If you took any photographs at the festival then why not enter our Photography Competition. It's open to everyone

Tony's Take - Tony Winfield - Nottingham Blues Society Web Designer

Having attended the last six Butlins Rock and Blues Festivals I suppose that I can be called a veteran. Buying your ticket is always a matter of taking “pot luck” as it's the only festival that doesn't publish an accurate list of performers before the event. This year wasn't any different.
When we arrived and were finally presented with the line up many of the “usual suspects” were missing and replaced by some of the UK's promising youngsters .. a good sign.
This year the format was a little different with the Reds venue leaning towards the Rock side and Centre Stage mainly Blues with the odd “Tribute” band and old stager thrown in at both venues.
Anyone that knows me will know that my other passion is photography and I'm one of those annoying people who tries to fight my way to the front of the stage brandishing a camera and telephoto lens which I try sticking through every available gap in the crowd. Seriously though, the majority of us do try to be considerate and cause as little annoyance as possible.
Friday night we headed to Centre stage which started with the Ben Waters Band. I'm not into keyboard based bands but I must admit that he had my feet tapping a bit. The Blues Band afterwards were more my kind of music. I admire Dave Kelly and Tom McGuinness as guitarists and they've got a great rhythm section but one of the high spots was Paul Jones playing an ad lib 'Moondance” in the middle of a harp solo.
Saturday lunch time was a pretty good session with Gary Fletcher playing an upside down strung acoustic and demonstrating that he's probably the most underestimated songwriter in the Blues Band. His colleague Dave Kelly was up next in a duet with the fantastic Maggie Bell, more laid back than with the BBQ and Stone the Crows but still showing that her vocals kick ass.
The Animals are in the “are they a tribute band” category now but there's no arguing that the sound is authentic and Pete Barton is a pretty good substitute for Eric Burdon.
We hit Reds first for the evening session for a taste of the Blues “Younguns”. I'd looked forward to seeing The Jay Tamkin Band having only seen Jay in a jam session previously but I must agree with the others in our party, his talent is undoubted but he tends to distract from his music with “tricks”.
Chantel was amazing and the fact that the huge crowd adored her brought out the best in her. I'm no guitar expert but all the subtleties are in there, hearing her play SRV's 'Lenny' was awesome. She has a massive future and I can't wait for her first album.
Back to Centre Stage next and like Sue I was underwhelmed with the Mick Taylor band but the total mayhem of Eddie and the Hotrods was a fantastic way to end the night.
 Sunday afternoon began with the Electric Revelators which were the type of band that you'd probably see on the fringe of most festivals, there was some pretty good lap steel midway through the set but as a fan of Son Henry I've been well and truly spoilt as far as seeing that instrument played is concerned.
The rest of the session was pretty laid back with some great songs from John Williamson and Mike Bowden and haunting sax from Snake Davis.
The last evening session saw us in Centre Stage, I would have loved to have seen the Deborah Bonham Band who were first up in Reds but it's Butlins and if you haven't queue for a least an hour you stand for the rest of the night so once you have a seat you don't leave it !
Butlins regulars Roadhouse were up first, a real festival band, great music and great to watch, all energy from start to finish.
Stan Webb's Chicken Shack were next, the first time that we'd seen them, I really enjoyed them.
By the time Nine Below Zero came on, as expected the place was heaving. There was little chance of getting any decent photos by now without fighting through the rugby scrum at the front of the stage so I just shot away from where I stood and enjoyed the music.
I'd have like to have stayed and got some shots of the Oli Brown Band but the room hadn't cleared very much and I was too drained to fight my way through the crowd.
All in all a great weekend and some great company.

See Simon Gledhill's view of the Festival by clicking this link

See Sue Hickling's view of the Festival by clicking this link