Colne’s Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival up for major UK Blues award

The 2023 Great British R&B Festival is one of five festivals competing for the ‘UK Blues-based Festival of the Year' award, also including Alfold Rock and Blues Festival, Carlisle Blues and Rock Festival, Swanage Blues Festival and Upton Blues Festival.

Voting is now open for the awards and closes on Sunday, February 25, at 11-59pm. You can vote for The Great British R&B Festival here: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/KID7IP/

Alongside the ‘UK Blues-based Festival of the Year' award, there are 11 other categories, with all the winners to be announced at an awards night on Thursday, April 25, at The Stables in Milton Keynes.

The 2023 Great British R&B Festival, which was also recently named as a finalist for ‘Large Event of the Year' at the Lancashire Tourism Awards, saw thousands flock to Colne for an incredible weekend of live music, with record-breaking ticket and camping ticket sales.

Planning for the 2024 Great British R&B Festival is well under way, with Colne Town Council in association with the Colne Blues Society, having announced the festival will return from Friday, August 23, to Sunday, August 25.

Early bird tickets have already sold out for this year's event, which will see multi-award winning guitarist Dom Martin and Kyla Brox, described as "the finest female blues singer of her generation", performing.

Nathan Cutler, Colne Town Council's events officer, said: "It is a great honour to be recognised as one of the best blues festivals in the UK for the second year running. The whole team worked extremely hard to deliver another fantastic event in 2023 and we are excited to go even bigger and better in 2024."

Simon Shackleton, festival co-ordinator at the Colne Blues Society, said: "2023 was our first year as artistic directors of the Great British R&B Festival and we really feel the crowds embraced what was a tremendous festival.

"Alongside the Official Fringe, this is one of the best value music festivals in the UK and it is a great reward for everyone associated with the festival to be nominated for a UK Blues award."

Tickets for the 2024 Great British R&B Festival can be bought at https://www.bluesfestival.co.uk/tickets/