A MUSIC festival that brought some of the world’s leading international blues artists to Jersey has shown the potential of the Royal Square as a venue for vibrant events, its organiser has said.
Thousands of people were attracted to St Helier over the weekend for the Jersey International Music Festival to watch musicians such as Johnny Rawls, Thornetta Davis and John Primer in action.
Organiser Giles Robson, a harmonica player who has played at many festivals worldwide and joined several of the acts on stage, said he was delighted at the reaction to the event.
“I’m really thrilled – there was a real community vibe, with a wide range of people of different backgrounds and ages,” he said. “People knew it was free admission and they could just drop in – I spoke to several attendees who’d come along and bumped into old friends.”
The event took place two weeks after the Lib in the Square event, which saw sold-out crowds gather over Saturday and Sunday nights, plus an expansion to Friday evening for the first time. Mr Robson described the Royal Square as the “perfect” venue and confirmed he was seeking to repeat the event in 2027.
“We are in love with the venue, it’s a beautiful setting for something like this,” he said. “I’ve played at festivals in some great places across the world and as a Jerseyman it was fantastic to put on a show in the Royal Square – it’s in the heart of the of St Helier in the heart of the Island, it’s well-connected and there couldn’t be a better spot.”
Mr Robson said he hoped to agree details of next year’s event over the coming months, expressing his gratitude to those who’d helped him in organising the festival.
“Everyone at the [St Helier] Town Hall and the Bailiff’s Chamber was very positive from the start – they did wonders for us, and it was great to have the support of TASC in sponsoring the event,” he said.
The event started on Friday evening, continuing the following evening when a range of acts from Jersey, the UK and France were on stage supporting American stars Mr Rawls, Ms Davis and 81-year-old Mr Primer.
“These are hall-of-fame blues musicians and they were getting such energy from the crowd,” Mr Robson said.
“John Primer is a triple-Grammy award winner who played with Muddy Waters in Chicago earlier in his career and to see his energy in coming down into the crowd and playing was the stand-out act for me – the other musicians and the crowd were blown away by his performance.”
