabier Ochandiano, “last summer we carried out a pilot test tofill the city with good music and quality activity in that period after the Bilbao BBK Live Festival and Aste Nagusia. An event that was a complete success and highly applauded and valued, which is why this year we return again, and with more strength to launch this second edition”.
Carlos Malles, director of the contest, also points out that “we are very excited about organizing this new festival where the public will be able, once again, to enjoy great references from the world of blues as well as other parallel activities that we are preparing; We are excited about this project and we are sure that next July, Bilbao will once again become the great blues party”.
NEW POSTER
The poster for the second edition of the Bilbao Blues Festival, pays tribute on this occasion to female voices and underlines the link between this great musical event and the essence of the Biscay capital through one of its most sweet treats traditional: the Carolinas. The illustration is the work of the Basque studio Moriskette, directed by Sergio Pérez Berasategi, who also signed the 2022 image, starring a bluesman and another icon from Bilbao: his characteristic balsas.
“We were very clear from the beginning that we needed to create an image that was coherent with that of the last edition, but that, in turn, was differentiating. All this, together with the commitment that the organization has always shown in favor of equality, invited us to use a female figure as the protagonist this time”.
Explains Pérez Berasategi.
Regarding the classic meringue cake, the designer points out that he wanted to find another visual element that would connect the image of the Blues with the essence of the city. The chosen one was Carolina who appears “represented as a real jewel” giving shape to the singer’s earrings.
From a formal perspective, Moriskette used a color palette similar to last year’s, as well as a style based on illustration.
“We guarantee continuity and solid communication, which we believe will favor the event itself”
Says the person in charge of the study.
65,000 PEOPLE IN AN EXCEPTIONAL ENVIRONMENT
Last year the Festival brought together more than 65,000 people who enjoyed, sang and danced to the rhythm of the best blues in concerts by leading artists such as Bob Stroger and the Chicago All Stars, Shemekia Copeland, Alejo Stivel, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Dana Fuchs, Fantastic Negrito, Wax & Boogie feat Drew Davies, Noa & The Hell Drinkers, Blues Triumvirate, Flamingo Tours, Travellin’ Brothers and Micky & The Buzz. The final touch was put by Fito and Mikel Erentxun as guest artists.
To this figure was added the excellent balance in the rest of the activities, such as the performances at the Kiosko del Arenal, the boogie-woogie classes and the parade of the dixie band “Rogues at full speed”. The didactic offer developed at the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum also aroused great interest, practically completing the expected capacity, both in the talk dedicated to women and the blues and in the children’s educational concert. The contest, unique in the Basque Country, flooded the Bilbao Arenal with thousands of followers from different parts of the world such as Canada, Switzerland or Germany, local audiences, as well as tourists who joined a proposal in in which the quality of the bands and artists and the good atmosphere were the general tone.
AN ORGANISATION WITH INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION
The promoter of the Festival, Crazy Blues, has the highest international awards in terms of promoting this musical genre: BBSA Award for Best Promoter (Blues Behind the Scenes Award) granted by the European Blues Union in Azores in 2019 and the K.B.A Award. for the best organization of an international festival (Keeping the Blues Alive), the highest worldwide recognition, awarded in 2015 by the Blues Foundation in Memphis.