The fourth edition of the Blues & More Festival. Stichting Live Noord managed to put together a balanced line-up. Many Blues lovers found their way to Baflo to enjoy the artists and DJ. The event was therefore sold out.
The Frisian three-man formation Byrchwood, which is built around the charismatic frontman Tim Birkenholz, was allowed to start the afternoon. Many people had already flowed in to experience this performance. It was a cracking start with a beautiful build-up of the set and psychedelic highlights. It is no coincidence that it was already the sixth time that Tim would play in Baflo. He is a much sought-after musician and has a history with Electric Hollers and Ralph de Jongh’s band, among others. The latter played two beautifully subdued sets with Tim later in the evening.
After being absent for two editions, space was again made for a matching food stand, which was positioned outside in the sun. Music lovers could enjoy burgers, spareribs and wraps with pulled pork. This was provided to the full satisfaction of the visitors by caterers Buist & Top, also from the Hogeland.
After the first act had played, Livepodium Concorde started to fill up nicely with an audience. Partly attracted by stories from other visitors who were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of this likeable Limburger. Live Noord managed to get top talent Luca Holkenborg early on.
Luca, who has just turned 15, recently swapped band Uncle Rudi for the experienced southern rockers Mojo Hand. In Baflo it soon became clear what his star was rising for. Nice spontaneous jams, tight solos and good teamwork made for a memorable performance.
With this he also followed in the footsteps of his distant relative Tom Holkenborg, who performed in Baflo twice a few decades ago with Band Nerve and as Junkie XL.
Who knows what kind of great future this young guitar fanatic will have… On Sunday 12 October he already received his first award from the highly regarded Dutch Blues Foundation.
During the breaks, the choices from the ever-expanding record collection of Bafloër Klaas Zuidema, aka DJ Red Bottle, were very popular! There was a lot of dancing and there were many “oh yes, this is good” moments after the first seconds of the popular predecessor of CDs were played.
After the audience had warmed up properly, it was the turn of both headliners on the bill. AJ Plug has been working hard on her new album in recent months, which was released on Saturday 12 October at Podium Scum in Katwijk aan Zee.
In Baflo, at least one song from the new album ‘Underneath your skin’, which will be available on CD/LP, was played: Part of me. After a cracking hour, the show was concluded with an impressive long solo by guitarist Sebastiaan Fledderman (formerly Uncle Jimmy, participant GrasPoll). It was easy to see why this band belongs to the Bluestop of the Netherlands!
Another band that certainly belongs in the same list is closing act King of the World. Under the inspiring leadership of frontman Ruud Weber, they played as if their lives depended on it.
It was a bit of a shock when we saw Marlon Pichel enter in a sling, he had bruised his hand during a performance the day before. However, this did not discourage him and he enchanted the audience with his soulful voice, playing style and dandy ’70s clothing style.
He was also there during edition 1 (resp. 2019) with Rotterdam band Bourbon Avenue). Where K.O.T.W. at Graspop a few years ago, was still on stage with co-founder Erwin Java, now there is room for Belgian virtuoso Stef Delbaere. Keyboardist Govert van der Kolm came off stage after a good hour, sweaty but satisfied, and it seemed as if he played all the keyboards and Hammond like some kind of Marsupilami or octopus.
After briefly leaving the stage, the band returned to loud cheers for an encore, before they started a long drive back to the west. Blues & More had passed by at a hypersonic speed, as if it were a real Concorde.
