Blues Alive will celebrate M. Jagger and K. Richards’ eightieth birthdays. Thirty bands will play in total, including G. Love & Special Sauce, Robert Finley and Tommy Castro

During the Saturday afternoon concert, an all-star line-up of the Czech music scene will play their work, with an emphasis on songs from their solo careers, but of course accompanied by tastings of Stones songs. Special guest of the concert will be Israeli-American singer Mikey Ariel. Honza Ponocný has invited David Babka (pedal steel guitar, guitar), Jakub Zomer (piano, Hammond organ), Jakub Vejnar (bass guitar) and Martin Kopriva (drums).

The Blues Alive festival will offer a total of over thirty performers on two stages in the Šumperk House of Culture. The headliners will be American blues, funk and hip hop legend G. Love & Special Sauce, American blues singer Robert Finley, who was discovered in his sixties by The Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach, American guitarist and three-time winner of the last Blues Music Awards Tommy Castro and The Painkillers, guitarist Alvin Youngblood Hart, blues-rock guitarist Bernard Allison and saxophonist and singer Jimmy Carpenter, who is leading his own project. Visitors will also see touring musicians from the Chicago Blues Festival or a concert by Memphissippi Sounds’ Cameron Kimbrough and harmonica player Damion “Yella P” Pearson.

This year will also offer interesting perspectives on blues crossover – that is, the blending of blues with other genres and styles. These include GravelRoad, who have a wealth of experience with the darkest form of blues and grunge. French band Delgres uniquely blend orthodox historical blues with Caribbean rhythms. Other French guests include Shaggy Dogs with their wild music, which the band themselves call a “blues’n’roll fiesta”.

The festival will also bring some new blues faces such as the brilliant British-Norwegian guitarist Krissy Matthews, the talented Australian singer and slide guitarist Kara Grainger, Steven’s, a six-piece formation from the west of Bohemia that mixes elements of blues, rock and funk, and other bands emerging from the Blues Aperitiv talent competition Dazed and Confused and Black Pin. Also playing will be bassist Danielle Nicole, the current Blues Music Award winner in the Instrumentalist of the Year category, or the first Belgian band in the history of Blues Alive, Boogie Beasts. Also performing will be the seven-member Polish formation Dark Leaves, winners of the Audience Award at this year’s Blues Aperitiv, the Prague power trio Cold Licks with frontman Jonáš Ledecky, singer-songwriter Jakub Noha with guitarist Petr Bublák, guitarist and occasional singer Jan Martinek, who celebrates his seventieth birthday this year, quartet Readymade Backsliders and The Bladderstones, who will celebrate ten years of existence at this year’s Blues Alive.

In the beautiful surroundings of the Monastery Church will play British singer-songwriter James Harries, guitarist Honza Ponocný with his project Cirkus Ponorka and one of the most expressive and energetic contemporary singer-songwriters Jana Štromská.

The Blues Alive programme will be enriched by accompanying events – jam sessions, an exhibition of photographs of blues musicians by Finnish photographer Pertti Nurmi, winner of the Keeping the Blues Alive award in the photo category, masterclasses with guitarist Krissy Matthews and representatives of North Hill Country Blues in Kultibar, listening programmes by publicists Jiří Moravčík and Ondřej Konrád, and a screening of the biographical film Elvis in the Oko cinema.
Visitors can also look forward to organizational news. We will further develop the model of two alternating stages introduced last year. We will upgrade the Jam Stage to a full-fledged festival stage, which will also feature prominent foreign performers. It will be an insulated heated tent with an 8 meter wide stage. Visitors will also be able to take part in a raffle for music prizes including a signed electric guitar, with proceeds going to Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion.

The festival will also travel outside Šumperk – the Blues Alive Tour will take place from 11^th to 19^th November. The American Memphissippi Sounds will perform there together with Jan Fic. The tour will stop in Benešov, Prague, Veselí nad Moravou, Olomouc, Mikulov, Valašské Meziříčí, Bystrý v Orlických horách and Javorník.

The last remaining festival passes are on sale and we are also selling tickets for individual accompanying programs.

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