Nantwich Jazz, Blues and Music Festival organisers have unveiled the full line up and programme for this year’s event.
The festival, April 18-22, will feature Martin Turner, ex-Wishbone Ash bass player on the opening Thursday night.
Friday sees legendary Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden on stage with his band including local supremo Jim Kirkpatrick, supported by Big Wolf Band at the Civic Hall, and local performers The Tom Seals Band in the Crown Hotel Ballroom.
Jim Kirkpatrick will also be playing in Saturday’s “Blues Triple Bill” with The Chris Bevington Organisation, which will be followed by Rebecca Downes and Robbie McIntosh.
Nineties band “Cast” has already been announced, with tickets already close to a sell out.
And the event rounds off with Chris Helme frontman of the post Stone Roses, The Seahorses.
Bevington, from The Chris Bevington Organisation, said: “We are delighted to be playing the Festival this year and we will be bringing the full 9-piece band to the Civic Hall.
“The band line-up includes the talents of Jim Kirkpatrick, Scott Ralph, Sarah Miller, Kate Robertson and Chris Aldridge to name a few.
“The festival always attracts a wealth of talented bands and musicians and just seems to get better and better each year and has become a firm favourite on the UK Festival calendar.”
Kirkpatrick added: “It’s always a pleasure to play at my hometown festival and I’ve been fortunate to be part of it since its inception.
“It’s great to see the town so busy and to see the enthusiasm for live music in an age of digital entertainment.
“I’m really looking forward not only to playing but to seeing some great acts around the town.”
Organisers have two new ‘Round The Town’ venues in the festival – The Oddfellows and Bench.
The full programme, including more than 140 artists performing at pubs, restaurants and open-air venues across Nantwich, has also been released.
This year’s locations are The Cheshire Cat, Firenze, Nakatcha, Harrisons, The Talbot, The Crown Hotel, The Bank Stage, The Studio, Residence, The White Horse, Nantwich Museum, Nantwich Methodist Church, The Bowling Green, The Red Cow, and The Malbank.
The festival, now in its 23rd year, was founded in 1996 by Phillip Martin, who died in 2017.
His daughter Abbigail Ellwood picked up the reigns for last year’s event, but this will be the first year without any involvement from Phillip.
Abbigail said: “This is the first year we haven’t had the musical expertise of my dad to turn to, but we hope we have done him proud with this fantastic line-up.
“We’re also very proud to be supporting The Christie Charitable Trust as our chosen charity this year.
“It is a testament to last year’s success we have seen two new venues wanting to take part and the return of our headline sponsor, Absolute Recruitment.
“Our announcement in January that Cast will be headlining on Sunday has caused a real buzz, and it’s great to see so many other amazing artists join as headliners for the rest of the weekend.”
‘Round The Town’ venues feature local and touring artists as well as cover bands including the return of Nearly Dan.
This year many have improved infrastructure as they are expecting more visitors.
Louise Bastow, boss of The Cheshire Cat and Firenze, said: “We are thrilled to be involved again in this year’s Nantwich Jazz and Blues Festival.
“Across the Easter weekend we have 31 live acts performing at The Cheshire Cat and Firenze which are sure to bring in huge numbers to Welsh Row.
“We had a fantastically enjoyable weekend last year, the bands booked were incredible and we are very much looking forward to another successful year participating in the event.”
Festival wristbands are selling fast and are currently on sale at an Early Bird price of £8.
One wristband allows entry for one person for the whole weekend to all of the festival ‘Round the Town’ venues.
(Pic: Chris Bevington, one of the Nantwich Jazz, Blues and Music headline performers, with organiser, Abbigail Ellwood, launching the new programme and line-up)
nice festival, pity there’s no jazz