The festival was headlined by Aynsley Lister and also included Connolly Hayes, Backbone Blues Band, Ben Poole, Amba Tremain Band & Bison Hip. It is a brilliant venue with great lights and sound and helpful staff.
First up from Glasgow, Scotland were Bison Hip with a line-up of Paul Sloway (vocals), John Gilmour Smith (guitar), Steven Radziwonik (keyboards), Graeme Carswell (bass) & Malcolm Button (drums).
Bison Hip sound is upbeat blues rock with a full sound and passionate lead vocals which was demonstrated in the first number ‘The One that Got Away’, with its heavy beat with strong vocals, heavy drum backbeat and lively harmonies.
Next up was ‘Lord Have Mercy on Me’ with effervescent lead singers but as Paul said afterwards ‘Need an oxygen tank with so many words’
A slower tempo song ‘The Girlfriend’ with its echoey guitars, passionate vocals with great harmonies and keys backing, followed by ‘Slipping thru my Hands’ - a up-tempo number with heavy drum backbeat and powerful vocals.
The next song was about the band’s hometown of Glasgow ‘This Old City’ with its slow & mellow feel with plaintive piano.
As Paul told the audience before the last song most of the band had known each other since they were 17 in the 1980’s. They finished with ‘This Time’ to loud applause from the audience.
Next up was Amba Tremain Band from Portsmouth who had a great start to the year when they were announced winners of the ‘Introducing Stage’ at the 2025 UK Blues, Rhythm & Rock Festival, that took place at the beginning of the year at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool.
The band line-up was Amba Tremain (vocals), Col Lewis (drums), Liam Robins (guitar), Ben Corner (guitar) and Nick Bowley (Bass).
With Amba’s band taking to the stage they gave us a selection of styles from soul, blues and funk all with Amba’s great vocal lead.
They started with a heavier number with ‘Yeah’ and followed with ‘Keep me Running’ with its heavy funky beat and soulful vocals from Amba
This was followed by a new track with ‘Call Me’ with a more soulful and funky sound with passionate vocals from Amba.
After all the classic songs that Amba listens to here was another soul based classic song with bluesy guitars with ‘No One Like You’
The band are very tight with great guitar work from both Liam & Ben, supporting Amba’s vocals underpinned with the solid rhythm section of Col on drums and Nick on bass. ‘How Do you Feel’ from recent EP ‘Magic’ with its up-tempo funky beat with strong vocals from Amba supported by Col with his heavy drumming.
‘Breathe’ was a heavier and funky number with a slower tempo, with Amba’s vocals filling it out on top, with some nice harmonies - a great love song. Followed by a bit of funk with
‘Voodoo’ with Amba’s plaintive vocals
The set was finished with the title song from EP ‘Magic’ with slower its blues soul style with lovely soaring vocals from Amba, and ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’ the Joe Cocker version of the classic Beatles song.
As Amba commented afterwards ‘This was our first time playing the Stockton and Lincoln Blues, Rhythm and Rock festivals and honestly, we were blown away with warmth, support and love the audience members showed to us across both days. Stephen and the Solid Entertainment’s team are just the best people to work with and every act they put on blew us away.’
‘The blues scene is actually quite broad and I felt so at home bringing my more soulful set to the table. But everyone who performed brought their own flavour and made for a truly diverse weekend.’
After a setup change, we next had Ben Poole and his band on stage. The line-up was Ben Poole (guitar & vocals), Steve Amadio (bass) and Wayne Proctor (drums).
Ben has been a part of the UK Blues scene for well over 10 years and has been playing festivals in the UK and in particular Europe, and one of his last albums was ‘Live in Montreux’, the classic jazz/blues venue in Switzerland.
The set kicked off with ‘Start the Car’ which is a great blues rock number, after guitar intro, with strong vocals from Ben. It was followed by ‘Dirty Laundry’ a Don Henley song from the 1980s with its heavy blues rock high tempo performance.
A slower tempo opening on guitar into a heavy beat for ‘Looking for One’ with its strident vocals from Ben before quieter brief interlude with feedback at the end before moving to ‘Take it no More’ with its raunchy guitar and breathless vocals.
