Were you there?
Updated on May 2, 2011What a weekend in Thornhill: the pubs were mobbed on Friday and Saturday as a raft of blues bands played at the first festival. Were you there? Who was your stand-out favourite at the main event?
Leave your comments or click the links below to review the bands at the main event…
Chantel McGregor
Blues’n'Trouble
Oli Brown Band
Aynsley Lister
18 Responses
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Categories: Blues News
excellent weekend ! friendly venues, great music,looking forward to next festival,will recommend to everyone
02.05.2011 15:27
Sinister Footwear and Baby Isaacs were great on the Friday night along with The Cats but Saturday was stolen by Earl Grey and the Loose Leaves for me, Rainbow Stairs awesome too. What a fabulous weekends entertainment with great people, weather and bands. Roll on next year!!
02.05.2011 16:49
Aynsley lister was the deserved headliner on the saturday night, top quality in every department, from the playing to the vocals, worth the cover charge alone, but the other acts just added to the great value, just a pity Chantelle Mc Gregor looked a bit disenterested on and off stage, superb guitarist though. Roll on next year!!
02.05.2011 20:20
dave acari was excellant at the elmar , the standard of all the acts was fantastic in all the pub’s .thornhill should be like this more often well done to everyone involved
03.05.2011 08:47
Amazing weekend, surprise act for me were Balmoral Road at the Thornhill Inn on Saturday, very polished for a young band and great vocals! They will go far.
04.05.2011 13:54
My wife and I have just arrived home from the borders yesterday, stayed an extra few days as the area is so nice and the people so friendly , had a great time at the festival we met a lot of old friends and a whole lot of new once, the weather was great all weekend and the venues were good , all the bands were excellent ,my particular favourites were Dave Arcari, Baby Issac, Mike Whellans, the Stone Pony, the Cats were really exiting great rock and roll band , my favourite blues band over the weekend was THE YAHS , congratulations to all the organisers and helpers for this your first festival see you all next year Alfie Dickson Chairman The Smokie Blues Organisation
05.05.2011 12:22
What a great weekend of blues, friendly people and good venues, well done to all the organisers etc. campsite close to town was really appreciated, 15 minutes walk also good bus route and taxi service for getting back. Friday, Sinister Footwear, Baby Isaac and the Cats were the fav’s for us, Saturday it was Dave Arcari, The Wise Guys, Stone Pony and Deluxe, but really everyone we saw were very good. Roll on next year, same spot on the campsite.
05.05.2011 13:44
Fantastic weekend,everyone so friendly,great atmosphere and great music! Friday night open mic at the elmar brilliant!!!
05.05.2011 15:54
Baby Isaac and Stone Pony for me , outstanding bands . But Earl Grey were spoiled by the sound mixing to loud for the venue , sent me home early
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Think you need to finish the pubs earlier may have pushed more people toward the main event………just an idea . yours in blues.
05.05.2011 17:33
What a great weekend, great bands, frielndly folk and good venues. Campsite was good, not too far from town. All the bands were great but our favourites were Sinister Footwear, Baby Isaac, The Cats The Wise Guys. Stone Pony and Deluxe. Really looking forward to seeing you all next year and thanks for all the hard work put in to organise this weekend.
06.05.2011 10:29
Hi folks. Had a great time playing in the bucchleuch. Thanks to everyone who bore with us until we eventually managed to get the gig started. If anyone has any photos/videos of our performance it would be great if you could send us a wee copy of them (or links for videos) to theseventhsonsbluesband@live.co.uk thanks again and hope to see you all soon
06.05.2011 10:51
thanks to all acts who played and attended at the elmarglen great weekend and congrats to organizers of the event
davy and frances elmarglen
06.05.2011 16:23
I saw the 4 artists/bands at Wallace Hall on the saturday. I had intended travelling to Kinross and Glasgow to see Oli Brown and Chantel McGregor but found out they were both at the first Thornhill Blues Festival. I attend upwards of fifty gigs a year but thought the atmosphere, professionalism, friendliness and quality of artists at the event was fantastic. It’s always nice to meet the musicians and they were incredibly friendly, being available from 4.00pm until midnight to talk to everyone! Congratulations to the organisers and all involved, I’ll be back next year with more friends for another great night of music.
06.05.2011 19:28
As a blues fan originally from Dumfries, it was great to return to the area to see some of my favourite bands at the festival, and see some other great acts too. The weekend was organised so well and the main stage set up was excellent. Watch out for a futuure review in Blues Matters magazine.
10.05.2011 22:53
Stone Pony would like to say thanks for having us at the festival. A great event and fantastic audiences, we had a blast! Hope it was the first of many. Cheers!
13.05.2011 21:57
All the guys in the band would like to say thanks for inviting us to play the festival. It was great to be a part of what will hopefully be a roaring success for many years to come. Bring on next year!
18.05.2011 00:02
Started off with Guinness and Gallagher at Wallace Hall back in the early 70’s and haven’t look back since. Saw ZZ Top and Skynyrd at inaugural Bamajam in Alabama and Joe Bonammassa and Gary Moore at inaugural High Voltage (avec Neil Rodan) but rest assured it was well worth coming down from Invergordon to be a part of the inaugural Thornill Blues Festival. Full marks to organisers!! Thanks for the efforts of all who made this happen. Good to see some auld kent faces and catch up over a beer – hope to see you again next year. Slainte!
19.05.2011 21:39
Loads of great footage now on youtube!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
24.05.2011 23:58