One of the hidden gems of the rock festival calendar, the Great British Rock & Blues Festival at Butlins Holiday Camp in Skegness has been running for almost twenty years now. Sold out every year on reputation alone, this is the perfect way to start off the year and to get you in the festival spirit for the summer ahead. Primarily aimed at the blues market there is enough on offer to keep your average Uber Rocker interested for a weekend away full of good music, friendly people, fantastic food and accommodation and bars aplenty. That's enough for me to return for my third year in succession.

Day One

Travelling up from London our car was full of a right motley crew assortment of old journo hacks. My former partner in grime photographer Noel Buckley had the duty of driving, with myself in the passenger seat for my own safety as my eyes led the way as Buckers is blind as a bat. In the back was that old road hog roadie and Uber snapper for the weekend Dutch Michaels snuggled up on the back seat with Mr Ling from the Chinese cookery programme Classic Wok.  Many old war stories were going back and forth with myself throwing in a gag when I felt I'd heard enough.

Upon arrival at Skeggy we got our keys to the room and made the fatal mistake of walking there whilst Buckers brought the car round. Some 45 minutes later our "boy blunder" eventually found us after remembering to turn his phone on to find out where we were. It was good to see Michael's and Lingy's eyes pop out when they clamped sights on our cosy luxurious room. It wasn't long before we were then joined by the final member of our party for the night Del Bromham the diamond geezer from Stray. 

Once unpacking the kitchen top was soon filled up with wine, beer and two bottles of Jack Daniels. More laughs soon followed as we made a dent in the beverages, so much so that we almost forgot that there was some live action to report on.... Well.... er.... some of us anyway... Hic!

The majority of the music over the weekend is split across two major stages, the Red Stage and the minutes walk away Centre Stage with some smaller up and coming acts of the blues market over in the Jaks pub which also has a rather nifty set up. My only complaint is that acts are on at the same time on the two main stages which means at times you either have to flip a coin or just see a bit of each.

John Verity Band were the first act to catch my attention. Verity was once a member of later day Argent who would also be playing here over the weekend. These days though John Verity is happy to play a blues set full of old standards including 'Hoochie Coochie Man'. Ironically his drummer was Steve Rodford son of Argent's bassist Jim Rodford.

Being on the same time as Ten Years After I only caught a couple of songs from Roger Chapman just so I could say I've finally seen him live, but I was distracted from his set by bumping into a couple of good friends who offered to get me a drink at the bar. Sneaking off to see Ten Years After it was amazing to think that this British jazzy blues band have had only one line up change in over forty years of being together. Originals Leo Lyons, Chick Churchill and Ric Lee are a formidable unit with youngster Joe Gooch stepping into the shoes of Alvin Lee on the vocals and fretwork. At 34 years of age Gooch wasn't even born when Ten Years After played that historic gig at Woodstock, but memories come flooding back with a frantic 'I'm Going Home'. I just wish the band would play more dates in the UK because they are certainly an important part of British rock history.

Virgil And The Accelerators are fast making a name for themselves. This young blues band who play in the style as Cream, played songs mostly from their critically acclaimed debut 'The Radium'. Mark my words guitar hotshot Virgil McMahon will soon be mentioned in the same breath as Joe Bonamassa.

It was right here at Skeggy that I first witnessed Northern lass Chantel McGregor. Since then the girl has built up a massive loyal following. She looks like the girl next door but once she starts playing she is jaw droppingly good. Breathing new life into Jethro Tull's 'A New Day Tomorrow' and Hendrix's 'Voodoo Chile' as well as many of her own compositions. Think Satriani or Vai and you get the idea. The queue for her merchandise afterwards said it all.

Afterwards our entourage carried on back in our room with most crashing out straight away but I was soon joined by Del boy who helped me polish off the Jack, and finally I end up comatose in the wee hours. Waking up just in time to get a full English breakfast inside me.

Day Two

As always with day two of any festival I end up going to, it's here that I say to myself that I won't let any alcohol pass my lips. However as you and I know in reality you've got as much chance of that happening as Luis Suarez being voted sports personality of the year, however later on in the evening when I bumped into the promoter I did proudly say ''I've only had two pints today.'' After breakfast it was time to retire to the sofa and have a few cranberry juices to give myself the false feeling of good health. There was some music on in the early afternoon including Steve Rodgers, son of the Free legend Paul Rodgers but with the prospect of an "el classico" FA Cup match on the box with Manchester United taking on arch rivals Liverpool, that was a good enough reason to keep my backside firmly put whilst I gradually recovered from the night before.

After a filling dinner I was ready for some more live action. Deborah Bonham is the younger sister of Led Zep's legendary John Bonham and that can unfairly over shadow her at times, because she is a great artist in her own right. Her voice can fill the whole room especially on slower numbers like 'I Need Love'. 'Have A Little Love' was an enjoyable rocker in the Bad Company vein. The highlight was 'Old Hyde', a song about where the Bonham family hold many cherished memories, which actually brought a tear to the eye of Buckers - the old fool. Ending with a ripping 'Rock 'N Roll' Bonham more than anyone has a right to play that classic.

