Harbour Blues 'n Roots Festival continues to evolve

HARBOUR BLUES ‘N ROOTS FESTIVAL

Where: Ship Point, Inner Harbour, Victoria
When: Friday, Aug. 23–Sunday, Aug. 25
Tickets: $39 from rmts.bc.ca (250-386-6121) or the Victoria Jazz Society Office (250-388-4423); festival pass for $99

When organizers of the former — and long-running — Vancouver Island Blues Bash changed the festival’s moniker in 2022, it was a move designed to give additional genres of music a presence on the bill.

That decision paid immediate dividends. Audiences at the BC Smoke Shop Harbour Blues ‘n Roots Festival have seen everyone from Latin star Alex Cuba (in 2022) to Grammy Award-winning multi-hyphenate Fantastic Negrito (2023) in recent years, alongside traditional blues acts that were the foundation of Blues Bash for the better part of 30 years.

“We definitely wanted to stretch the scope of what was available to us both locally and internationally,” said Kristen Binley, communications co-ordinator and programming assistant for the Victoria Jazz Society, which produces the event. “That opened it up to roots, country, and world music, while sticking to the blues, R&B and soul that we always had [at Blues Bash].”

This year’s line-up at Ship Point in the Inner Harbour offers another intoxicating musical mixture. Seattle rhythm and blues favourites The Dip (who performs Friday), California blues bastions Rick Estrin & the Nightcats (Saturday) and Nashville-born Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies singer Mike Farris and the Fortunate Few (Sunday) have been assembled as headliners for the three-day event. The Harbour Blues ‘n Roots Festival has widened its scope further this year by including everyone from jazzy Vancouver singer Krystle Dos Santos to Canadian Beauty, a popular Grateful Dead tribute from Victoria.

The schedule through the weekend is a busy one, with eight free afternoon performances leading into sets by the nightly headliners, all of which takes place at Ship Point. “We usually have a late-night venue, but we are not doing one this year so it’s a lot more centralized,” Binley said.

Headliners are always the draw, but the free programming is expected to make a big impression this year. Some of the standouts are from Vancouver Island, which gives a local flavour to the event. And two of those, young Victoria group The Smokestacks and Nanaimo upstart James Vickers, who is just 14 years-old, are being tapped by Binley as ones to watch this weekend.

As for the weather, cloud cover and rain being in the forecast is not dampening the spirits of organizers or the performers involved, Binley said. “The forecast is changing every hour. It’s going to go ahead rain or shine.”

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