There was a great lineup at this festival! We could not believe the small turnout for such quality entertainment! Famous names like, Pat Travers (never thought I would have the opportunity to see this group live in my lifetime what a special treat, at the helm, Pat Travers, along with his band of guitar heros, all masters of blues, rock, guitar musicianship & fusion of sound within the group at a level not often seen these days), Mickey Thomas & the BluesMasters, this really is a fine grouping of musicians, the harp player, everyone has a place in this band kep us dancing & singing, Elvin Bishop, not to disappoint, including with his famous "Fooled Around & Fell in Love" duet with singer, Mickey Thomas, whose gospel inspired voice at many times, reaches heights that reach right into our souls & inspires to enjoy being right here, right now!!
Lesser known names to you maybe, but not to us, Shemekia Copeland (singing like to make her daddy, Johnny Copeland proud), Ruthie Foster, and her band of merry-women, playing their hearts out right there for us, including a five-stringed bass & fiddle player! Also, Ruthie's invitational duet w/Shemekia was awesome! The always wonderful & real, Eddie Shaw & his incredible band, including his son, Van Shaw on an instrument I can only call a three-necked guitar (I missed the name of it but he sure can play that thing!)! Not to be forgotten, Kenny Neal always brings his "A" game,
John Mayall, will always be my hero. He can always be counted on to bring home any show you give him & again, like the true Master he is, he will play until the people go home & go home satisfied that now, John Mayall has played, we can go home knowing we did not miss a thing! If I were you, I would not miss this festival again! I can happily say, I didn't miss it this time!
All awesome performers who made us all feel like the most important music fans/scouts in these great musicians lives!
These BluesMasters all played their hearts out, like they were playing for a recording contract, like it was a full stadium, but really there were about 200 of us, a small but grateful crowd!
Thanks to all the producers/promoters of this show, the performers, volunteers, vendors, & support teams at this event!
Some of the food could have been better quality & pricing, but to be fair, we never did get to try the bar-be-cue which we heard was excellent. Prices could have been lower for beer also at $6.50 per beer.
We really hope if they are able to have a second annual Kissimmee BluesMasters festival, more people show up to support the vendors & artists because if given the opportunity, we will be there and reccommend to everyone else, not to miss this one again!