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Saturday was my last at Åmåls Bluesfest 2011, as we are traveling back sunday. Again, before I go on to the festival, let me remind you of Edsleskogs Wärdshus, where we stayed this year. Far away from the big ciity lights in Åmål, this place provides jsut the kind of calm and relaxation that you need to be able to see as much as you can in Åmål!
The saturday, and this goes for the festival as a whole, was much better than I expected. Although there were no bands, at least not among the ones I listened to, that surprised me, many really did blow me away, but I knew they would. To beging with on Saturday, after the jam, we had Jim's Combo. This band is nothing short of spectacular, a favourite of mine and I have seen them many times, but the still amaze me. Following them we had Roffe Wikström, this year with Max Lorentz on keybords, Tommy Cassemar on bass and Peter Korhonen on drums. As always, Roffe delivers, big time, but I have probably seen him a bit too much. he did play a bunch of "old" songs, stuff that many wants to hear, but for myself, I have heard them before. All that said, a good act from a long standing swedish star of the Blues.
Following Roffe there was a very different act from that, Ladies Sing the Blues from Denmark. This was a bit of a disappointment and I will not comment much more than that, maybe it wasn't my cup of tea or something. Vidar Busk & His True Believers is a brilliant Norwegian Band, with Vidar himself being both a good entertainer and a good musician and again we were up to speed with the festival. Patricia Page & the Prophets from Gothenburg follow that, and this is Swedens hottest Soul band, this is a real good show. Patricia was also awaded with the Åmål Blues Award this year, which was well deserved.
After Patricia Page it was time for Delta Blues Band, the second band tonight from Denmark, and with them my appreciation of Danish Blues was fully restored. Although not spectacular, this was a good, old-school (1960's) bluesband, with some good solos. As this is Denmarks oldest blesband, they also deserve a break!
Then we came back to Sweden, although mixed up with the hotest harp in Essex, namely Trickbag from Stockholm featuring West Weston also featuring Sven Zetterberg. This was by far the best stage appearance today, a brillant act, with really good Hard performance from West and Sven and guitar from Sven and Thomas Hammarlund, Thomas is one of my favourite guitarists in Stockholm! And West Weston a a great harp-player. Finishing up the day was Rich Harper band, but it was just a little bit too late, we had a long drive in the morning, så we skipped this act this time.
In conclusion, a much better Åmåls Bluesfest than I had imagined. There not much of a sensational act, buta steady stream of solid good bands, with a few unexpected bands and many brilliant ones. My band of the year in Åmål award goes to Jim's Combo. Whoa, this band is just sooo good!
/Karlsson
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