New Year's concert Howlin' Bill 2011

JazzPubWbD and BLUESinWIJK organised a smashing start to the new music year 2011 on Sunday 9 January 2011 from 15.00 in a room that was SOLD OUT. In the Wijkhuis played the fantastic rhythm & bluesman HOWLIN BILL from Antwerp with a unique mix of blues, rock’n’roll, swing, boogie and rockabilly. The Belgian band consists of 4 driven and excellent musicians who mainly play their own work, occasionally interspersed with a cover. They have been touring all over Europe for more than 10 years and it is actually incomprehensible that we have not come across this band more often here in the Netherlands. They made it a big party in Wijk and left a very satisfied audience behind. Entertaining was once again no problem, as the front man stoked the fires with his smoky voice and passionate harmonica playing. Below are reviews, media reports, photos and videos.

Text: Gerrit Harsen ; Photos: Marcel Wolthers

That the three gentlemen of BLUESinWIJK have things well in hand is well known. With their summer festivals and blues nights in the Calypso Theatre of Wijk bij Duurstede, they have a solid core of 200 friends behind them. Still, they know how to surprise the audience this Sunday afternoon with champagne as a welcome. During the performance, delicious snacks will also be passed around the room. The gentlemen, in cooperation with the JazzcaféWBD, have again made it a fantastic afternoon. The show of the Belgian band, Howlin’Bill, completed the day. The BLUESinWIJK gentlemen could make some of their friends pay ‘hush money’ as an entrance fee next time. Because the cackling audience was a very big disturbance on this beautiful afternoon. No Calypso Theatre this time, but at the regular location of the beautiful Jazzcafé. The Jazzcafé turns out to be a wonderful place and immediately raises the question of why this collaboration was not chosen earlier. In any case, it invites for more performances at this location. A great place for medium-sized blues bands. It’s up to the Belgian Howlin’Bill to open the new blues year in Wijk bij Duurstede. When the kick-off takes place, the band is playing in a sold-out hall filled to capacity with 200 people. Even for a band, the first gig in 2011 could not have started worse. Frontman Willem says he is looking forward to it. With opener ‘Next Time’, they know how to captivate the audience right away and the first swinging people can already be spotted. The mix of blues, rock’n’roll, swing, boogie, rock and roackabilly is very catchy. In no time, the fire spreads to even more people present and a lovely dancing crowd emerges. As so often, most of the attention on stage goes to the frontman and the guitarist. It’s no different with this band, but oh well, the two gentlemen have a tight rhythm section behind them with Uncle T and Waylon Waters. The basis that is laid down gives the sublime guitarist Little Jimmy and Bill the opportunity to excel alternately. Both make use of this with verve. Bill regularly succeeds in getting the audience to sing along and during the solos of Little Jimmy, the audience cheers as if there was another Jimi in the room. Absolute highlight of the evening for me is the song ‘A Man’s Got To Do’. Everything seems to come together here, what a cracker. When, after almost two hours, the end seems to approach, the hall is a swarming mass. There are even a number of people who, due to the lack of space, finish their dance steps outside of the hall. When only a short encore is given, a small disappointment can be seen in the swinging audience. This hall had “really” wanted much more. Howlin’Bill has shown this afternoon that the Dutch delegation at the European Blues Challenge in Berlin in March 2011 has a very big competitor. Finally, a big compliment to the sound engineers, perfect gentlemen. Without earplugs and after the show no problems at all.

I CAN’T WIN DON’T YOU KNOW THAT I LOVE YOU

Gerrit Harmsen of Bluesmagazine had another interview with frontman Wim Vos.

On a beautiful Sunday in March this year, the Wijkse Bluesmen had set their sights on seeing the American bluesman Roy Roberts in the Wageningen bluesclub-XXL. However, he was unable to perform, but a worthy replacement was found: HOWLING BILL from Belgium. We hadn’t heard of them before, but we were pleasantly surprised and had a wonderful afternoon in Wageningen. Howling Bill turned out to be an excellent band, which stole our hearts from the first note. It’s a fantastic band with a unique mix of blues, rock’n’roll, swing, boogie and rockabilly. The 4 passionate and excellent musicians mainly play their own work, occasionally interspersed with a cover. They made it a big party in Wageningen and left their audience extremely happy. This band is very entertaining, because the front man stoked the fire with his smoky voice and passionate mouth harmonica playing. The band wanted to play in the Netherlands more often and we agreed that we would come back to them soon. When JazzcaféWbD proposed to BLUESinWIJK a joint blues afternoon the choice was easily made and the Belgians were contracted. Sunday afternoon January 9th 2011 from 16.30 hours you can see and hear them in the Wijkhuis. From 15.30 our blues-DJ Marcel plays tasty blues music to get you in the mood.

BELOW IS A PHOTO IMPRESSION OF SILVIA BRUINSSLOT

JazzPubWbD and BLUESinWIJK organise on Sunday, January 9, 2011 from 15.00 hours a smashing start of the new music year 2011. In the Wijkhuis the fantastic rhythm & bluesman HOWLIN BILL from Antwerp with a unique mix of blues, rock’n’roll, swing, boogie and rockabilly. The Belgian band consists of 4 driven and excellent musicians who mainly play their own work, occasionally interspersed with a cover. They have been touring all over Europe for more than 10 years and it is actually incomprehensible that we have not come across this band more often here in the Netherlands. They always make it a big party at every performance and leave their audience extremely happy. . Entertaining is not a problem for this band, as the front man stirs up the fire with his smoky voice and passionate mouth harmonica playing. Admission 10 euro. More than half of the tickets have already been sold, we can only accommodate 200 visitors, so avoid disappointment and book in advance via info@bluesinwijk.nl of beheer@jazzcafewbd.nl