Hold The Front Page.....Hat Spills Hebden Beans!

“The Chapel Welcomes Spectacular Music....Hebden Congregation Will Go Bananas....Crew And Family Deliver The Goods....World Watches In Amazement!”

It's not the awards - it's the blues..

Crikey! The Hat is beside Himself! And so should you be - not just because you like the exciting idea of two Hats standing next to each other – but because, at last, I am able to give you the Inside Leg on the 2014 Hebden Bridge Blues Festival....so break out the Absinthe, the Stolichnaya and the Laphroaig. This is an absolutely stunning programme of talent.

Next year's Festival is set to become The Collectors' Edition. With more bands and solo artists than ever before, a special one-off T-shirt, more innovations, longer performance hours and an unlikely-to-be-repeated themed Sunday night, this is THE one Festival you will boast about in your local hostelry; the one where people will offer you outrageous favours to get their hands on your super hot wristband; the one where people you don't know will want to be your new Best Friend in the hope you can smuggle them in and the one to tell your grandchildren about until they want to leave home and do it themselves. So hold on to your hats, strap yourself in and let's first boggle our eyes at the Main Stage in The Chapel.....

You will need to limber up quickly because Friday night's Main Stage line-up is going to lean right off the stage and snatch you clean out of your dancing shoes. First on to get you fired up and locked on in the traditional solo opening spot will be Julian Burdock bringing us his one-man stunning blues guitar extravaganza, loops an' all, Many of you will also know him from his fine singing and guitar work with the much loved 24 Pesos. Oh Yes! Let's start the class with Class!

Now you are hot, my friends and to keep the temperature up David Migden and the Dirty Words are on stage. . New to Hebden, this hard hitting crew absolutely crashed on to everyone's horizon earlier this year when they won the fiercely contested UK Battle of The Bands. Making waves everywhere – funky, soulsy, bluesy, shouty – these guys will hit every taste bud you have. Prepare yourselves.

And then come our First Night Headliners – Virgil and The Accelerators.

Another coup for the Crew! In huge demand in the UK and in Europe as a result of their terrifying touring schedule, they have told us that they are really pleased to come and join our Hebden Family – and wow, are we pleased to see them. This tight dynamic trio have a massive fan base and you will be mad not to be there boogying in the front row. Playing a jet, turbo, dynamite-powered flavour of blues and rock these guys will peel the paint off the Chapel walls and leave you shouting for more. You will barely have breath at the end of their set – but keep the reserve tank topped up for the usual mad party that is Paddy Maguire's Midnight Jam when the stage gets packed with an amazing array of blues people having fun...

Sorry y'all but there is no let up for you in the Chapel on Saturday! Don't be late as first up are the fantastic Blues Boy Kings. This group are becoming Festival Favourites everywhere. Proper grown up original blues with a terrific swing played by talented musicians. Dance Alert – you will be throwing shapes pretty quickly once this band gets rocking!

Now Listen. It would be a mistake to go anywhere at this point – as this is when the minor nuclear explosion that is Paul Lamb and The Detroit Breakdown light up the Amps. They take no prisoners as they tear into their hundred mile an hour set. Huge Hit at Hebden last year, Paul, Layla and Joey are coming back to our family stage and once again, will be shaking the rafters.

Saturday's Headliners are The Motives featuring Matt Taylor. This is a  

great catch for the festival. Chased after by bookers absolutely everywhere, this group, who were picked by Robert Cray as his support band last year, are

pure class, straight out of the Blues Top Drawer. These four superb musicians attract superlatives whenever they play live and now you will get a chance to see the originators of that brilliant recent debut album that has had the reviewers scrambling for words of adequate praise. Smart, cool, brilliant urban blues, sharp, soulful, original – and that's even before The Hat has added his luminous prose. Cancel everything else. This is where you have to be on Saturday night. Oh, and then there's that Midnight Jam of course!

