For three decades, the Rhythm & Blues Night has brought together many top acts from the international blues, roots and rhythm ‘n’ blues under one roof.
On Saturday, May 3, 2025, the SPOT in Groningen once again pulled out all the stops during the 33rd edition of the Rhythm & Blues Night!
This edition of the Rhythm & Blues Night also featured the many guises of old-fashioned rhythm & blues, unadulterated delta blues, but also groovy funk, boisterous boogie, solid rock-‘n-roll and compelling southern rock.
With an occasional lick of soul and a touch of gospel.
It is Saturday afternoon and pleasantly busy in the center of Groningen, which is also still “under construction”.
That means parking a bit further away and walking quietly to the entrance of SPOT, enjoying the sun. Friends are already waiting for me and we discuss today’s acts.
We are really looking forward to it and at 4:00 PM it is time to warm up with the BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA. This gospel group was founded in 1939 in Talladega, Alabama, and has had a changing list of musicians over the years, most of whom were or were visually impaired.
When gospel music started to become more popular, they broke through and have toured the world continuously. In 2003 they were inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
And 86 years after its foundation, the company will visit the Rhythm & Blues Night 2025 this afternoon.
The audience knows how to appreciate this beautiful ensemble. The large hall is filled with beautiful harmonies, warm soul, rhythmic hand clapping and rousing gospel sounds.
We come for even more soul in the entrance hall where singer-songwriter and harmonica player CURTIS SALGADO will perform.
Curtis, now in his seventies, he whispers to us, has made a name for himself worldwide with his ability to squeeze the last ounce of soul out of a song.
Fun fact: Salgado taught his friend John Belushi everything about the blues in the late 1970s, preparing him for his role as Jake in ‘The Blues Brothers’. Salgado was also part of The Robert Cray Band for six years.
Salgado’s life is not a smooth path: he overcame liver and lung cancer and underwent a complex heart operation in 2017. It has only made his music more intense.
Salgado, with his good band including drummer Fabrice Bessouat and bassist Johnny Griparic, knows how to convey the groove and soul with wonderful songs such as Better Things to Lie About, 20 Years of B.B. King and Killing Floor. Soul and dance lovers will get their money’s worth 100%.
A lady with a great voice who always makes a big impression with her excellent, catchy blue-eyed soul songs. In recent years she became the mother of no less than three children but is now performing again.
After enjoying a very nice performance by this JO HARMAN & COMPANY in the small hall, it is time to go to the foyer for the “singing drummer” MARLON PICHEL, who we of course also know as the drummer of King Of The World.
This musical chameleon, born and raised in Rotterdam, has been on stage since he was nine, as a scion of a musical family.
His passion lies in Southern soul and with groovy percussion, a soulful voice, an irresistible laugh and great stage energy he brings the atmosphere of the sixties to De Oosterpoort.
Together with his seven-piece band, with powerful horns and a tight rhythm section, Marlon celebrates the glory days of soul and rock-‘n-roll with dazzling performances, completely contemporary, but with a strong nostalgic touch.
Wonderfully danceable and the sun is shining on that small stage! During songs like Little Bit Of Cha Cha Cha and I Wanna Boogie the audience breaks the hall down! What a band!
In the main hall, a young Brit and his power trio are waiting for us. When LAURENCE JONES reported to the front at the age of twenty, he was immediately proclaimed the greatest blues talent of his time.
Walter Trout called him “a genius, a cross between Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy”. The English guitarist and singer-songwriter is now one of the big names in the blues circuit, with eight smashing albums in his discography.
Although blues has always been his basis, Jones packs all sorts of other influences into his music.
The sound has already slid towards pop, but on his most recent album, ‘Bad Luck & the Blues’, he lets an old-fashioned banging blues resound from the speakers again.
Jones has Crohn’s disease and lives every day as if it were his last. You can see and feel that when he is on stage and gives everything he has.
Besides his boundless energy, LJ is one of the hardest working musicians around and is adored by his fans. And vice versa, the always friendly Laurence loves his fans and makes no secret of it.
Wonderfully solid blues rock tonight with, among others, the uptempo What’s It Gonna Be and the blues classic Voodoo Chile. Laurence knows how to turn the room upside down with his performance.
The 26-year-old American singer-songwriter and guitarist QUINN SULLIVAN may still be a youngster, but you wouldn’t say that when you hear his mature records.
He was invited on stage by blues great Buddy Guy at the age of eight, and released his first album at the age of eleven (!). He performed with B.B. King and Carlos Santana and toured with Buddy Guy for ten years!
Quinn comes to the R&B Night with his latest and extremely strong album ‘Salvation’ (2024) in the suitcase, on which he tries to process the sudden loss of his mother in eleven solid and emotional blues rock songs.
We see a man on stage whose guitar playing is undoubtedly phenomenal and he has grown immensely as a singer. He has gathered a number of very good musicians around him and it must be said: Quinn Sullivan is a great asset to the blues rock world and hopefully it won’t be another seven years before he returns to the Netherlands!
