The Feel Good Festival
Rauma Blues 2024
August 15–17
Welcome to Rauma Blues – the Annual Blues Festival since 1986!
The culmination of the feel-good festival is the main concert in the traditional blues tent in the heart of the city, starred by the top blues musicians as well from the US and Europe as from Finland.
Before the topmost main concert we offer our famous blues club evenings: from coffee shops in the old town to a beach house by the sea, from a local legendary restaurant to a nowadays’ culture club and bars; blues from Soul Blues to Blues Rock, from acoustic ambience to psychedelic partying; solo acts, duos, trios and big bands.
We are truly proud to introduce our 2024 full program, and here it comes:
MAIN CONCERT
SATURDAY 17th AUGUST
THE MAIN CONCERT @ THE TENT ARENA
AT 4:00 PM DOORS OPEN
AT 5:00 PM SHOWTIME
AT 00:30 AM CURFEW
MAIN CONCERT ARTISTS AND BANDS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:
MUDDY WHAT? (GER)
The dynamic and inventive trio of young Munich musicians Muddy What? (DEU) serves refreshingly funky, full-bodied and down-to-earth blues with a modern presence. Muddy What? is highly valued in professional circles. A few years ago, winning the German Blues Challenge, has propelled the band to tour around the world. Over the past year, Muddy What? has toured elsewhere in the Nordic countries. Now it’s finally time to perform for the first time in Finland.
MILLION DOLLAR TONES (FIN)
According to Million Dollar Tones, music is what emotions sound like. The band, which is over a decade old, is quite a unique orchestra in Finland. Octet’s music combines rooty rhythm’n’blues and 50’s-style rock’n’roll with a hearty swing. In addition to drums, bass, guitar, piano and vocals, the sound is enhanced by a three-piece horn section. Despite the wild jungle rhythms and danceable groove, the rhythm blues group’s music does not compromise on its rooted elements. Repertoire is also balanced with blues ballads. The songs in the line-up are both their own production and tastefully selected loan classics.
SISTER COOKIE (GBR)
London’s ”black rose of the blues” Sister Cookie’s sound has been described to be like Little Richard, Mark Ronson, Nina Simone and Nick Cave tied together in the spirit of New Orleans. With her powerful and intoxicating voice and stage cut, Sister Cookie strikes all the way to the back edge of Rauma Blues’ tent arena.
The singer with a unique voice is also a composer and self-taught pianist, whose songs tell about heartbreak and other pains of being and living, but gently. Sister Cookie has toured Europe extensively with her band, performed around clubs in the UK, guested as a vocalist with various bands and hosted her own radio show.
CHRIS CAIN (USA)
Having debuted in the late 1980s, Chris Cain is today a legendary member of the blues temple and a source of musical inspiration. If you like the blues, you’ll inevitably like Chris Cain, the torchbearer of traditional blues and Memphis. Cain’s music has been influenced by pioneers such as B.B. King, Albert King and Ray Charles, perhaps even a hint of Albert Collins. Combine this with dazzling blues and jazz guitars, soulful baritone singing, original lyrics, sophisticated chord progression and mastery of horns and keyboards, and the result is Cain’s music. Everything is served with burning passion and urban coolness at the same time.
Cain, who has received several Blues Music Awards nominations in the Blues Guitarist of the Year -category, has already released 15 albums, the latest of which, Raisin’ Cain (2021), topped the blues charts for six months.
BERNARD ALLISON (USA)
Guitarist Bernard Allison, the son of Chicago Blues legend Luther Allison, keeps alive his father’s legacy, as anyone who has experienced his gig knows. Allison’s own style was also born in his father’s footsteps, as his father gave him full support to find his own musical voice. The essence of the doctrine passed from father to son was, above all, to manifest echoes of one’s own mood instead of copying what was presented earlier. This is all heard on Luther’s Blues (2024), the latest album by Bernard Allison, who made his debut more than three decades ago, in which he interprets his father’s songs into new versions of the guitar strings of the 2000s blues generation. With his previous album Highs & Lows (2022), Allison received a nomination at the Blues Music Awards in the category of Blues Rock Album of the Year. Allison, who is well on his way to becoming a legend equal to his father, was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame last year.
