Bay of Islands Jazz and Blues Festival.

On the weekend of 10-12 August, 2007 Brilleaux appeared for the first time at the Bay of Island jazz and Blues Festival.

We left Tauranga at about 11am on the Friday, and arrived in the Bay at about 6, armed with a good stock of all our albums and a van full of guitars and guys hanging out to play some kick-ass rhythm and blues.

Beano was moonlighting for Kokomo, so we had the evening off to immerse ourselves in the sights and sound of the festival.

Kokomo played to a rapturous full house at the Lighthouse venue. They certainly are treated like superstars up there, and I must say it is totally deserved. Their performances, not to mention the quality of their songs are several steps up the ladder from many of the acts you get to see on the circuit, and with the full band (Mike Kirk on Electric guitar) Our Beano, and Sonia (Sonya) Bullot on trumpet all on stage, they blew the expectant crowd away, delivering MORE than the crowd were hoping to witness.

Brilleauxs first gig wasnt until 4.45 the following day, at the Duke Hotel on Russell, which is a ferry-ride away from the main township.

By the time we got to play the adrenaline was really kicking in, after watching so many good bands, we were ready to do our thing.

The venue - although packed to the gunnels - was mostly seated.
I proceeded to explain to the crowd HOW British Rhythm and Blues came to be, and HOW we could be associated with a blues festival like this one, before hitting them with our full noise version of Riding on the L&N. The rest of the gig was great, and we even threw in our very first performance of the song "It Wasn't Me" - a new original destined to appear on our new album.

Our second gig was at 9pm at Haruru Falls. A great venue, and this place was more packed than the first place.
We played Beer Goggles (with the theremin), AND POD at this gig.

Our final gig for the day was at The paihia pacific, and the auditorium was packed.
This was our best gig of the weekend, and the entire crowd was on its feet dancing.

At 4.45 we played our final show of the weekend at the same venue. appearing straight after Kokomo. The venue was packed inside and out.

I explained to the mixed-age crowd that I could appreciate how Bob Dylan must have felt when he turned up at the Newport jazz festival with his electric band. However, the crowd at this final gig of ours was there by choice - our reputation for delivering a full-on energetic show of driving rhythm and blues had preceeded us, and they loved every minute of it.

We sold a huge number of CDs over the weekend, which all goes to spread the good word.

We cant wait to go again next year.
Thanks to all you fans and supporters, and all those who purchased CDs - it all helps to bring our next album a little closer to completion.

We were treated like celebrities up there with people wanting to get photos taken with us and get our autographs - a very humbling experience.
Thank you to all the organisers, venues, and sound people involved - a great festival.