Hundreds get the blues

KARON: A bit of rain and blustery winds couldn’t dampen the spirits of the hundreds of people who turned up for first night of the two-day Phuket Blues Festival 2005, in the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Arcadia Resort and Spa yesterday.

The event kicked off with the all-Thai Blue on Blue band from Bangkok, followed by Phuket’s own Big Fat Blues Band, featuring Phuket-based blues guitarist Trevor Fisher.

Shifting the evening into high gear was lead guitarist Big Jeff and his tight Thai combo, known collectively as the Soi Dog Blues Band. Down to Phuket from their normal haunt, Tokyo Joe’s Bar in Bangkok, Big Jeff and his accomplices enthralled the beer-swilling crowd with razor sharp riffs over precision bass.

The main event – mistaken by some as the early arrival of Santa Claus – was none other than blues legend Victor Brox. The white-bearded veteran of the British blues scene hunkered down over the keyboard for some scintillating blues, pulling out all the stops – and a trumpet and some castanets as well.

Tonight’s line-up, kicking off at about 6:30 pm, will start with Phuket’s very own Groove Doctors, followed by high-energy Bangkok-based blues quartet Cannonball, who are currently recording their first album.

After a performance by vocalist Kyla Brox, daughter of Victor, with Danny Blomeley accompanying on acoustic guitar, the blues orgy will climax with a performance by blues sensation the Rich Harper Band.

The highly acclaimed trio from Los Angeles will be concluding a two-week tour of Thailand with what promises to be a night of top-notch blues, featuring cuts off their debut album Don’t Think Just Play.

So don’t think, just come.

Some tickets are still available at 1,000 baht apiece and will be on sale this evening at the door, in the main lobby of the resort.