Upton Blues Festival at Upton upon Severn Town Centre

The fantastic Upton Blues Festival – probably the best completely free blues festival in the UK.

Set in the beautiful Worcestershire riverside town of Upton upon Severn, the 2013 festival will be our 12th – growing from a small event in a couple of pubs into what is now a festival that swamps the town with thousands of music fans, features the ‘Best of British Blues’ over a whole weekend on three main stages and nine pub venues, totally around 90 gigs over the weekend.

The 2013 line up for the two main stages is now complete and we will be announcing the bands playing very shortly. As well as the broad range of blues and blues related bands on the Riverside and Sportsfield stages, plus the Acoustic Stage (which this year will be in the Memorial Hall), we will also be having;

•A very special songwriting workshop with one of the UK best!
•Late night jam in the Memorial Hall till 2am on the Saturday night, and
•An International Headliner

The pub stages are all pulling their schedules together too and we hope to have over 100 performances over the weekend for the first time this year.

The line up for the main Riverside and Sportfield stages includes:
Earl Jackson, Innes Sibun, Michael Messer Trio, The Revelator Band, The Juke Joints, Wille & the Bandits, Tommy Allen & Johnny Hewitt, Cliff Stocker's Slack Alice, Nublues, Steve Morrison, Wily Bo & the Mescal Canyon Troubadours, David Raphael Band, The Official Receivers, The Swaps, and Fabulous Boogie Boys.

The organisers try to bring a mix of all styles of blues music, along with a range of well-known artists through to new and upcoming bands spanning the musical spectrum - from Rhythm and Blues to bluegrass, country blues to New Orleans, acoustic to soul and gospel.

The festival also caters for music workshops, where the different styles, instruments and voices are open for discussion and demonstration. This year we have something very special – a free song writing workshop hosted by Benny Gallagher who’s songs have encompassed the world (limited numbers - booking required through website)

The festival which is self funded through a combination of camping, festival merchandising and local business sponsorship and advertising attracts 1000's of people into the shops & pubs of Upton over the festival weekend, promoting both the town and local area whilst providing a weekend of free entertainment.

Camping
Attendees are welcome to camp and make the most of the weekend of music with first class facilities, 24 hour security and all within a short walking distance of all the action. If you plan on camping please support the official camp site as the revenue it generates is a major fund raiser for the festival.
Camping will be charged at £28 per head (accompanied children under 16 free) regardless of the number of nights camping. (Maximum of 3 nights possible) if pre-booked on-line before the festival, and £30 per head (accompanied children under 16 free) on the day.

funding a free festival
The Committee is very proud of the Upton Blues Festival, the way it brings 1000’s of visitors to the town, the way many shops and pubs have their best weekend of the year, and the fun and joy it brings to our streets. But we are aware that there are many misconceptions as to how the festival is funded – and we need your help!

The festival is completely self funding and costs the committee around £50,000 a year to put on. What we want is for all you lovely people who come to the festival to do three things;

•To camp in the official camping site or park in the official parking
•To buy a programme and maybe a wristband or a t-shirt, and
•To support the town businesses that advertise in the programme

To keep all the performances free we need everyone coming to the festival to put their support behind the facilities that fund the festival. Please don’t camp on the unofficial site (which has no facilities on site), please don’t park on the roadside to save a fiver, and please buy a programme and spend your money in the shops and pubs that advertise in the programme and display the ‘I’m Backing Upton Blues 2012’ sign in their window.

You know you’re going to have a great weekend and more than get your moneysworth, so make sure that what you spend over the weekend goes to support the participating organisations and not to the many opportunists who don’t contribute.

key

Prices

Free entry

Event details

Nearby

• Hotels and B&Bs
• Self-Catering Places

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