Well, I did warn you ...Sunday will be Special – so don't even think about going home early. Those Organiser People sure are Smart! The Hebden Sunday is going to be a themed Blues-Rock night – and from start to finish you will be throwing shapes, joining in, leaping up and down, waving imaginary lighters and hugging people you don't know. The Hat will of course be there swaying gently in his Chelsea boots and rattling his Rolex.

Two enormous favourites of the Festival are back with us. Both of them, now with huge followings around the country, are tearing their way upwards into the blues stratosphere. Yep – amazing blues rockers Northsyde and Russ Tippins will bring you Sunday on a very hot plate. If you have not seen either of them 'live' then this is a unique opportunity to grab them both and go totally Barmy with the Best.

But....but...but wait...even as you arrive, the evening kicks off with two of the best blues rockers around. The tremendous Australian bluesman Gwyn Ashton, taking a break from his constant European touring, will open up the evening with his inimitable steel and strat set and then the Mark Pontin Group takes the stage. Described variously as bringing a new twist to the blues rock genre and an ebullient and soulful breath of fresh air, this young group have already collected an impressive list of playing credits alongside some of the best in the business. Hot.

So. I will say that again. Slowly. Sunday...

Gwyn Ashton, Mark Pontin Group, Russ Tippins,Northsyde plus the Midnight Jam. Cor Lummy Guv! Sunday night is a whole award winning UK Festival on its own. No wonder The Hat is beside himself. But Wait.... I've only just got going...

“Hebden Packed with Crazed Acoustic And Electric Blues Fans....Non Stop Top Music....Hours Extended To Cope With Demand....Caterers on Emergency Standby!”

Once again, right across the three days of the HebFest the two stages at Salem Mill – The Electric and The Acoustic play host to some of the best talents the British Blues world can offer. To help their ever growing family of supporters this year the organisers have arranged to open the afternoon sessions an hour earlier at 1pm. As a result, oh lucky people, we can see more – young acts nervously taking their first few public steps, well-established artists making time to play to an appreciative and very smart audience and some Festival Favourites coming back home to party with The Family. Full details of the timing and day slots for both stages will be published shortly on the Festival website (click the gold logo on this page) – but here is a lip-smacking taster of the goodies that the Organisers have provided for you: -

*The Electric Stage plays host to: The Marcus Lazarus Band; Tom Attah and The Bad Mad Clan; Tim Hood; Zoe Schwarz Blue Commotion; Katie Bradley; The Mustangs; and The Nat Martin Band.

*The Acoustic Stage plays host to Jack Broadbent; Dave Arcari; Angelo Palladino; Wooden Horse; Red Dirt Skinners; Matt Woosey; and Dan Burnett.

*The Outlaw Stage (special exciting Saturday afternoon sessions in The Chapel): Forty 4; The Bare Bones Boogie Band; and Makuini.

*Once again the Organisers were besieged by hugely talented bands who wanted to play at any of the incredibly popular Juke Joints scattered around the Festival. The talent that packs these half dozen venues is worthy of another free festival on its own – and sadly it is impossible to include everyone.

If you want to catch any of these class acts – and remember entry is Free – here is the first list of some of the bands in that great line up:- The Bonny Mac Band; The Tom Gee Band; Private Dicks; Geds Blues Band; Lewis Hamilton; Killer Bees; Greasy Slicks; and Jed Thomas.

No need to bring your hiking boots – all these venues are within walking distance of each other and the main stages – and you can stop off and have a bite to eat in one of Hebden's super cool feeding stations.

Well, my friends, it has been fun being the messenger bearing such good news – but nowhere near as much fun as it will be for those three days next year at the 2014 Hebden Bridge Blues Festival! I will of course be back to tell you more. This Festival is Small But Beautifully Formed...(just like The Hat really)...but (unlike The Hat) it won't cost a fortune...

Tell your friends. Book the tickets. Go now. Go. Go Now.

Pip Pip!

The Blues Man in The Hat