Blues Cazorla 2024 poster |
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Blues Cazorla 2025 - 3rd 4th 5th July 2025
One of the longest-running festivals in Andalucia, this weekend blues and rock event in Cazorla the mountain village in the Sierra de Cazola Natural park, Jaen Province, started in 1994. Many famous names, including Mick Taylor, Otis Grand and Dr Feelgood, have honoured the festival over the years.
The fist artists to be confirmed for 2025 are the North Mississippi Allstars from Hernando, Mississippi. The band's core members are brothers Luther Dickinson (guitar, lowebow, vocals) and Cody Dickinson (drums, keyboards, electric washboard, vocals). The latest album appropiately names Still Shakin' is realeased on 6th June 2025. Their six-month US-Netherlands-US-Spain-US tour started on 6th April 2025.
The Blues Cazorla festival takes place at three different venues: Cruzcampo stage in the bullring, Jaen en Julio stage in the Cristo Auditorium, and the Agua Sierra de Cazorla stage in the Plaza de Santa Maria. Complimentary activities and exhibitions are held in the Merced Theatre. the festival takes over the village for the weekend.
The 2018 edition closed with Billy Gibons the cofounder of ZZ Top. Most of the festival venues offer free access. Tickets are required for the concerts in the Bullring. Tickets cost 85€ for the three days.
Previous festival dates were 11th to 13th July 2019, 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled, 7th to 9th July 2022, 6th to 8th July 2023.
bluescazorla.com
Story of the Blues Cazorla Festival
The International Blues Festival 'Bluescazorla' has been held since 1994. This festival began in a humble way, trying to bring the essence of this musical style to all the corners of Cazorla. In a bet for a different music but with a lot of history, BluesCazorla, was launched on September 13th 1994 with the guest artists 'Caledonia Blues Band' and 'La Blues Band de Granada' in the Santo Cristo Park.
After the good acceptance and the commitment of the organisers and the Town Hall of Cazorla, the following editions were held in successive years with artists such as 'Graham Foster', 'La Blues Band de Granada', 'Los Lagartos', 'David Gwyn', 'Fede Aguado', and a long list of artists that made up the following editions.
The festival began to stand out in its fifth edition where it counted with the presence of the "ex Rolling Stone", Mick Taylor. In the following years, big bands like 'Canned Heat', 'Tony Coleman', 'Otis Grand' or 'Dr Feelgood' started to leave their songs in Cazorla.
The tenth anniversary meant a qualitative leap for the festival with three stages and an even more international impulse to bring the blues closer to everyone with three new stages in the Plaza de Santa María, Parque del Santo Cristo and Plaza de Toros. A line-up that was full of excitement with the presence of Buddy Guy, John Mayal, Rod Piazza, Sista Monica, Carvin Jones and Otis Grand and with more than twenty bands playing in every corner of Cazorla.
This edition also included Master Classes by great artists and Meet and Great, accompanied by exhibitions and guitar and bass exhibitions. This 10th edition gave a boost to the festival to become one of the best blues festivals in the world and thus turn Cazorla into the city of blues and a place that is fixed in the calendar of music lovers every July.
In the following editions, BluesCazorla has received artists such as Koko Taylor, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Johny Winter, Pinetops Perkins, Solomon Burke, George Thorogood, Billy Boy Arnold, John Mayal, Bettye Lavette, Charlie Musselwhite, Joe Bonamasa, James Cotton, Reverend Horton Heat, Janiva Magness, Magic Slim, Jerry Portnoy or Mavis Staples among many others.
Artists, also of national fame such as Raimundo Amador, Loquillo, M-Clan, Rosendo, Fito y Fitipaldis or Andrés Calamaro have stepped on the stage of the Plaza de Toros to give it a different touch combining blues and rock.
All this added to the hundreds of bands that have played on the stages of Cazorla, warmly received by the public who visit Blues Cazorla. As a result of the work of organisors and the town council BluesCazorla was awarded the "International Festival Award 2014″ by the 35th Blues Music Awards of the Blues Foundation in the category of best festival in the world.
