The Last Day Two: Start with a small Keyboard and finish with some massive Purple Rain....

..couple of blues kings sorting out The Prince...

Walk into an upstairs room in an old Yorkshire mill at lunchtime on a Saturday, the last thing you would expect to find is a contented crowd cheering an amazing keyboard player singing beautifully crafted songs and rattling out some classics.

Dan Burnett was a tour de force and his gentle and charming stage

style had the audience locked in – indeed at one point he quite

accurately expressed delight at playing to 'a listening audience'. This is a distinguished talent and it was good to hear rock solid left hand alternated with slow wistful originals and he really uses the whole of the keyboard. Dan has played alongside many of the greats but is only now about to produce a solo CD 'Storyville' which you should get your hands on. I do hope he includes “You're gonna shine one day” which was a moving and eloquent self-penned piece worthy of Randy Newman. Solo blues keyboards are alive, well and in talented hands.

The cool deep brown voice of Angelo Palladino was back in Hebden. The voice is that of a husky distilled Eastender, with an Italian and Welsh background 

who has been in Yorkshire for years - Angelo is a festival regular. He has a distinctive guitar style and an easy warm connection with his audience and he once again gave us a selection of his fine original songs drawing from his CDs and his recently produced EP 'Knucklebones'. A great servant of the blues and a fine set.

The Hat once described Dave Arcari as a good man to have on your side in a Guitar Street Fight and once again our man came out fighting, legs astride, beer within reach and, as his songs keep telling you 'saying hello to trouble'. Now don't be fooled - Dave plays what I can only call

punk delta blues with a bit of thrash metal mississipi – but break him in half (as if you could!) you will find he is Blues all the way through. He sang a beautiful slow and easy version of 'Trouble in Mind', talked movingly about his debt to people like Mississippi John Hurt and Robert Johnson and played a great nod to Steve Earl in 'The Devil's Left Hand'. The last time I wrote about him, I pointed out that he is a really nice man who turns into the blues Dr Jeckyll on stage. Thank Goodness – I'm glad to say - nothing changed there then. As he characteristically points out, he's from the 'more playing less talking shite' school of blues. Ok, Dave, I get the message. The stomping audience loved you. You were brilliant. I'll get me hat and go now...

As always, The Hat being space-time-challenged, I have only included a tiny, snapshot of those dozens of brilliant artists rocking Hebden. I may have seen your gig, I will certainly have had someone in my ear telling me about it or I may already have written about you before.. Apologies if you're not here, but I thought you were pretty damn good anyway....

And now to the Saturday Night Headliners, The Motives featuring Matt

Taylor. Smart and cool, this band raises the Brilliance Bar wherever they play - be it festival headlining or touring with Robert Cray. These superlative musicians fronted by Matt, played a phenomenal set that could only be attempted by people at the top of their game. Slipping in jazz, swing, reggae back beat and hugely complex hip mixtures, echo riffs and mash-ups of all of it, they were at their best when hitting us with some straight urban blues. In a beautifully professionally and well rehearsed set, it was fascinating to watch fine musicians reacting to a nod here, a nod there as they moved into their breathtaking individual solos with (The Hat is always chuffed to see) lots of room for spectacular stellar breaks from the keyboards star Jonny Dyke. Playing well past their allocated slot, you got the feeling that these guys could have kept the audience with them for another hour. Great stuff straight from the Top Drawer.

The Hat tends not to write about the Midnight Jam until the end of the Festival. The reason for this is straightforward. There is so much going on all over the stage, so much to watch, so many extraordinary talents having fun at one time, that I would need another five blogs to do it justice.

However...(great word that)...I am making one exception. Tonight was, as usual, full of magic stuff – for example, it was great to see the super talented Katie Bradley harping away with the best - and then...and then...Aynsley Lister was joined on stage by Jon Amor, Macie Elizabeth and Chris Gipson to play Purple Rain. For the moment, if you were not there, you will just have to use your imagination. Here's a clue...stand on a chair and get your jaw off the floor. The Hat is told it has been captured on HD film so hopefully the wait will not be long. A truly amazing Hebden Myth-Making Moment.

Pip Pip!

The Blues Man in The Hat

Thanks to Craig at BluePlanetPhotography and Darren O'Neill for delivering the spiffing image goods.