Nantwich Jazz, Blues and Music Festival Celebrates its 25th Festival

The Nantwich Jazz, Blues and Music Festival has just four weeks to go until their 25th Festival.

There are still a few tickets left for all of the headline shows for the popular Easter weekend event, which is taking place this year from the 6th - 10th April. The two headline venues are the Nantwich Civic Hall and The Crown Hotel, with local artist, Tom Seals kicking off the festival on Thursday night at the Civic Hall with a 9-piece band. Tom returns to Nantwich in a homecoming to remember as he started his career playing downstairs at the Crown and then moved upstairs to the ballroom. He has since had a global tour, and his own Sky TV programme ‘Tom Seals Presents’, which was broadcast on a new SKY Channel called ‘All About the Music’ (Showcase TV Sky 191). The Nantwich Jazz, Blues and Music Festival is proud to have supported his journey from the start and are delighted that he is headlining this year.

Tom Seals comments, “I’m so excited to be returning to Nantwich for a homecoming gig!

Nantwich Jazz Festival gave me a helping hand when I was starting out with weekly gigs at The Crown Hotel and opportunities to support great names such as Tony Christie and Sad Cafe.

To have had a few years off, developed my stage show and gone on to perform in over 100 countries, I really feel now is the right time to come back to Nantwich and show you what I’ve been working on! I’m excited to be bringing my world-class band to town and headline the opening night of Nantwich’s best weekend of the year!”

The other Nantwich Civic Hall headliners are names that many people will recognise with Dr Feelgood and Band of Friends, including Jim Kirkpatrick, performing on Friday night as a joint double bill. They are followed on Saturday by Turin Brakes, and Sunday’s performances are by The Beat, with lead vocal Rankin Roger Jr, and Jeramiah Ferrari in support. China Crisis and Hue & Cry are also a joint double bill, set to wow the crowds on the final day. The Crown Hotel has also announced their Friday night headliner - Both Sides Now - who will perform a celebration of Joni Mitchell.

The full ‘Around the Town’ programme will be available on the website and in print soon and includes 145 gigs at 16 venues over the five-day event. This year’s returning official festival venues are The Cheshire Cat, Loco, Nakatcha, Bench Bistro Bar, The Crown Hotel, The Bank Stage, The Studio, The Talbot, The Town House, Nantwich Museum, Nantwich Methodist Church, The Bowling Green, The Red Cow, and The Malbank. They are joined this year by two new locations - Kennedy’s, and Churches Mansions.

The festival was founded in 1996 by Phillip Martin, who sadly passed away in 2017 and his daughter and son-in-law, Abbigail and Alex Ellwood, continue his legacy reaching a quarter century of festivals this year.

Abbigail comments “We are excited to be celebrating our 25th festival this year with some incredible headline acts, including a favourite of The Crown - Tom Seals. We’ve followed Tom’s journey from playing in the downstairs bar, to a global tour, and even his own TV show, so we can’t wait to see him playing back in Nantwich. As in previous years, we have a fantastic programme of events put on by our local venues around the town who continue to support the festival, and we welcome two new venues this year as well. We hope that our 25th festival will be the biggest and best yet!”

The Nantwich Jazz, Blues and Music Festival ‘Around the Town’ wristbands always sell out and organisers are expecting the same this year. The Early Bird tickets are already on sale through the website:

http://www.nantwichjazz.com

One wristband allows entry for one person for the whole weekend to all of the festival ‘Round the Town’ venues.

Nantwich Jazz Blues & Music Festival has been held over Easter every year since 1997, apart from 2020 and 2021 during the global pandemic. It will be held from 6th to 10th April 2023. The event draws big names and attracts more than 40,000 music-lovers every Easter Bank Holiday weekend. Previous performers include Thea Gilmore, Bob Geldof, Tony Christie, The Wonder Stuff, Sad Cafe, The Blockheads, The Animals, Big Country, Tony Christie and many more.

Pictured - Tom Seals.