Bilbao will once again enjoy a blues festival in summer
The festival, promoted by the City Council, will schedule concerts and free activities for all audiences in the Arenal
The great blues festival will return to Bilbao in the summer 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, with a line-up featuring female voices and a very special nod to the essence of the Villa through the traditional ‘Carolinas’.
After the success of last year, the Bilbao City Council once again promotes, from July 28 to 30, this international festival that offers, as in its first edition, free concerts at street level and for all ages in the Arenal as the main stage although it will extend to other corners of the city.
The Minister of Economic Development, Commerce and Employment of the Bilbao City Council, Xabier Ochandiano, has indicated that last summer they carried out “a pilot test to fill the city with good music and quality activity in that period after the Bilbao BBK Live Festival and Aste Nagusia». “A test 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,” he added.
For his part, Carlos Malles, director of the contest, has assured that they are “very excited” 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 ». “This project excites us and we are sure that next July, Bilbao will once again become the great blues party,” he stated.
The poster is the work of the Basque studio Moriskette, directed by Sergio Pérez Berasategi, who also opened the 2022 image, starring a bluesman and another Bilbao icon: his rafty features.
«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 expressed in favor of equality, invited us to use a female figure as the protagonist this time”, explained Pérez Berasategi.
Regarding the classic meringue cake, the designer has indicated 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.
Last year the Festival brought together more than 65,000 people who enjoyed concerts by 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, the Bilbao City Council has highlighted, “the excellent balance” was added in the rest of the activities, such as the performances of the Kiosko del Arenal, the boogie-woogie classes and the parade of the dixie band “Rogues at full speed” ‘.