On a sunny afternoon in the high desert town of Adelanto, an enthusiastic crowd gathered for a full day of music and fun at Mavericks Heritage Field at the inaugural Adelanto New Blues Festival. The event, featuring as the headliner the classic blues band Canned Heat, and backed up by eight other blues bands, presented some great music from start to finish. From the George Foster Band doing a blistering version of Spoonful, Victor Crain went on to give a great performance of the blues, followed by DJ Parker and his guitar.
The Blue Henry’s were a big hit with their combination of traditional blues songs plus some stunning original tunes, followed by DJ Parker’s rocking version of some blues and rock tunes. The Mighty Mojo Prophet’s fans were in attendance for their favorite band while, the 44’s went full speed ahead with some excellent original blues tunes. New Blues Revolution warmed up the crowd with their exciting combination of rock, blues and soul tunes.
As evening came on, Canned Heat performed an excellent show, with a mix of their classic tunes started with On the Road Again and included such well-known songs as Going Up the Country, Let’s Work Together and a dynamite version of Rollin’ and Tumblin‘. By the time they finished with a great boogie that only Canned Heat can do so well, the crowd was dancing in the aisles. Boxcar 7 closed out the evening with a good mix of blues, soul and event big band tunes.
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A special moment was a tribute to the late ‘King of the Blues’, B.B. King. Instead of a moment of silence, the crowd was told that “The worst thing a musician can hear is silence”. They were then lead into a cheer for B.B., filling the stadium with applause. All in all, it was an excellent day of music and a sign of great things to come for next year.
