THE POPULAR Diggle Blues Festival returned to the village bigger and better than ever.
Despite some last minute line-up changes, the event went ahead smoothly after a two-year layoff.
Venues around the village were filled to capacity throughout the popular four-day event, which sees local musicians as well as those from further afield perform.
David Wood, from the organising committee, said: “The Festival went very well and the feedback we received in person and on social media was all very good.
“We did have to overcome some problems though. One band pulled out through illness three weeks before and one three days before! We phoned round for replacement bands and two bands came to the rescue.
“The Roadhouse Sinners played the rocky style of blues that goes down so well at the Diggle Band Club.
“The Tony Marshall Band was formed at very short notice to play at Kilngreen Hall. Someone asked me if it was a scratch band and I said it was – but it was more like a Saddleworth super-group, with Tony Marshall on saxophone, Tony Auton from the Tony Auton Band, Marshall Gill from New Model Army, Craig Fletcher from a re-formed version of Barclay James Harvest, a drummer from Atomic Rooster, and Gerry Burns as guest harmonica player for a couple of numbers.
“We have outgrown a couple of the venues but a good addition was the Wizards’ Hollow, the club house of the Road Wizards’ Motor Cycle Club, which is a large venue and now open to the public three nights a week.
“The festival ended with the Five Points Gang, consisting of an Englishman, a Frenchman and a Brazilian man, rocking the joint at Kilngreen Hall and having the vast majority of the audience up and dancing.”
• Find out more online: www.digglebluesfestival.co.uk
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