Swanage Blues Festival will go ahead in October 2024 to celebrate the legacy of its creator, Steve Darrington – thanks to his two stepchildren.
Simon and Toni Darrington have taken over the organisation of the 40th Swanage Blues Festival which is taking place from Thursday 3rd October to Sunday 6th October 2024 to honour one of Steve’s last wishes.
Blues Touch appeared at the festival in March 2023 as The Mowlem became a venue for the very first time
Blues stars delighted to accept
Steve Darrington, who founded the festival in 2001, died unexpectedly at the age of 74 in June 2024 with plans for the year’s second celebration of blues music still far from complete.
He asked his friends and family to make sure that there would be at least one more blues festival after his death, and everyone is now pulling out the stops to make sure that Steve’s wish for Swanage is granted.
It is understood that the vast majority of the blues stars who regularly appear at the twice yearly festival have been delighted to accept the invitation to honour Steve.
New ’40th Swanage Blues 2024′ festival wristbands were received by the new organisers on Thursday 29th August, making the whole dream seem real and an update on bands and venues is set to be announced shortly.
Steve Darrington (left) on stage at the Swanage Legion with band mates and friends including Hugh Budden (right)
Making sure Steve’s wish is granted
Simon Darrington said:
“This October will be the 40th Swanage Blues Festival, which was started by and single handedly run by the legend that was Steve Darrington, who sadly passed away at the end of June this year.
“In honour of Steve’s memory, his family are endeavouring to make sure that the 40th Swanage Blues Festival goes ahead as Steve would have planned.
“All the venues and artists have been contacted and are helping to make sure that this great event for the town can go ahead.”
Steve Darrington, reflecting on the event’s success ahead of the 20th festival in October 2013
Extending the town’s tourist season
Steve, who performed alongside Abba and at Wembley on separate occasions with the Everly Brothers and Queen, first came to Swanage for just a few days in August 2000.
He would tell people that he liked Swanage so much, he simply stayed and ended up organising a blues party for his friend George Crane, which became the prototype Blues Festival in 2001.
As it expanded to multiple venues and with an ever growing list of guest blues musicians, the event became so popular that it was extended to a twice yearly festival in March and October.
Extending the town’s tourist season for participating venues was always one of the primary aims for the Swanage Blues Festival, and supporting local businesses remained of paramount importance.
The ever popular Robin Bibi Band, a regular feature of countless Swanage blues festivals
“People visit from far and wide”
Award winning blues harmonica player and lifelong friend Hugh Budden said:
“I have been part of Swanage blues festivals almost since their inception and have played at various venues many times with Steve himself.
“It really is a boost for the town at the beginning of the season and helps everyone at the end of the season get through to the Christmas period.
“People visit from far and wide to be a part of the Swanage Blues festivals, even from abroad, and is something that most people look forward to as an injection of the festival feeling in Swanage, which is such a special place.
“Everyone needs to work together to make sure that it continues and it is successful – the amount of physical and mental work that Steve put in over the years was huge, and it was all very much unpaid.”
Award winning harmonica player Hugh Budden at the 2024 Ealing Blues Festival
“Steve had a very good outlook on life”
Hugh added:
“Each festival just about broke even and if anything was left over it was put towards the next festival. It was Steve’s life, and very much a reflection of his earlier musical life when he travelled around Britain and Europe playing with loads of huge names.
“He played at Wembley Arena probably about 40 years ago as part of the backing band for Don Everly of the Everly Brothers and even got to do his own song, sitting at a grand piano looking a little like Elton John, with the band and dancing backing singers.
“He did a few private parties, one including Abba in Sweden, many many years ago, but from a performance point of view it probably doesn’t get much better than playing at Wembley Arena.
“Steve was one of my best buddies, I first met him on a ferry crossing into Europe in the 1990s when he was part of a band called The Boogie Band and we were off to play different festivals in Belgium.
“I hit it off with him straight away, he was a lovely, lovely man. Considering all the difficulties he had in life, he had a very good outlook on life.”
Steve Darrington created exceptional music festivals for Swanage
One of the top UK blues festivals
Steve had been severely disabled as a result of polio on his sixth birthday, but against the odds he became a successful musician.
Eventually retiring after 35 years as a touring musician and with 50 albums recorded, he went on to create exceptional music festivals for Swanage involving around 35 bands, playing at 18 venues over four days.
He had to isolate during the Covid pandemic and later go through the difficulties of restarting the event with so many government restrictions, but he was surprisingly successful given the circumstances.
In recent years the Swanage Blues Festivals have been regularly voted as one of the top blues festivals in the UK, leading Steve to declare himself proud of its national acclaim!
Hugh Budden and Andy Stone at the Swanage Blues Festival in March 2020
“It is a very, very hard act to follow”
Hugh Budden said:
“It was probably Covid that put the kibosh on Steve going out to see other musicians because of all the breathing difficulties he had.
“But he said that if he wasn’t able to get out and about as he used to in order to see the acts, why not get the acts to come to him?
“When you have had someone at the helm of something for so long, it is a very, very hard act to follow.
“But it was his wish that at least one more festival happened after his death and it will be totally fitting to have a festival in celebration of his life.”
Further information
- News of venues and artists will appear on the Swanage Blues Festival website