I didn't know what to expect from the Steve Gibbons Band. It's a name I've always been aware of if not the music. Gibbons plays simple chicken scratch guitar and his hero is Chuck Berry, but too much of his music sounded the same. Twice during the set I thought the opening riff sounded similar to 'Not Fade Away' and l low and behold later played that very number. I was impressed by a few tunes, 'BSA' being one of them, but not even his hit single, another Chuck Berry chestnut 'Tulane' could move me. Maybe I'm being unfair and I should check out his music first, but I came with a positive feeling and left with a negative one.

The Animals And Friends were on the Centre Stage and are a class act that now has a new guitarist in Danny Handley.  He joins original drummer John Steel, long time keyboardist Mickey Gallagher and Peter Barton. I've seen the band play some blinding shows over the last few years but I had to get out of this place because another classy act, Argent were on at the same time on the Reds Stage.

Argent stole the day for me at the High Voltage Festival in 2010 and did the same again this weekend with a fabulous set from the original line up that includes the Zombies Hammond grinder Rod Argent and the renowned songwriter and guitarist Russ Ballard. The first half of the set was prog heaven, before they really lit the place up with songs that have been big hits and written by either Argent or Ballard. The Zombies smash 'She's Not There' really got the place grooving featuring some exemplary work from Rod Argent. A version of 'Since You Been Gone' the Rainbow hit written by Ballard surprised many and was quickly followed by there own smash 'Hold Your Head Up', but everyone was up on their feet for 'God Gave Rock 'n' Roll To You' a hit later popularised by Kiss. The noisiest reaction of the weekend was most definitely for Argent.

Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash had the task of following that, and played a set full of prime Wishbone Ash classics. Opening with the masterful 'The King Will Come' the band soon had everyone's attention. 'Lady Jay' was a welcome addition to the set and 'Rock 'n Roll Widow' had a slower intro sung by Danny Wilson, before the track found it's groove. I did feel the clowning around antics of the guitarists takes your mind away from the beauty of the songs at times, with Ray Hatfield in particular dressed up and acting like the office joker from the local Barclays branch. However no one can argue with the quality of the music and a three track encore of my fave 'Sometime World', 'Living Proof' and the bluesy 'Jail Bait' was sublime.

At this point the Malcolm Young look-alike Larry Miller was finishing off on the Centre Stage dressed in a cavalier jacket gurning away playing a hard hitting frantic set Rory Gallagher style, and suddenly things started getting a little hazy.

Day Three

Sunday dinner time was once again spent in front of the box as Mr Ling offered me an early beer which set the day up nicely whilst watching Middlesborough hold Sunderland to a draw in a hard thought battle of the North.

Skinny Molly are a popular band on the club circuit and feature Mike Estes who was once a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd in the nineties for their 'Endangered Species' album, but they are in danger of slipping into the chicken in a basket category if they don't play more of there own material, some of which I know is actually rather good. 'Devil In The Bottle' is a strong number from 'Endangered Species' but it's tribute act territory when it comes to 'Sweet Home Alabama' or 'Freebird', something I tend to shy away from although it more than pleased the masses here. Surprisingly following his recent tenure in Blackfoot, Molly opt to play three songs that are Blackfoot regulars namely the Free cover of 'Wishing Well' and both 'Fly Away' and 'Train Train' although bizarrely it was bassist Luke Bradshaw who sang these which does raise question marks over whether Estes felt comfortable singing the songs of Rickey Medlocke on his recent Blackfoot outing. 

Most Skeggy blues veterans were now over at the Centre Stage to see the Hamsters, Dr Feelgood and Mud Morganfield son of Muddy Waters but I was staying for the evening at the Red Stage relaxing by the bar and generally enjoying myself with some good hearty chuckles with some good friends. Brit AOR legends FM did a professional job. I was hoping that we may well see a pre-view of their upcoming 'Indiscreet' shows but the boys did a set that we have seen in recent times however there were still a few surprises. Steve Overland has one of the most underrated soulful voices on the British rock scene and there was still a healthy offering of tracks from that legendary debut with the addition of the single only release of 'Let Love Be The Leader' not heard since the days of Digital Didge. A cover of Joe Walsh's 'Rocky Mountain Way' kept the blues purists happy, and made for a stonking set.

Afterwards FM drummer Pete Jupp made the mistake of joining Mr Ling and myself at the bar, by which time we were both "professionally lubricated". What followed was a heated debate around whether FM should either play 'Indiscreet' in one chunk or in two separate parts or at the beginning or at the end of the set. Poor old Juppy was a lost puppy, whilst both Ling and I spat out alcoholic venom all over him. His last words were ''Er.... I better have words with Merv about this" before Ling and I went back to a normal quiet conversation regarding the day's football results.

Surprise additions to the weekend and playing the graveyard shift were Swedish punk metal rockers Crucified Barbara who play with the spirit of Girlschool and L7. The girls had come over to Blighty especially for the festival and god only knows what they must have thought of the line up being totally different to the noisy racket festivals they normally play.  By this time I was no real state to take things seriously and I was in danger of becoming a dirty old man looking at these beautiful babes as I made my way to the front of the stage. The only titles I could remember were 'Sex Action' and 'Bad Hangover' which tells you all you need to know on about what was going on in my frazzled mind, but the girls went down well... and NO.... I'm not using a bit of innuendo when I say that!

Another cracking weekend away, which also kicks of the gigging year in style. See you next year, same time, same place boozers.

Photo kudos; Dutch Michaels