# Monster Mike and Rival Sons at the Notodden: Photos, Videos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2019/03/18/monster-mike-and-rival-sons-at-the-notodden-photos-videos/
- Published: 2019-03-18T15:30:52+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**The festival at Notodden launched a new bundle of names for the summer festival.
There will be a reunion with the blues guitarist Monster Mike Welch (pictured) and
the rock band Rival Sons. Furthermore, it is Notoddendebut for British singer Kyla
Brox and slider guitarist Jack Broadbent.**

In addition to the new artists in the program, the festival has also announced some
requested changes when it comes to ticket sales. This year, the audience can choose
between festival pass, day pass and single tickets to the different scenes. It is
also announced that on request, several of the smaller clubs in the city are back
in the program.

Monster Mike Welch is invited as the festival’s special guest this year. He has 
created great furore at Notodden the last two years with Mike Ledbetter. They made
some memorable concerts with The Welch Ledbetter Connection, and became the big 
favorites for many of the audience. The shock was great when the message of Mike
Ledbetter’s sudden deaths came in January this year. An entire blues world has been
in bottomless sorrow.

“When the worst shock had given us, we began to think of the possibility of bringing
Mike Welch back to Notodden and to the audience so fond of him,” says festival manager
Forsberg. – Mike Welch was booked for the Notodden Blues Festival for the first 
time as a 17-year-old in 1997. With that, he has a central place in our hearts. 
Nothing feels more right this year than getting Mike Welch back as our very special
guest, he says.

Welch is himself from Boston and will therefore be playing with Anthony Geraci &
The Boston Blues All-Stars, but he will also be hearing in several other contexts
during the weekend.

![](https://i0.wp.com/bluesnews.no/Files/Images/artister/artister19/Rival-Sons-19.
jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

Rival Sons (pictured above) took the audience by storm at the festival in 2014 with
his energetic blues-inspired rock. The band’s live-recorded videos from Notodden’s
Juke Joint Studio have also been a huge success on YouTube. The festival tells them
they have received many requests to get the band back. They will end the Saturday
program in Hovig’s Hangar, and here will also be single tickets in addition to festival
pass and day pass.

British Kyla Brox can be heard at the festival on Friday. She was discovered by 
representatives of the festival during the International Blues Challenge in Memphis,
Tennessee in January, where she represented England. She made an immediate impression
and Notodden’s representatives believed this band was the best in the whole competition.
Kyla Brox will also represent the UK in this year’s European Blues Challenge. (Picture
below. Photo: Phil Melia).

![Jack Broadbent.](https://i0.wp.com/bluesnews.no/Files/Images/artister/artister19/
JackBroadbent.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

Many have become aware of the British slider guitar phenomenon Jack Broadbent on
YouTube. The festival tells them they have had countless inquiries with the desire
to get him to Notodden.
 Jack Broadbent has built his career from countless street
performances to becoming a regular at major festivals. The Montreux Jazz Festival
described him as “the new master of the slide guitar”. Broadbent has released three
albums and his videos are seen more than 10 million times on YouTube.

Other names that are announced are the new, young “heroes” in the blues environment
at Notodden, Blue Energy. The band consists of dedicated, young musicians aged 15
to 17 years. Local Terry Lehns and American band The Northern Belle are also on 
the program.

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