For years, the blues have been the focus of Tegelen of September. After the cancellation of Buro Pinkpop, it is now the second time in a row that the Doolhof organizes a festival together with the organization of the ‘Oppe Ruiver’ blues festival.
Last year it was all rather last minute with many Dutch acts, but now it is a very international program with a great variety of styles. The festival has 1 stage and 20 minutes of set-up time. Great to get some food and drinks and chat with blues friends and acquaintances. This is my preference over a jam-packed day with overlapping stages.
Ralph de Jongh started his session at exactly 1 o’clock. Despite the heat, Ralph had put his shirt back on after the sound check. As we are used to from Ralph, the sparks flew from the first moment. Not a moment of rest on stage, busy with his entire band and a set with his own songs such as his tribute to Harry Muskee ‘Harry’ and the Junior Wells cover ‘Snatch it back’. Many songs feature guitarist Tim Birkenholz in a leading role, what a great guitarist he is.
Peer Gynt is unknown to me but certainly someone I will follow in the future. What a fantastic opener is ‘Freddies Shuffle’. The audience immediately knows what kind of band it is. Powerful blues rock solos with a show element here and there, although he sometimes needs a few too many notes, less is sometimes more. ‘Cincinnati jail’ and Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Oh well’ made several people get up from their seats to watch the band from closer by in the burning sun.
Kai Strauss and The Electric Blues Allstars play a much more traditional blues. A Hammond is also a pleasure after the violence of Peer Gynt. It has been two years since he released his last album and his show has not changed much compared to the last time I saw him.
The somewhat older ‘Guest in the house of the blues’ remains one of my favorites, a bit funky a bit blues. The hips can move. Time also passed too quickly with Kai and he wanted to play ‘that song’ (Paul Jobson on vocals). You have to have the guts to end a blues rock festival with a slow song like Freddie King’s ‘Same old blues’.
Completely different again are Raphael Wressnig feat. Donniele Graves & Enrico Crivellaro Graves is not yet on stage for the first two funky numbers, but greats Raphael and Enrico can do very well without her. What a wonderful number is the starter ‘No More Okey Doke’. New Orleans style, Funky, Soul but also blues again because of Enrico. When Grave comes on, it swings twice as much. With a number like ‘It’s your thing’ by The Isley Brothers you know what you’re getting, a mixture of gospel, rhythm and blues and soul. With ‘Southern Fried Chicken’ both Raphael and Enrico were able to show what they can do, what a fantastic combination of musicians this is. The festival has been very varied so far and is flying by, half the day is already over.
A great unknown to me live is the Vargas Blues Band. The band is presented as Spanish but only Vargas himself is Spanish. It is an international company with a Dutch drummer, Peter Kunst and to be honest I found it a bit disappointing compared to what I had already seen today. The beginning of the set was even a bit boring and monotonous despite the solos of Javier Vargas. With ‘Whiskey woman and wine’ the tempo clearly increased. The set needed that too. With ‘Blues magic’ the brakes were released and Vargas finally showed what he could do. Ultimately positive about the whole set.
Festivals increasingly program their most important act as the second to last. This was also clearly visible with the Band of Friends. The audience had streamed forward to dance to the band that plays in memory of Rory Gallagher. After working with many different guitarists, you can see a solid band emerging lately with former members Garry McAvoy and Brandon O’niel. Guitarists Jim Kirkpatrick and Paul Rose complete the band.
Both are well-rehearsed and the solos fly around your ears. After the start ‘Messing with kid’, a number of the band’s own songs were also performed. However, the audience clearly came for Rory classics such as ‘Bad penny’ and ‘Shadow Play’. Wildly dancing and singing along, this hour passed by quickly. This is clearly a Rory Gallagher-loving audience and they don’t need ‘Bullfrog blues’ and ‘Tattoo’d Lady’ to have a fantastic evening.
The festival closed with Big Pete with his 13 – a Tribute to Lester Butler. Fortunately, most of the audience had stayed, although there were some gaps visible. It remained pleasantly busy at the stage. Unfortunately, the band started a bit too late due to some problems and with the strict closing time of 23:00, this also means a shorter set.
Unfortunately, Alex Schultz was not there this time, but with Sander Kooiman as a replacement, that is of course fine. The band also consisted of Johnny ‘Captain’ Morgan on drums, Mississippi’ Mike Hightower on bass and Zach Zunis on guitar. The start was very promising with ‘Automatic’ early in the set. A good move to attract the audience.
In addition to Lester Butler songs, covers were also played. ‘Early in the morning’ became a version of almost 10 minutes. That these are all true musicians became clear when Kooiman’s amplifier broke during a solo, a nod and the solo was taken over by Zunis. Zunis has a nice way of playing solos. He walks all over the stage and seems to be dancing, a pleasure to watch.
That the audience came for Lester Butler songs like ‘Devils woman’ was clearly audible in the applause. At the end of the set, Enrico Crivellaro was called onto the stage. A fantastic closing followed with 3 guitarists on stage.
Lou Giesen thanked all volunteers and immediately announced the first two artists for 2025, Dom Martin and the Leif de Leeuw band. With this in mind, that will also be a fantastic edition.
So make a note in your agenda: Saturday 6 September 2025 Blues Festival De Doolhof!
