Although it is always a matter of waiting for the weather gods, this year they were kind to Helmond.
It led, especially in the afternoon, to full terraces and well-attended performances.
With 56 blues acts on the programme spread over three days, there is something for everyone to be interested in. Bluesmagazine had chosen Sunday to visit this great festival, a report.
The main reason to travel to Helmond on Sunday was Miguel Montalban, this guitarist from Chile can easily compete with men like Joe Sartriani and Steve Vai. Miguel is an artist with the wah wah pedal, the sounds he conjures up from his guitar are sublime.
It was a pity for him that he was on the programme so early, which meant that the audience was not yet very busy. Those who were there enjoyed a great show, despite the mediocre sound. Supported by top bassist Dionisio Perrez-Mavrogenis, and the drumming of Jerry Sadowski, Miguel conjured up a beautiful version of Electrifying (slide return), lets try and especially Awaken was of unprecedented beauty, You can doubt whether this has anything to do with blues but it was certainly beautiful.
The transition from the violence of Migule Montalban to Jefferey Halford and the Healers could hardly be greater, on the tiny stage in Lokaal 42 the desert blues of Jefery is always leekr blues to spend your afternoon with.
Certainly his drumming keyboardist Adam Rossi is a sight to behold. He also took the third voice with him in the songs for this performance. How the musical brain of this man works is a mystery to me. The third voice, because Jeffrey had brought his daughter Hannah with him for this short trip to Europe. Growing up with the blues, she felt perfectly how it should sound, which was evident in the cool version of walk to the river, subtle where it should be and building up powerfully towards the end.
After having caught a small part of Voltage, I visited Bas Paardekooper on the next stage. Bas is the man who made one of the most beautiful slow blues songs Broken heart for sale, which was also performed here in a beautiful version. Bas Paardekooper had disappeared from my radar for a while, but it was good to see him live again, in terms of voice and guitar playing he reminds me of Walter Trout and that is not bad. Bas recently released a number of singles that are very worthwhile, just like his performance at Blusroute Helmond was.
Via Leif de Leeuw and the power blues of Ruben Hoeke, who as always left a great impression and who has a great voice in the band with singer Lucas Pruim. All that combined with solid guitar-driven blues is nice to experience.
That experience also happened with Bex Marshall. This American guitarist/singer opened her performance with strong numbers from her album Fortuna, released this year, such as Preaching to the choir, Table for one and 5Am, but as the show progressed Bex felt that the audience was ready for something different and the resonator guitar was hung on with which Bex took us straight back to the swamps of Louisiana. Drawing from her album Kitchen table we were served a nice main course. This switch made the people in front of the stage dance.
The closing of the Bluesroute was for the Mark van Mourik band, and that can be a blessing but also a challenge. Such a weekend can be tiring so that people skip the last band. Unjustly because the Mark van Mourik band is perhaps the most underrated blues band in the Netherlands.
Mark van Mourik is a guitarist who worked for 15 years in America as a session and touring guitarist for Roy Roberts’ Rock House Records label. His band also consists of the German Hammond wizard Wolfgang Roggenkamp and master drummer Peter Weissink. Besides their own songs they bring classic blues rock in a beautiful civilized style full of beautiful solo work by Mark and Wolfgang, who give each other plenty of space. Add to that the inventive drumming of Peter and the whole guarantees a nice evening of blues.
