The Rotorua Blues Festival 2020 - Labour Weekend

The Rotorua Blues Festival is usually held mid-winter but this year due to the same bloody reason as every other event that has been postponed it has moved to Labour Weekend. And all I can do is cheer. Lovely as Rotorua is in July it is really really cold. This will be a huge improvement on what was already a great weekend of music.

The unplugged incarnation of our band Kokomo is heading over for a couple of shows on the Saturday and one more on the Sunday. For the Saturday night show we will be joined by the wonderful Robbie Laven on fiddle, mandolin and more...

Robbie Laven

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a brief guide to what's happening over the weekend. 

The Blues Club there have put together a fantastic programme, with blues from all over New Zealand and a special Australian guest in the form of Sydney's Boogie-Woogie Queen Jan Preston. As well as his Kokomo duties Nigel will be playing bass with Jan.

Jan Preston

(NOTE: If you want to skip these descriptions and go straight to the programme, it's at the bottom of the page...)

(ANOTHER NOTE: Most of the events I'm about to mention are free or require a only gold coin donation.)

The Festival starts in a low-key manner on Thursday 22nd October, 5pm at the Rotorua Night Market with Hammer On and Nikau and the Natives. Friday 23rd sees The Rotorua Social Club host a meet and greet with 6 bands from Rotorua and Tauranga from 5pm till 11pm.

The full festival kicks off on Saturday 24th October in Eat Streat and will be officially opened by Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick at 12pm. There will be 5 bands playing from 12:30pm until 5:30pm, including Kokomo (unplugged) at 3.30pm. We're following The Flaming Mudcats and will be before Hybrid Blues, so it should be a great afternoon.

At the same time The Social Club will also see a full line-up of bands from midday until midnight, spotlighting bands from across the Waikato at The Hamilton Blues Society, including Shotgun, Roger McLay, Conmen, Hillmen Hunters, Agnostic Contrarians, Magic & 3am Blues, and Velvet Bulldozer.

The hub of the Festival is the Rotorua Citizens Club on Saturday and Sunday with 1-day and 2-day passes available: $60 for a 1-day pass or $100 for a 2-day pass (Kids under 18 are Free).

The Flaming Mudcats

There will be 3 stages running each day within the Citizens Club from 12pm until midnight, with “Bumper Concerts” on both nights featuring various headline acts. As I mentioned Kokomo (with Robbie) are part of the Saturday night concert along with Dirty Tones, Fiona & The Holy Pocket, Brown Dog & the Muttleys, and The Flaming Mudcats. Sunday features Jan Preston, Hybrid Blues, The Michael Barker Experience and more.

And there'll also be a Blues Cruise on the Lakeland Queen paddle steamer on Lake Rotorua on Sunday afternoon from 3pm till 5:30pm. Our friends in the Mike Garner Band will be playing that one.

All in all a terrific line-up and it has all the making of a really fun weekend. If you see us over there come and say hello!

Tickets for all events will be available at the registration desk at the entrance to the Rotorua Citizens Club, 1146 Rangiuru St, Rotorua or get them in advance on-line.