Orkney Blues Festival

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Stromness, Scotland
Orkney Blues Festival

The UK's most northerly Blues Festival in the Isles
23-25 April 2027 For more information please visit orkneyblues.co.uk

26/08/2026

Wondering how the Orkney Blues Festival weekend works? 🎸

The full 2027 programme is still being built, but here’s how the weekend traditionally flows.

From Friday evening onwards, the free festival programme brings blues to pubs and venues across Stromness. It continues from Saturday afternoon ’til late, with more free music on Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the Town Hall hosts our headline ticketed Early Birds and Night Owls shows on Friday and Saturday, followed by Sunday night’s Festival Finale.

The wider weekend traditionally includes free workshops, activities and special events beyond Stromness, with visiting performers and often more than 30 local artists taking part.

A dedicated local team continues to build and expand the free programme, creating more opportunities for Orkney musicians and ensuring every local act is paid for performing.

For the complete festival experience, we recommend making a weekend of it. A Weekend Pass includes every ticketed Town Hall show—from Friday’s opening night through to Sunday’s Festival Finale—leaving you free to explore the wider programme between shows.

For the Orkney crowd: no time off required—straight from work to the blues on Friday night. Although after the Sunday Finale and a few Orkney beers, Monday morning may feel slightly ambitious… 🍺

📅 23–25 April 2027
🎟️ Book your Weekend Pass now

Full programme, venues and timings to be confirmed.

Are you an Early Bird, a Night Owl—or here for the whole weekend?

25/08/2026

🎸 BLUES ’N’ TROUBLE — BACK IN THE RECORD COLLECTION, AND BACK TO ORKNEY

Festival organiser Will recently unearthed these Blues ’N’ Trouble records from his grandad's prized collection — a reminder that the band’s connection with Orkney goes back a long way.

Blues ’N’ Trouble played in Orkney during the 1980s and later appeared at the very first Orkney Blues Festival.

Now, more than four decades after their original Orkney appearances, Blues'N'Trouble - Reunion are returning to Stromness for Orkney Blues Festival 2027.

Who remembers seeing them here the first time around — and who still has their records tucked away?

🎸 Orkney Blues Festival
📅 23–25 April 2027

23/08/2026

🎸 MEET BLUES ’N’ TROUBLE

The legacy and goodwill behind the Blues ’N’ Trouble name has brought several original members of Scotland’s highest-energy and farthest-reaching blues band back into the festival circuit.

Core ’80s line-up players Jivin’ Johnny Bruce and Telecaster Dave on guitars, along with original drummer Sean Scott, were all part of the band’s big-break tour opening for B.B. King across the UK and Europe in 1982.

Now fronted by lifelong bandmate, vocalist and exceptional blues-harp player Gary Martin, their stage fire and fun remain in excellent musical shape—older, not wiser, and playing to four decades of fans with the spirit and original songs of B’N’T.

LINE-UP:

Gary Martin – Vocals / Harmonica
John Bruce – Lead Guitar
Telecaster Dave – Vocals / Guitar
Andrew Stirling – Bass
Sean Scott – Drums

We’re delighted to welcome Blues ’N’ Trouble to Stromness for Orkney Blues Festival 2027.

👉 Read their full story and meet the 2027 line-up on our website.

📅 23–25 April 2027
🎟️ Weekend tickets available now

22/08/2026

🎸 SECOND HEADLINER ANNOUNCEMENT 🎸

We’re delighted to announce that Blues 'N’ Trouble will join Grammy Award-winner Alvin Youngblood Hart at Orkney Blues Festival 2027.

Formed in the early 1980s, Blues 'N’ Trouble built an international reputation with their hard-driving rhythm and blues—touring with legendary names including B.B. King and Robert Cray.

Four decades of songs, stagecraft and high-energy Scottish blues are heading for Stromness.

📍 Stromness, Orkney
📅 23–25 April 2027
🎟️ Weekend Passes: £100 plus booking fee

Book now: https://www.orkneyblues.co.uk/tickets

More headline artists still to come.

Blues'N'Trouble - Reunion

19/08/2026

This is blues festival weekend in Stromness. 🎸

Live blues. A room full of people. Right up close to the music.

Come and experience it for yourself.

🌊 Orkney Blues Festival
📅 23–25 April 2027

17/08/2026

Some festival moments only happen once… 🎸

Jimmy Carpenter Band, Ian Siegal and Orkney’s own David Flanagan sharing the stage during one of our special headline shows at Stromness Town Hall.

That’s part of the magic of Orkney Blues — bring brilliant musicians together and you never quite know what’s going to happen. 💙

More of this, please.