‘Don’t Cry for Me’ from last live album was a slower number with plaintive vocals and a mellow beat with strong drums and bass.
The next act from London was the Backbone Blues Band led by Tony Seaman.
Their keyboards & guitar sound with bluesy vocals was demonstrated on ‘Running out of Time’ and then ‘Heartbreaker’ with its strong vocals from Tony and riff-based guitars and keyboards
They have toured America many times and played next ‘Beale to Bourbon’ with its Mississippi area influence.
Next up was a The Cate brothers song sung by Leanne with ‘Am I Losing You’. This was only the third gig for Leanne with the band.
Luke Highet on bass took over from his dad (Duncan) who sadly died during COVID.
This was followed by ‘Dead a Long Time’ but it was not a morbid song with a great rhythm section beat and great vocals from Tony.
‘Keeping the Peace’ was about working on relationships with a slower tempo with plaintive vocals and nice harmonies. ‘Down Old Blues’ followed sung by Leanne in a sassy style, followed by an up-tempo blues number with honky tonk piano with ‘Ain’t No Use’
‘House of the Rising Sun’ was made famous by the Animals in the 1960s and was sung with passionate vocals by Tony with a great lead guitar solo too.
Funky tune to finish with ’Standing on Shaky Ground’ with great vocals from Tony and interplay with Luke on bass and great keys too.
They were followed by 2024 Emerging Blues Band of the Year nominee Connolly Hayes with a line-up of Jess Hayes (vocals), Beau Bernard (bass & backing vocals), Andy Wilder (drums), Joe Mac (keys & backing vocals and replacing a sick Frankie Connolly, Andy Cortes (guitar).
A funky start with ‘Secrets’ with great vocals from Jess and then ‘Remember Me’ title track off the last album.
‘Damn Fools Game’ was next with great soulful vocals from Jess and great guitar breaks from Andy with solid rhythm section and keyboards.
With its lovely keyboard opening from Joe we had ‘Tired of this Love’ with slow tempo soulful vocals from Jess. Followed by ‘Here to Love You’ with funky keys and great drumbeat backing to Jess’s soulful voice.
Another funky song was ‘Across 110th Street’ with harmonies between Jess and Beau on bass with its bass funky parts with shimmering keys and lead guitar break from Andy with Santana echoey sounds.
As a duet we had just Jess and Joe on ‘Dark End of the Street’ with soulful vocals from Jess matched on keyboards by Joe.
The set concluded with ‘Misunderstood’ a rockier number with full band and powerful vocals from Jess, ‘Still in Love with you’ with powerful soulful vocals from Jess with keyboard honky tonk solo from Joe with drum backing from Andy before the full band join in, ‘Midnight in Harlem’ by Tedeschi Trucks with a slower mellow tempo with lovely soulful vocals from Jess.
The set was finished with ‘Love the One You are With’ by Stephen Stills with funky start before Jess kicks in with her powerful soulful vocals and great band sound.
Then we had the headliner with Aynsley Lister and his band - Jono Martin (bass & vocals) Craig Bongo Bacon (drums), from Leicester with the eerie intro music before guitar riffs from Aynsley into the powerful first song ‘Fast Car’ with great guitar riffs and strong rhythm section.
As Aynsley explained they would be playing a selection of current and older songs, with Aynsley having played professionally for around 25 years. They next kicked into ‘Time Stands Still’ with its strong vocals from Aynsley
A curveball with this song written for a TV program ‘Eve Part One’ with a slow opening with echoey guitar with eerie feeling.
‘Hurricane’ with strong vocals from Aynsley and great guitar riffs matched by bass & drums and ‘Wake Up’ with strident guitar and rocking beat with strong vocals both showed the virtuosity of blues styles the band all have.
Fed up with social media negative comments Aynsley wrote ‘Amazing’ about the positive aspects of being on social media.
‘What’s it All About’ written in 2009 starts with Aynsley only then the band kicks into heavy beat into funkier rhythm. Jono kicks into the next song on bass before guitar & drums join in funky beat tune before it kicks into a rockier tempo with ‘What do you Want’.
The finale was the classic song ‘Purple Rain’ by Prince with audience participation and applause at the end of this excellent festival.