{"id":34484,"date":"2026-04-14T17:01:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T15:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/for-the-third-year-running-bilbao-will-host-the-final-of-the-national-blues-challenge\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T10:17:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T08:17:14","slug":"for-the-third-year-running-bilbao-will-host-the-final-of-the-national-blues-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/for-the-third-year-running-bilbao-will-host-the-final-of-the-national-blues-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"For the third year running, Bilbao will host the final of the National Blues Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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We are pleased to announce the launch of the selection process for bands wishing to take part in the European Blues Challenge 2027.<\/p>\n\n

Until the 2024 edition, the selection of the band representing Spain at the European Blues Challenge (EBC) was conducted entirely online, through a process organised by the Barcelona Blues Society (SBB), and the winning band received no remuneration whatsoever to cover the costs of their performance in Europe. This was a matter of great concern to the Barcelona Blues Society, as it created a disparity with most of the participating European countries, which had long since organised a live selection process and sponsored the winning band. \n \n<\/p>\n\n

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Fortunately, this problem was resolved from 2024 onwards, thanks to the Bilbao Blues Festival\u2019s offer to organise the final selection of the Spanish band to compete in the EBC through the \u201cVolotea Blues Challenge\u201d. <\/p>\n\n

Essentially, the process will be as follows:<\/p>\n\n

The Barcelona Blues Society will be holding an online call for applications from bands wishing to take part in the EBC. These bands will be featured on the blog https:\/\/sites.google.com\/view\/ebu-spain\/home.<\/p>\n\n

The application period for EBC 2026 will run from 11 May to 7 June 2026.<\/p>\n\n

The registered groups will be assessed online by an Advisory Board comprising some 65 people from across Spain, all with proven expertise in the world of blues, as has been the case up to now. This entire process will continue to be overseen by the Barcelona Blues Society.<\/p>\n\n

Voting by the Advisory Board will take place between 8 and 21 June 2026, and the results will be published between 25 June and 1 July 2026 on the blog https:\/\/sites.google.com\/view\/ebu-spain\/home.<\/p>\n\n

The four bands receiving the most votes from the Advisory Board will go through to the grand final (Volotea Blues Challenge), which will take place in Bilbao on 26 July 2026 at 7.00 pm. In the final, the finalists will give a 30-minute performance before a jury, made up of distinguished figures from the world of blues, who will decide the winning band. This will be the band that represents Spain at the European Blues Challenge 2027. The performance in the national final will include a backline, PA system and a cash prize for each of the four bands (\u20ac1,000 + VAT for the three finalists and \u20ac3,000 + VAT for the winning band). <\/p>\n\n

The winning band must agree to take part in the European Blues Challenge without making any changes to the line-up that took part in the selection process.<\/p>\n\n

On the blog https:\/\/sites.google.com\/view\/ebu-spain\/home, where the Barcelona Blues Society is managing the selection process for the bands that will compete in the grand final in Bilbao, you can find the RULES for taking part.<\/p>\n\n

We encourage you to take part!<\/p>\n\n

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REGISTRATION FORM<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ARTICIPATION BASES<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are pleased to announce the launch of the selection process for bands wishing to take part in the European Blues Challenge 2027. Until the 2024 edition, the selection of the band representing Spain at the European Blues Challenge (EBC) was conducted entirely online, through a process organised by the Barcelona Blues Society (SBB), and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":33475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[158,146,85,194],"tags":[191,183,184],"class_list":["post-34484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues-challenge-en","category-featured","category-news","category-v-edition-bbf-2026","tag-bbf-2026","tag-bilbao-blues-festival-en","tag-volotea-blues-challenge-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34484"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34503,"href":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34484\/revisions\/34503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}