 Sweet 16
The past couple of years I have gone to the Ritzville Blues Festival and have had the funnest time! It is always full of nice people all there to see great music, drink cold beers, and enjoy some BBQ. Since we were going to the Gorge that night to see Coldplay, and Ritzville is on the way we decided to leave town early and check out the Ritzville Blues Festival. When we arrived it was around 1:30pm and it was about 97 degree's out.
Downtown Ritzville was blocked off and full of lawn chairs, motorcycles, food vendors, and one big stage in the heart of historic Ritzville. One of the cool aspects of his festival is that you have live music outside on the main stage and then in certain bars in the same area you can catch more bands that play inside as well. I was with my good friend Kirby and unfortunately he is only 20 so we caught three great bands on the main stage.
First off we caught The Strange tones that had a sassy female singer and guitar player. The band was full of energy had cool lyrics and were rockin'. It was a great way to arrive to the festival. This year was the Sweet 16 Celebrating the Women of Blues. Therefore, each band we saw had a women front-"lady."
 Debbie Davis took the stage next and in her red cowboy boots, zebra shorts, and red hat; she got the floor movin after warming up with some true blues. She had a female bass player that worked the crowd as well, along with her drummer. Debbie invited Robin up on stage who was the first act of the day. It was funny, the trains go through Ritzville all day and right before Debbie was introducing Robin a train blew its horn so Debbie said Robin will be here in a second she just arrived on the train. A second after that Robin came up on stage and killed it with her harmonica.
Tempa & the Tantrums were the last band we saw for the day (since we had to head to the Gorge) and complete with a saxophone they put on a great set. The female singer had a lot of attitude and put her heart into her vocals. There were a lot of songs about men both good and bad and a lot of talented foxy blues women!
Even in the heat it was a lot of fun to spend the afternoon in Ritzville checking out great music, cool shops like the "Flying Arts Ranch," and admiring the whole block of motorcycles. I am excited to see who will be playing next year, in the second week of July!
Check out more pics from the festival HERE!
Andrea@checkitoutmusic.com |