BLUES CLUBS
THURSDAY 15th AUGUST
AT 6:30 PM POROHOLMAN RANTATALO / POROHOLMA BEACH HOUSE
KALLA (FIN)
FREE ENTRANCE
Get the first touch of Rauma Blues Festival at the famous beach house!
Blues/Blues Rock band from Tampere, Finland. The band’s young and original music also strikes audiences across genres. Kalla is guaranteed to keep pace with both the action and the atmosphere.
The band members have plenty of experience of touring in Finland, Europe and America.
AT 9:00 PM BAR HEHKU
LAZYMEN BLUES BAND (FIN)
FREE ENTRANCE
Take a walk or a ride to market square to enjoy the feeling of Rauma Old Town and great music.
Another great band from Tampere, Finland! Lazymen Blues Band’s journey began in autumn 2022, and things have been carried out at a suitably leisurely pace – hence the name of the orchestra. The entire trio has extensively influenced various musical progs. In Lazymen Blues Band, the trio plays rooty guitar music with a tight groove and a modern twist.
FRIDAY 16th AUGUST
AT 7:00 PM CAFÉ SALI
LITTLE WILLIE MEHTO (FIN)
FREE ENTRANCE
Come on and start your Friday tour in the old town and enjoy the fantastic Little Willie Mehto (FIN).
Touching on deep blues roots, Little Willie Mehto takes the audience on a delta blues journey spiced with harmonica and cigar box guitar.
AT 8:30 PM RESTAURANT BUENA VISTA
DOCTORS’ SPECIAL (FIN)
FREE ENTRANCE
Next thing to do is a short walk to Restaurant Buena Vista, where you must check out the legendary Doctors’s Special band (FIN). This band is almost synonymous with Rauma Blues: DS has influenced the birth and establishment of the festival significantly, being a regular performer from the very first year of Rauma Blues in 1986 until 1990. The last Doctors’ Special gig in Rauma took place in 1995.
AT 10:00 PM (DOORS OPEN AT 8:00PM) KULTTUURIKUPPILA / BAR BRUMMI
TINA BEDNOFF &THE TB’S (FIN)
HAMID MOEINI BAND (FIN)
ENTRANCE FEE: €20 at the door or in advance from https://brummi.maksutin.fi
The best way to close the Friday evening is to rush to Brummi where you can start serious partying and enjoy the awesome line-up. On stage are two fantastic bands to make your dancing feet move!
Tina Bednoff & The TB’s
Female guitarists and band leaders in Finnish blues are a small group. One of the few, Tina Bednoff, brings her new band to Rauma Blues to culminate the entire blues club line-up at Kulttuurikuppila
Brummi. Bednoff’s love for swinging rhythm blues can be heard both in her interpretations and in her choice of repertoire. Bednoff’s favorite singers include Ruth Brown, LaVern Baker, and Big Maybelle, and guitarists like Glarence Gatemouth Brown, T-Bone Walker ja Memphis Minnie.
Hamid Moeni Band
In the past two years, the Rauma Blues Thursday club at Poroholman Rantatalo was taken over by local Hamid Moeini Band. Both times, their performance captivated the blues crowd and the main international artists visiting the club. Dedicated to guitar playing full-time, Moeini is known as the man who with his electric guitar tames Jimi Hendrix’s hardest solos. Moeini brings also blues-rock with a psychedelic touch to Brummi, with covers by Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Freddie King, The Meters and others.
Main concert
TICKET PRICES
In advance €65, at the door €70.
TICKETS AVAILABLE
Online tickets available at lippu.fi/raumablues
Tickets available also in Rauma at
- Hotel Kalliohovi
- Hotel Raumanlinna
- Restaurant Buena Vista
- the service center of Rauma City Hall, Pyyrmanni.
- Tickets are also available at the door!
VIP Tickets
TICKET PRICES:
179€ per ticket.
Includes: festival ticket, your own table, welcome cocktail, a three-course buffet table, ½ bottle of wine plus night meal.
VIP ticket inquiries and reservations:
+358 10 2295210