The Best Blues Music Festivals of 2018
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The Best Blues Music Festivals of 2018. Check out our top picks and get your groove on at one of these great events!
Chicago Blues Festival
The Chicago Blues Festival is the largest free blues festival in the world and has been taking place since 1984. Every year, over half a million people come to enjoy the music, food, and culture of the city’s blues scene. The festival takes place on Chicago’s lakeside in Grant Park and features stages with both local and international talent.
Location
The Chicago Blues Festival is the world’s largest free blues festival. Held in early June in Grant Park on Chicago’s lakefront, the festival features three stages with more than five dozen top blues musicians from around the country.
History
The Chicago Blues Festival is the largest free blues festival in the world and has been held annually in Chicago, Illinois since 1984. It is always held on the last full weekend in June in Grant Park. The 2018 festival will take place June 8–10.
The festival celebrates the genre of music that originated in the Mississippi Delta and was developed in the urban areas of Chicago and other cities in the Midwest. The festival features both national and international artists performing a wide variety of blues styles, including traditional, contemporary, electric, and gospel blues.
Music
The Chicago Blues Festival is the largest free, outdoor blues festival in the world and attracts blues lovers from all over the globe. The music presented at this three-day event is top-notch, with both well-known headliners and up-and-coming talent taking the stage. If you’re a fan of the blues, this is definitely a festival you won’t want to miss.
In addition to great music, the Chicago Blues Festival also offers food and drink vendors, merchandise booths, and plenty of other things to keep you entertained. Even if you’re not a huge fan of blues music, this festival is worth checking out for the atmosphere alone.
Beale Street Music Festival
The Beale Street Music Festival is one of the best blues music festivals of 2018. This year, the festival will be held from May 4th to May 6th in Memphis, Tennessee. The festival will feature a wide range of blues artists, from legends like B.B. King to up-and-comers like Keb’ Mo’. If you’re a fan of blues music, this is a festival you won’t want to miss.
Location
The Beale Street Music Festival is an annual three-day music festival held in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. The festival is a celebration of blues, rock, R&B, and hip-hop, and it features a wide range of musical artists from all over the world. The 2018 festival will be held from May 4-6.
History
The Beale Street Music Festival is a three-day, four-stage event in historic Tom Lee Park on the downtown riverfront. The festival features more than 60 acts and is known for its diverse lineup of blues, rock, R&B, soul, hip-hop and alternative music. It is the first of the four major Memphis music festivals held throughout the year.
The festival began in 1977 as a one-day event with only a few thousand attendees. Today, the Beale Street Music Festival draws close to 100,000 people each year. The lineup features both local and national acts, and the festival has become known for showcasing up-and-coming talent.
Music
The Beale Street Music Festival is a three-day, four-stage event in Memphis, Tennessee. Held annually on the first full weekend of May, the festival showcases a variety of musical styles, including rock, indie, hip hop, and of course, blues. More than 100 acts perform at the festival each year, making it one of the largest music festivals in the country.
This year’s lineup includes performances by Jack White, Queens of the Stone Age, David Byrne, The Killers, Paramore, Fleet Foxes, Godsmack, Stone Sour, and many more. In addition to great music, the festival also features a food court with local and regional vendors offering a variety of cuisines.
New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival
New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is a musical extravaganza that celebrates the best of the blues. The festival features a wide range of musical genres including gospel, R&B, rock, and of course, jazz. The event takes place in the beautiful city of New Orleans, Louisiana, and attracts blues lovers from all over the world.
Location
The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, often called Jazz Fest, is a music festival celebrating the indigenous music of New Orleans and Louisiana, taking place annually for two weekends in late April – early May. The 2018 dates are April 27 – May 6. Founded in 1970 to celebrate the city’s musical heritage, the festival is held in Louis Armstrong Park in Mid-City New Orleans.
History
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, often referred to as Jazz Fest, is an annual celebration of the music and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana. The festival is held over two weekends in April, and features a wide variety of musical genres including jazz, blues, R&B, rock ‘n’ roll, rap, gospel, Cajun, zydeco, Latin, and Caribbean. More than 400 artists perform on more than a dozen stages throughout the complex. In addition to music, the festival also features food from some of New Orleans’ best restaurants, as well as art & crafts from local and regional artisans.
Jazz Fest was founded in 1970 by George Wein (founder of the Newport Folk Festival and Newport Jazz Festival), along with businessman Alan Jaffe and civic leaders including Thomas B. Moore Jr., Gus Weill, Harold Dejan, Stanley Weiss, and Pierre Bennett. The first Jazz Fest was held on April 22-23, 1970 at Congo Square in Louis Armstrong Park (then known as Beauregard Square). Tickets for the event cost $3 ($1 for children under 12) and over 33,000 people attended the two-day event.
Over the years, the festival has grown in size and scope, becoming one of the premier music festivals in the country. In 1972, Jazz Fest moved to its current location at the Fairgrounds Race Course (now known as The New Orleans Fairgrounds), where it has been held ever since. In 1975, Jazz Fest expanded to three days (Friday-Sunday), and in 1977 it added a Thursday night preview concert featuring headlining artists. In 2014, the festival added a seventh stage dedicated to Louisiana music legends.
Jazz Fest is widely recognized as one of the best blues music festivals in the country. It has been nominated for a Grammy award for Best Traditional Blues Album six times (winning twice), and was named one of the “50 Greatest Music Festivals of All Time” by Consequence of Sound magazine in 2015.
Music
The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, commonly known as Jazz Fest, is a world-renowned music festival that has been taking place in New Orleans, Louisiana for nearly 50 years. The event features eight stages of non-stop music with a lineup of both local and international musicians spanning genres such as blues, rock, jazz, R&B, and more. Jazz Fest also has a strong focus on the culinary arts, with over 60 food booths offering traditional Louisiana cuisine.
In recent years, the festival has become increasingly popular, with attendance numbers reaching close to 400,000 people. Jazz Fest takes place over the course of two weekends (April 27-29 & May 3-6) at the historic New Orleans Fairgrounds Racetrack. If you’re a fan of live music and good food, there’s no better place to be than Jazz Fest!
