I’m on the roof of the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn. It’s called the General Anzeiger Sommergarten and whilst the sky above it might be grey, the music on the stage this overcast Summer Sunday is very definitely Blue. Marco Marchi and the Mojo Workers are new to Bonn but not so new to the Blues scene. Although only formed in 2009 as a trio the quartet have played many of the major Festivals across Europe, you might have seen them for instance at the Piazza Blues in Bellinzona or at the Blues Summit in Geneva where they were the winners of the Swiss Blues Challenge and went on to be the Countries first representatives at the prestigious International Blues Challenge in Memphis.
Laurence Jones – Take Me High (RUF )
Fifty years on from the famous ‘Beano’ album featuring Eric Clapton with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers Producer Mike Vernon still gets a tingle of excitement when he hears someone bringing something special to the Blues. In 2010 a young Brit named Oli Brown excited Vernon enough to lure him out of retirement – in 2016 another young Brit has caught the great man’s attention. Laurence Jones is the young man in question and ‘Take Me High’ could almost have been what Jones said to lure Vernon back into the studio. the result is one of the best guitar sounds I’ve heard on a disc for years and very possibly the start of something very big indeed.
Wolfgang Niedecken’s BAP – An evening with the ‘Marathon Man’
It’s 7.30pm at Bonn Kunstrasen and I meet some friends out back in the audience. “This is still the support act? Right?” one of them asks. By this time Wolfgang Niedecken and his band the legendary BAP have already been onstage for an hour and I have to explain that there ARE musicians out there who play according to their feelings and not to a 90 minute stopwatch – and yes, these guys were due to remain onstage until 10 pm. Fortunately they still had another two and a half hours to move up front in the audience and enjoy the finest Kölsch-rocker that ever trod the boards at Chlodwigplatz.
Paolo Pacifico – Have Harps will travel
“When I want sax, I call Candy” was how Prince once famously described his admiration for the musical abilities of Candy Dulfer. At Bonn Folk Club John Harrison might well say the same for Paolo Pacifico and his Harmonica. The familiar sight of Paolo ambling calmly from his pint at the bar to pull a C harp out of his top pocket and nonchalantly ‘just join in’ is deceptive. I suspected that you can only ‘just join in’ if you really know what you’re doing, so I figured there was a story behind Paolo’s seemingly effortless appearances – and I was right. Here it is. Enjoy!
Rheinbach Classics – Big Cars & Big Skirts
The 50’s were a time when life was simpler, men were politer and cars were… well, the best were big and American. Truth or fiction? It’s certainly true that there are an awful lot of people who would like to be living then in preference to now and in a World of Boris Johnson and Donald Trump who can blame them? Rheinbach is a place many such people can be found once a year,some 25000 people in fact visited the festival to see or drive the ‘Oldtimers’ and as my blue suede shoes were being re-soled Andreas Terhaer made a visit on the Festival Friday of Rheinbach Classics to capture not the classic oldtime cars but instead some of the classic old time music.
Ashes, Dust & Diamonds with Warren Haynes
They didn’t do too badly for guitarists did they? The Allman Brothers lost Duane tragically in 1971 but continued on with three of the finest southern style men that ever plugged in a Les Paul, in the shapes of Dickey Betts, Derek Trucks and tonight’s guest at the Kantine in Cologne – Warren Haynes. Sadly we will never know how great Duane Allman might have become. We can however check up on the playing of Mr Haynes, and I think Duane would have been smiling on Saturday.
Chris deBurgh and a Lady in…
“I once did a song about a lady wearing a particular colour. Can’t remember which colour now… Anyway, this song was the sequel to it” No prizes for guessing that the original song was ‘Lady in Red’ and the man in front of us on a cloud covered Kunstrasen stage was an Irishman named Chris de Burgh. Did it rain? It did. Could he stop it raining? No he couldn’t. Could he make us forget it was raining? Well, he did his best.
Rockaue 2016
Famous for 15 minutes? The music flew so thick and fast on Saturday at the Rheinpark that the biggest danger was having your set forgotten a half hour later. I am indeed envious of the heavy metal or local hero fans who could stay in one place for the day. For the rest of us who wanted a taste of everything it was a challenge – and for those I missed, I salute you and apologize. This year’s Rockaue, the second of its kind, was indeed a chameleon of a beast.