Blues Festival Pulls In A_Big Crowd For Season Finale

By Shannon Hicks

DANBURY — Thank God it rained, even for a short time, Monday afternoon.

Being the Labor Day holiday, there were undoubtedly hundreds of picnics going on around the area on September 4. Swimming pools were probably the biggest attraction for many of these events. There was also the Newtown Labor Day Parade, which was well attended, as always, despite the heat. And in Danbury, Ives Concert Park presented its final concert of its 2000 summer concert season, a return of the B.B. King Blues Festival.

Because the six-band event was a festival, however, the concert started at 3 in the afternoon. What could have been a long, hot and miserable day weatherwise for lovers of blues music instead turned into a cool afternoon and evening of some of the best blues music by King himself, Buddy Guy, Blue in the Face Duo, The 9-Volt Blues Band, Jeff Pitchell & Texas Food, and James Montgomery & The New England Blues All-Stars.

At 2 o’clock, the heat was still pretty miserable. By 3:30, dark clouds were rolling in and the skies were looking pretty ominous. At 4, the rain started and sales of ponchos at the concession stands skyrocketed. Just as The 9-Volt Blues Band finished its set, the rain tapered off, and by the time Jeff Pitchell & Texas Flood arrived, the sun had returned, but not its uncomfortable heat.

By the end of the night the temperature had changed so dramatically that while listing to all the great music that was being performing up on stage, people were for the first time in months looking for sweatshirts and pants. The information booth at Ives Park was renting blankets faster than employees could bring them out of storage. Unofficial tallies put the audience at around 5,000 people for Monday’s festival.

But all that mattered was the music, and it was all great. Dan Aldrich and Paul Gabriel, performing as The Blue in the Face Duo, opened the show with a 30-minute performance. The two were followed by equally long sets from 9-Volt Blues Band — who told those who showed up for the early performances of the festival, “This isn’t a rain shower! This is just a little sobbing. It wouldn’t dare rain on us now!” — and Jeff Pitchell leading Texas Flood.

When James Montgomery took the stage, harmonica in hand, the handsome bluesman turned things up a notch. Mr Montgomery kicked up the volume, heightened the intensity of the music, and got the audience on its feet during the performance; the time for polite applause at the end of a set was finished.

Buddy Guy celebrated his 64th birthday on July 30, but don’t let that fool anyone: the living legend is far from retiring, regardless of what the national mandatory retirement age may be.

True to form, Guy didn’t exactly remain at the center of the stage for the entirety of his one-hour set. In fact he left the stage at one point, making a full walk around the reserved seating area, much to the thrill of everyone in the park. Also in following tradition, it took Guy a good five minutes to leave the stage once he finally finished performing — he took time to continue his practice of personally handing guitar picks to audience members.

And when B.B. King strolled on stage just after the 8 o’clock hour, after a 15-minute performance of just The B.B. King Blues Band, he and his best friend — a guitar named Lucille — continued the music for well over an hour. Regardless of the fact that people were huddling under blankets and shivering in their shorts, the music coming from the pavilion stage at Ives Concert Park on Monday night was as hot had been anticipated by every one of the ticket-holders that night.