Blackpool has traditionally been famed for kiss me quick hats, seaside rock and its unique delights – the tower, the illuminations and more – however it is fast becoming famous as the newest UK destination for country music fans. In 2019 The British Country Music Festival made Blackpool’s Winter Gardens its home and now we have a regular monthly country night in the town too.
The setting is “DirtyBlondes”, a self-professed Dive Bar just off the main strip, and only a stone’s throw from the Tower and the Theatre district. Accessed down a narrow side street, the open front doors welcome you in to a fabulous little bar that actually accommodates more than you might first expect. A bar, a stage and on country nights a TV showing Bull riding from the states. We made the trip to the Northwest on Halloween weekend – the town was full of costumed revellers, but in the bar there were as many cowboys as zombies. On arrival we met up with many faces from the scene – both locals and from further afield. We also discovered a slight change to the line-up. Headliner Alan Finlan who had made the long journey from the South Coast was to be preceded by a local replacement for a covid affected singer.
The “local replacement” was MikalaFredriksson, who performed an amazing set of covers, focussing on female
country artists to a professional backing track. Currently appearing as part of the cast of
the Country Legends show at Viva Blackpool, Mikala’s show was flawless, and not
only a real tribute to the Country Greats but also a demonstration of how
popular country music cover shows are and can be.
Fortified by food from the
bar (the biggest pizza slices we have ever seen plus a huge range of loaded
fries) we were ready for Alan Finlan. If
you’ve seen Alan on stage – especially at festivals – you will already know
what a showman he is. Although he
playfully moaned that some of his set had already been performed, to see him
put his own spin on country classics such as Tennessee Whisky is a joy of its
own, and performing the Fresh Prince Rap to “Wagon Wheel” was nothing short of
inspired - and certainly got the crowd joining in! His set was almost his autobiography –
featuring Luke Combs hits (naturally) crowd requests (with Neil Byr joining in
on knocking Boots) and even covers from his youthful Emo phase
With Wayne Hadlow “The
Cowboy DJ” providing the technical support and the after-party vibe, General Manager and Country music Fan Chris
Hodkin told us that he just wants to indulge his own passion for country music
and “create the best country music night in the North West.”
For Country Music artists to
survive and reach bigger audiences, we need more country music nights all over
the country. There is nothing wrong with
a night of classic covers – and once you have the audience in you can hit them
with originals and merch!
Dirty Blondes is making a
great bid for Blackpool to be the home of UK country – unless you think you can
claim the title for your area!
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