Review: HRH Blues 9 - Day 1, O2 Academy, Leicester - April 12th 2025

Review: HRH Blues 9 – Day 1

O2 Academy, Leicester (April 12^th, 2025)

Reviewer / Photographer – Dan Mann

Last Saturday, April 12th, saw me driving over to Leicester for the day, to watch / photograph HRH Blues, now on it’s ninth outing, and also the other important part of gig going, to catch up with chums!

With eight act’s on the day’s bill, I have to be honest and say I was only familiar with three of them. This leads to another great thing about festivals, discovering ‘new’ bands. Considering the amount of new music that hits my inbox, as well as press releases by the hundred, it still amazes me how many bands & artists remain unknown to me.

I guess you could view this in a negative way, me, I look at it as a wealth of talent out there, plying their trade against all the hurdles the modern music industry and the public at large throw at them.

It threw me somewhat to discover that unlike last year’s HRH Blues, the venue was mainly filled with seating. Now I appreciate the moans last year that there wasn’t enough places to sit, and with a typical blues audience being over 50, rather than hourds of 20 somethings. However, it does somewhat kill the atmosphere, the vibe that live music needs.

Anyway, enough of my mumblings, onto the first act – Jinda Biant. A quick interweb search told me he was a soulful blues artist who plays slide guitar with Indian influences. I was certainly intrigued. I must say I thoughly enjoyed his set, and will keep an eye on his future endevours.

I don’t think a bookies would take any bets on the next band’s influences. Bridge Of Sighs are fans and performers of the music of Robin Trower. Led by vocalist Sheila Mcmahon, their set was certainly well received by the audience, and a strong performance it was at that.

Third on the bill was guitarist Adam Sweet and his band. I always wonder what attracts these young artists to what is commonly thought of as ‘old man’s music’. But hats off to them for keeping the genre alive. I’d looked Adam & his band up on YouTube and was very impressed by their cover of ‘The Green Manalishi’ / ‘Oh Well‘, I must say live, they’re equally as impressive.

Finally a band I knew, Blue Nation! I first saw them last year at Love Live in Blackpool and liked them from the off! This three-piece are certainly causing a decent stir, only a few days ago winning ‘Emerging Act of the Year‘ at the 2025 UK Blues Awards. Another superb set by the guys.

Yet another new act for me, The Bad Day took to the stage with their own take on the blues. Now I’m sure there are ‘genre purists’ tutting at the band’s blend of styles, me, I’m more interested in whether I like the music. I must say that vocalist Adam Rigg had by far the coolest bass guitar of the festival! I really enjoyed the band’s blending of genres, with traditional elements intertwined with a rockier guitar sound. Another one added to my ‘keep an eye on’ list, a list that’s certainly grown on only Day 1.

Félix Rabin was for me the last act of the day as I needed to head off home after his set. I met Félix backstage earlier in the day whe nhe handed each of the togs a copy of his ‘Pogboy‘ album. He’s been around much longer than I first realised, having already impressed industry greats. It was out turn to be impressed, with his modern twist. Another artist blending a variety of influences.

(click on photos to enlarge)