The third edition of the event starts on Thursday Bilbao Blues Festival with around twenty free performances at the Bilbao Arenal.
Bilbao Blues Festival will return at the end of July, from 25 to 28 July, to liven up the summer in the capital of Biscay. For four days, the blues will fill the heart of the city with juicy free performances by national and international artists for all audiences: The Fabulous Thunderbirds, DK Harrell, Ana Popovic, Martha High & The Soul Cookers, Anson Funderburgh, Mike Morgan, Shawn Pittman, Southern Avenue, Annika Chambers, Terrie Odabi, Chino Swingslide Trío, La Perra Blanco, Kid Carlos Band and Ibai García Blues Project.
The Fabulous Thunderbirds and DK Harrella genius of just 26 years old, will star in two of the most outstanding performances of the third edition of the Bilbao Blues Festival, as they will be his only concerts this year in Spain, where Harrell will also play for the first time. The leader of the T-Birds, the legendary harmonica player Kim Wilson (Michigan, USA, 1951), will also receive this year’s Bilbao Blues Festival Award for his solid and brilliant musical career.
The last band to join the festival line up has been The White Bitchreplacing Ivan Singh. The quartet led by Cadiz native Alba Blanco will be accompanied by the wildest double bass player, Guillermo González del Campo, Gerart Vercher (saxophone and keyboards) and a great drummer, Jesús López Benítez.
The first day will host an unprecedented event: the final of the Volotea Blues Challengewhich will be the band that will attend the European Blues Challenge 2025, which will take place in Split (Croatia). Del Toro Blues Band, Sirjo Cocchi & Balta Bordoy – The Blues Way, Tòfol Martinez Blues Band and The Lazy Tones These are the four finalist bands. Each of them will offer a 30-minute performance on July 25th, starting at 7:30 p.m. at the Arenal kiosk.
On Sunday 28th, at 11:00 am, the successful free boogie-woogie classes will also be back at the Arenal kiosk, open to the participation of all audiences, with or without dancing experience. Fun and dynamic, the boogie-woogie sessions, which share movements with swing, attracted a large number of people in previous editions.
The schedules of the performances and their distribution by day are as follows:
Here is the programming:
Thursday 25th
Kiosk of El Arenal
Final Volotea Blues Challenge:
19:30h | Del Toro Blues band
20:15h | Sirjo Cocchi & Balta Bordoy – The Blues Way
9:00 p.m. | Tòfol Martínez Blues band
21:45h | The Lazy Tones
22:30h | Results
Friday 26th
Arenal Stage
7:00 p.m. | Ibai Garcia Blues Project
20:45h | Texas Blues Guitar Summit feat. Anson Funderbourgh, Mike Morgan and Shawn Pittman
22:30h | Southern Avenue
Saturday 27th
Gold Stage
12:30h | Chinese Swingslide Trio
14:00h | Shawn Pittman
Arenal Stage
7:00 p.m. | Martha High & The Soul Cookers
20:45h | DK Harrell
10:30 p.m. | The Fabulous Thunderbirds
Sunday 28th
Gold Stage
11:00h | Boogie Woogie dance classes
12:30h | Kid Carlos Band
14:00h | DK Harrell
Arenal Stage
19:00h | The White Bitch
20:45h | Rockin’ Soul Sistas featuring Terrie Odabi & Annika Chambers with Paul DesLauriers.
22:30h | Ana Popovic
