The 35th Annual Chicago Blues Fest proved to be as artistically relevant and musically satisfying as ever. The three-day free festival celebrated the undisputed role Chicago blues legacies had in creating the electric blues, its international recognition, and its influence, including the impact on subsequent musical art forms, starting with rock and roll.
Millennium Park /Pritzker Pavilion
The four stages generously included other influential geographies: West Africa (Vieux Farka Touré), Louisiana (Terrance Simien), Mississippi (Ms. Jody), Clarksdale (Christone "Kingfish" Ingram) Baton Rouge (Kenny Neal), Memphis (Linsey Alexander), all important regional that immediately come to mind.
The biggest stage, The Jay Pritzker Pavilion hosted the main attractions while the other stages made for more intimate performances.
Blues fans traveled worldwide, in many cases making this festival an important landmark stop while traveling the history of great blues migration from Clarksdale, MS., to Memphis, TN., and north. This being the bookends to this musical story.
