One of our favorite moments at last year’s Chicago Blues Festival was beginning our concert genealogy exploration while we watched guitar legend Bobby Parker demonstrate why his rhythm and grooves played a major inspirational role for Led Zeppelin after Jimmy Paige saw him rock the stage live.
Seeing Parker’s set and many other excellent performances from last year’s fest got us thinking more about Muddy Waters and Johnny Winter’s Mannish Boy magic.
Our time at the Blues Festival also sparked several live music experiments as we connected our current and past concert experiences in other genres like rock and hip hop.
And this year the Chicago Blues Festival (June 10 -12) is FREE admission so fans can enjoy another great lineup of artists and tributes to the history and future of blues music that’ll be rockin’ for three days on four stages along Chicago’s lakefront.
We’ve noted a few of our highlights below that we’re excited about and you can check out the full list of artist on festival website.
Go Mobile with the Blues
Well, last year we wrote hoping the Blues Festival would create an Android app. And now they have! You can download the Chicago Blues Festival Mobile app for Android and iPhone. Check out the apps and let us know what you think of them so we can add your experience to our mobile experiment.
What’s Your Chicago Blues Festival Story?
Been to Chicago Blues Festival before? Got a concert story to share? Planning to head out to the festival this year? We’ll be featuring fan and artist stories about Chicago Blues Festival and other concert experiences for a upcoming Live Fix Podcast episode and we’d love to share your story. To share your story drop a comment below!
Festival Highlights
Friday, June 10
Mississippi Juke Joint Stage
- 11:30 am – 12:15 pm – Panel Discussion of Robert Johnson w/ Steven Johnson (family of Robert Johnson)
Petrillo Music Shell
- 8:00 pm – 9:30 pm – Tribute to Robert Johnson: David “Honey Boy” Edwards, Rick Sherry, Rocky Lawrence, Hubert Sumlin and Duwayne Burnside Band
Saturday, June 11
Mississippi Juke Joint Stage
- 11:30 am – 12:30 pm Panel Discussion of the Mississippi Blues Trail: Jim O’Neal, Rip Daniels and Alex Thomas
- 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm Mississippi Jam Session featuring Dexter Allen
Sunday, June 12
Mississippi Juke Joint Stage
- 11:30 am – 12:00 pm Q & A Panel w/ Bruce Iglauer and Richard Shurman celebrating 40th Anniversary of Alligator Records
Petrillo Band Shell
- 6:00pm – 7:00 pm – Shemekia Copeland
- 7:30 – 9:00 pm Lonnie Brooks with guests Michael “Iron Man” Burks, Rick Estrin Ann Rabson and Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater: 40th Anniversary of Alligator Records
2010 Bobby Parker photo by Colleen Catania