23–25 April 2027 🌊

15/08/2026

THE ORKNEY BLUES | Ticket. Travel. Bed. Sorted.

Planning your weekend at the Orkney Blues Festival is simple! Head over to our website to secure your weekend pass, look at local accommodation options, and coordinate your travel.

The journey is part of the adventure—which route are you taking?

✈️ By Plane
Fly from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, or Inverness straight into Kirkwall Airport to get your weekend started with minimal fuss.

🚢 From Aberdeen
Take the evening ferry departure, grab dinner on board, relax, and arrive at Hatston Terminal in Kirkwall by 23:00. A cabin for the return overnight journey back to Aberdeen is highly recommended.

🌊 From Scrabster
Take the ferry to Stromness across the legendary Pentland Firth—notoriously one of the wildest, roughest, and most exhilarating stretches of water in the world and catch The Old Man of Hoy and the stunning sea cliffs.

🚐 From Gills Bay
Hop on the short-sea catamaran crossing to St Margaret's Hope. This is the ideal and efficient route if you are bringing a campervan or motorhome, and you travel through the middle of neolithic Orkney to the festival!

🚌 For Local Attendees
Leaving the car at home or traveling from across the mainland? Public buses run throughout the weekend linking St Margaret's Hope, Kirkwall, and Stromness. Keep an eye out on the Stagecoach website for up-to-date timetables and any late-night festival services.

Everything you need—from your weekend passes to travel links—is waiting for you on our website.👇

Get your weekend passes and plan your trip here:
🔗 www.orkneyblues.co.uk

14/08/2026

There’s nothing quite like a weekend when the town comes alive with live music, and you can just wander from one great session straight into the next. 🎻🎸

This picture sums up exactly what makes our festival weekends so special. It’s all about local players and visiting artists getting together, pulling up a chair, and passing tunes back and forth. If you love brilliant string music, a lively pub session, and catching up with folk over a proper night of live music, this weekend is right up your street.

The festival is about getting involved, too. We’ve always been lucky to have visiting musicians who are happy to sit down and run workshops, sharing a few tunes and tips with local players who want to pick up something new.

Whether you’re heading along to the daytime sessions in the pubs, joining a workshop, or catching our nightly headline show concerts down at the Stromness Town Hall, it’s going to be a great weekend. 🌊

🎶 Let’s pack out the local venues and support live music right on our doorstep from 23–25 April 2027.

🎟️ Get your local Weekend Pass here: www.orkneyblues.co.uk

12/08/2026

🌊 Plan your ultimate blues weekend in Orkney now!🎸 Catch Grammy-winner Alvin Youngblood Hart at Stromness Town Hall from 23–25 April 2027.🎟️ Secure your Weekend Pass today: 👉 www.orkneyblues.co.uk

The tickets are officially launched, the first headliner is locked in, and it's time to map out your trip - accommodation and travel to Stromness should be booked in advance.

🛏️ STAY IN THE HEART OF THE FESTIVAL
Weekend Pass holders receive an exclusive 10% accommodation discount at The Ferry Inn, Stromness (or Garden House Rooms, Kirkwall). Book early to turn the festival into a proper weekend getaway!

🏡 LIVE LOCALLY?
Book a night or two in Stromness, walk between the pubs, enjoy breakfast near the harbour, and experience the festival from the heart of it all.

🏛️ STROMNESS TOWN HALL
Every day, the Town Hall will host our mainstage ticketed events, with unique headline shows featuring exceptionally talented blues musicians under professional sound and lights. Beyond the town hall, you can catch an incredible lineup of free live music in the local pubs all weekend.

Secure a Weekend Pass today to experience every single headline show—you won't want to miss out!🔗

www.orkneyblues.co.uk

28/07/2026

What if your best weekend of 2027 isn't abroad... but in Orkney? 🎸🌊

Imagine leaving the everyday behind for just three days.

Wake up beside the sea. Stroll through the streets of Stromness with coffee in hand. Hear live blues drifting from venues, pubs and the harbour. Stop for a chat with musicians you've just watched on stage. Discover your new favourite band. Watch the sun go down before another unforgettable evening of live music.

No rush. No huge crowds. Just great music, the very best of people and one of the most beautiful settings in the world.

That's the Orkney Blues Festival.

Whether you've been coming for years or are thinking about your first visit, we'd love to welcome you.

🎟️ Weekend tickets are on sale now.

www.orkneyblues.co.uk

Address

Stromness
KW163BS

Website

http://www.orkneyblues.co.uk/

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