32nd Annual Chicago Blues Festival

The Chicago Blues Festival is the largest free blues festival in the world, and remains the largest of Chicago's Music Festivals. Over three days on five stages, more than 500,000 blues fans proved that Chicago is indeed the "Blues Capital of the World". May and June are “blues months” in Chicago, and a number of Chicago Blues Festival preview events are scheduled throughout the City at the Chicago Cultural Center, Daley Plaza and other locations.

The 32nd Annual Chicago Blues Festival was again held in Grant Park. I only attended the first two days, and I didn’t cover the side stages this year. On my way to Grant Park, the clouds started getting dark and it looked like rain. But thankfully, it held off until after the concert. On day one, the performers were: Zora Young, Clarence Carter and headliner Syl Johnson. Day two performers were: Toronzo Cannon, Shemekia Copeland and Buddy Guy. Towards the end of Shemekia's performance, and during the intermission for Buddy Guy, the rain started coming. It was pouring! So much so, that I wasn't going to risk getting my gear wet by shooting Buddy Guy in a down pour. So I ended up watching his performance from under a huge, heavy-leafed(is that a word?) tree. But after about 45 minutes, the rain never stopped so I ended up leaving along with a couple other photographers. And although I didn't attend day three, I heard it was an awesome tribute to the late, great Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon. The families of the two performers took to the stage for tribute fabulous performances.