He not only impresses with his own songs but also with the Clapton classic Got To Get Better In A Little While and the ABB cover Blue Sky.
Since 2011, ROBERT JON & THE WRECK has been delivering some seriously cool southern blues rock.
Praised for their energetic live shows, the band created a rock-solid fan base and landed on stage with big names like Buddy Guy, Peter Frampton, Little Feat and Joe Bonamassa.
JB was so impressed that he offered the Californians a record deal and then the bull was really let loose. Think powerful songs, exciting guitar solos and strong vocal harmonies.
Their most recent, ninth studio album, ‘Red Moon Rising’, released in 2024, marks a bold new chapter for the band, namely considerably heavier and funkier.
With producers like Don Was and Dave Cobb and contributions from virtuosos like Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith, the band revives the times of The Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Their new album Heartbreaks & Goodbyes will follow in August 2025, and tonight we can listen to the new single Better Of Me, but also golden oldies such as Blame It On The Whiskey and Oh Miss Carolina are not missing tonight.
The band is solid as a rock and with guitarist Henry James the band has a real killer on stage.
The latest addition Jake Abernathie has also acquired a solid share in the characteristic sound of RJTW.
The men have developed true star status and fans travel far and wide to attend a show.
LES GREENE & THE SWAYZEES want one thing: soul music! Growing up in the vibrant musical landscape of Baltimore, Les Greene was drawn to the soulful sounds that filled the streets of his hometown from an early age.
He immersed himself in Baltimore’s rich musical heritage—smooth jazz, funky grooves, raw blues—and found his own sound.
And while he has a deep respect for the soul tradition, he doesn’t shy away from enriching it with R&B, funk, jazz and his sincere, often sensitive lyrics.
But it’s his voice that sets him apart; with his timbre he can convey a wide range of emotions, from joy and passion to longing and heartache.
Tonight’s show is bursting with explosive energy and the audience is enjoying it to the fullest.
Once you arrive in the foyer, the stage has been transformed for the illustrious trio GA-20. The band takes its name from the guitar amplifier that Gibson made in the middle of the last century.
And although the dynamic blues trio comes from Boston, you really feel like you’re in Chicago when the men open their not-so-bad registers.
Guitarists Matthew Stubbs, drummer Josh Kiggans and newcomer Cody Nilson bring a wonderful mix of traditional blues, country and rock-‘n-roll.
Think raw garage blues that sounds both traditional and refreshingly modern. Growling riffs, driving grooves, blistering boogies and challenging vocals, that’s the men of GA-20.
With their tight, driving performance full of energy and catchy songs, they guaranteed a great party during the R&B Night.
Veteran soul-blues rocker, guitarist, and singer-songwriter TOMMY CASTRO has been reinventing himself ever since his 1994 debut album, without losing a single fan.
The American now has nearly twenty albums to his name, ranging from horn-driven R&B and dirty blues to screeching, stripped-down rock ‘n’ roll.
But the basis is and remains a dynamic mix of 60s blues and swinging blue-eyed Memphis soul with a touch of Latin. Add to that Castro’s raw vocals and passionate guitar work and that is what we have been bombarded with tonight.
His stimulating, funky and gritty blues/rock has earned Castro one of the most loyal fan bases on our planet. Tonight he brings a beautiful mix of old and newer songs from his recently released album Closer To The Bone. This 70 year old rocker is far from done rocking!
From one young artist to the next: THE ZAC SCHULZE GANG was formed in 2020 in Gillingham (in the south-east of the United Kingdom) and is an incredibly exciting blues rock trio that is now making waves everywhere and has certainly already conquered the Netherlands this year.
Frontman Zac Schulze, supplemented by bassist Ant Greenwell and drummer Ben Schulze have only been around for about five years and have not even released a full-fledged album yet, but have already caused a stir among fans of energetic blues.
And if you’re a fan of Rory Gallagher, you’re in the right place. The trio brings great renditions of songs by the legendary musician.
It’s powerhouse blues rock of the highest order, live The Zac Schulze Gang is one rousing rollercoaster of pure blues, punk, funk, country, jazz, soul, metal and pop! Songs like Woman and I Won’t Do This Anymore make the SPOT shake to its foundations.
With their debut album due out this year (scheduled date September 25, 2025), the Zac Schulze Gang is well on its way to becoming an absolute cracker in their genre.
FANTASTIC NEGRITO needs a bit more time before the hall is finally opened for the waiting audience. The impatiently waiting audience rushes in as soon as the doors open.
The first song is still a bit quiet, but then the American singer-songwriter Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz, much better known as Fantastic Negrito, knows how to serve his exciting cocktail of blues, funk, soul, rock and gospel.
He plays every concert as if it were his last and throws his committed lyrics into the halls with energy, including tonight during the R&BNight.
Fantastic Negrito now has six smashing albums to his name, with Son of a Broken Man from 2024 as his latest achievement.
Here too, he displays his recognizable style, from hard guitar riffs to expressive ballads, with the unexpected breaks that have become his trademark.
The Rhythm & Blues Night, although not as busy as usual, was also a success for the 33rd time.
