Friday

Festival 2005 promised to be one of the most interesting so far and

Beautiful weather, wonderful setting by the river; a sylvan scene 2005 - Click to Enlarge

when the weather graced us with a beautiful weekend of sunshine and pleasant temperatures it was set up for us down by the riverside at The Shore Hotel.

People turned out in large numbers right from the off and despite the new venue at The Laxey FC just down the road The Shore Blues Marquee was as busy as ever and a tremendous weekend was had by everyone.

Mr Riff The Shore Hotel 2005 - Click to Enlarge

Mr Riff
Now comes with his own fan club in tow – The Riff Raff Crew
The Doctor opened The Festival at The Shore in his usual enthusiastic way
Played to a busy tent but by the end of the set more had come to see what was going on

Lonesome appear at The Shore Hotel 2005 in some very natty shirts - Click to Enlarge

Lonesome
Interesting set including hula and Hendrix
Very entertaining
Seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves which rubbed off on the crowd

The Sweeney
Mick Hegarty pops up with another new band!
Blues and soul numbers
Mick brought his usual presence to the stage
Fantastic brass section (trombone, trumpet and sax)
Crowd loved the performance and it got people up and having fun

Barry Nelson
First gig at the Blues Festival ever so a bit nervous!
Nerves disappeared once on stage

Richard Moore at The Shore Hotel 2005 - Click to Enlarge

Mixture of up beat and moody numbers
Played a blinding set that brought the tent down and an excellent end to Friday



Saturday Afternoon



Richard Moore
Hard time to play – first in the day
Started with an empty tent but brought quite a few in by the end
Traditional blues numbers
Excellent start to the afternoon

Manx Jazz Cats
Played a massively extended set and took it in their stride
Nice easy listening numbers for a sunny afternoon
Crowd were relaxed and responded well
Tent started to fill by the end of the set

Ben Dunderdale
Described his style as folk, rock, blues
Played some excellent original numbers
Real talent for the future and may well be back to the festival soon
Massive support from his family – especially his mum!
Good reaction from the growing numbers

String Theory
Lucky to get them to the Shore at short notice
Amazing guitarists
Intricate stuff which could have been lost in such a big tent with lots of noise
Audience appreciated the skills
Played a cracking set and wanted to keep going for longer

Saturday Evening

Tholtan Builders
Came with their usual merry band of supporters
Did not disappoint and made the crowd go wild
Especially impressive bongo performance from Graham "Straps" Joughin
Seemed to enjoy themselves
A good fun set – banjos and all!

Moonshine at The Shore Hotel 2005 - Click to Enlarge

Moonshine
Richard Moore back again but this time with his excellent band.
More Hendrix included in more of a rock set
Great music from good musicians
Set things up nicely for a good night

Mr Riff at The Shore Hotel 2005 - Click to Enlarge

Mr Riff
Played a blinder
Fed off the base of the night before
The Riff Raff Crew were back
He said that the night was "mad"
Went on a walkabout through the crowd, played on the tables and was mobbed by his fanclub
By the end the crowd was buzzing

Truman Falls
Much anticipated by all
Unfortunately lost half of the slot due to the mindless vandalism of some thick headed oafs cutting power to the stage
What they played was excellent and you can see what all the fuss is about
Took the problems in their stride and the audience appreciated it

Jelly Pond
What a finish!
Usual fantastic performance
Full of energy with their mix of reggae, ska and rock
Whipped crowd to a frenzy
Band enjoyed the atmosphere and wanted to play all night

Review notes by Paul Sayle


Sunday 15th May 2005

Sunday was a new day for us at the Shore, an addition to what has been so far just a Friday and Saturday event. Although the weather was not as brilliant as it had been for the weekend so far, it was dry and mild and the outlook was for some bright spells... how right that proved to be

The PA was in place and we were ready to go for 1.00pm but the sound engineers were still on winter time...or something and we were just beginning to wonder where they were when a phone call came through; "we're on our way..."

First up was Davy Knowles - he of Back Door Slam notoriety This was the first time that I had actually seen Davy and I still can't get over the rich tone of his voice never mind his skills on the guitar. It seems that the blues are in safe hands if Davy is anything to judge by.

Heather Watson had the job on following Davy. Well known on the local music scene Heather plays a set of her own original compositions and must be commended for this not only for having the courage of her convictions in doing so but also to open up her inner angst to the public gaze.

Lonesome were scheduled next and set the musical tone with their sartorial statement: Hawaiian. In shirts louder than some of the bands over the weekend we were treated to some lovely slide guitar work from Bill, Pete and David and the tones of those beautiful Pacific Islands and their National style guitars er... resonated, around the Shore Blues Marquee. Lovely stuff, perfect for a Sunday afternoon.

Steve Parry had originally been due to play a solo spot on Saturday afternoon but had had to cancel. So, we were delighted when he turned up on Sunday afternoon, guitar in hand (as always) and ready to play. After his set with Jelly Pond the night before when the whole place was rockin' he might have been forgiven for taking it easy. But Steve always gives it 110% and this afternoon was no exception.

Al Lawrence returned to The Shore from his Saturday performance and once again was perfect for the Survivors chilling out down at The Shore - nothing too energetic, just the job. But despite the relaxed mood Al managed to contrive to kick his lovely Martin guitar off it's stand and in so doing dislodged some inner workings which forced him to cut a little short his planned set.

And so to Danny Christian who personified the weekend. He was rung out, tired out, and sung out! His voice was completely shot but he managed to get up and sing us a few songs to round out what had been a marvellous, record breaking, tiring and very enjoyable weekend.

Thanks to everyone at The Shore: The landlord - Malcolm Yates , the PA sound engineers - Phil Maddrell and Dave Evans , Paul Sayle who stepped into the breach so effectively for Friday and Saturday, Henry Qualtrough for the lighting and especially all the musicians who, as usual, gave their time and skill for nothing so that we could once again raise money to help the Red Cross.

Sunday Review by Dave Ashton


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Manx Carvery at The Shore Hotel 2005 - Click to Enlarge

The River, the Boat Park & The Shore Hotel 2005 - Click to Enlarge