By Amy Pollock
OPEN House Festival has now added a week-long blues and jazz event to its bustling summer programme.
The brand-new Bangor Blues and Jazz Week will bring Open House Festival’s total number of events to 136, hosting more than 40 free events across the city during the August Bank Holiday weekend, and a further 15 ticketed events at the Court House and Walled Garden venues between August 18 to 25.
The Bangor Blues and Jazz Week will act as an alternative to the Seaside Revival Vintage Festival, which due to the anticipated development work on Bangor seafront, has been put on pause for 2025.
Kieran Gilmore, director of Open House Festival, said the team originally came up with the idea of a small Blues and Jazz event within the main August festival, which has now turned out to be ‘not so small’.
“We’ve collaborated with 10 city centre bars to produce a Blues and Jazz trail that will run from Central Avenue, down to King Street, up High Street, and along the seafront. And thanks to support from Ards and North Down Council, and Beamish, it’s all free,” said Mr Gilmore.
Acts performing at the Bank Holiday weekend trail include the Lee Hedley Blues Band, the Linley Hamilton Trio, Double Standards, Frank Carberry, Belfast Groove Collective and In Full Swing, who will play in participating bars and venues including The Imperial, The King’s Quay, Rabbit Rooms, Wolsey’s and The Nines.
Ticketed events will include award-winning singer-songwriter Katharine Timoney, one of Ireland’s leading jazz-soul crossover artists who has been tipped as ‘one to watch’ by BBC Introducing.
Other acts on the bill include English blues-rock trio The Zac Schulze Gang, popular local soul band Manukahunney, and local keyboard maestro Scott Flanigan who will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the best-selling solo jazz album of all time with his own tribute on a baby grand piano.
The Mayor of Ards and North Down, Gillian McCollum, said the addition of the Bangor Blues and Jazz Week will bring a ‘soulful dimension’ to the Open House Festival programme.
“With around 50 events held in 10 or more different venues across the city, many of which are free, there will be plenty of opportunities to enjoy this exciting new event,” said Mayor McCollum.
Andrew Hollywood, marketing manager for Beamish, said sponsoring the Bangor Blues and Jazz Week feels like ‘the perfect fit’.
“[The event] promises to be a fantastic showcase for blues and jazz music, and will no doubt generate a wonderful atmosphere in the city, especially over the weekend trail.”
Full details of the Bangor Blues and Jazz Festival are available via the Open House Festival website: www.openhousefestival.com
