September in Swindon; Shuffles and Jazz Knights

Wowzers, someone’s put a musical rocket up Swindon’s you-know-where, and is due to ignite it over September! You’ve never had it so good, Swindonites, as Swindon Shuffle announce their line-up ahead of the weekend of 15^th-18^th September AND an inaugural Swindon Folk & Blues Festival is announced by The Jazz Knights the very following Saturday, 24^th……

It’s the glorious kind of who’s-who of local music you annually expect from the free festival, Swindon Shuffle, which spans across eight separate venues; The Hop Inn, The Tupenny, The Victoria, The Castle, The Beehive, Baristocats and the Eastcott Community Centre, and all in aid of Prosect Hospice.

This testament to Swindon and Wiltshire talent is simply too large for us to go into every nook and cranny, I’m going to leave the poster below, and I believe you’ll see what I mean. But you’re best following them on Facebook at the moment, as the website isn’t updated; fresh off the press type stuff here at Devizine, y’know?!

See what I mean now? Wowzers, proper job, innit?!

On a separate note, the renowned alternative folk act, Wildwood Kin are heading to Swindon as part of their UK Tour, the following weekend. They headline the Swindon Folk & Blues Festival, which is the Saturday after the Shuffle, 24th September, at Christ Church.

The launchpad of a brand-new festival for the town is one year late, postponed due to Covid, so be quick to grab a ticket for this one, as original tickets bought for the 2021 event will be granted entry. But wow, it’s another tantalising line-up…. stuff like this didn’t happen all the time I lived in Old Town, we only ever had Eastender’s Ian Beale switching on the Christmas lights!!

Sister event to the already established Swindon Jazz & Soul Festival, organisers are those corduroy-armoured Jazz Knights, who prove you can do jazz-hands with gauntlets, and they’ve a staggering bill including our favourites, Ruzz Guitar Blues Revue, Jon Amor Trio, The Lost Trades and Fly Yeti Fly, along with The People Versus, The Bellflowers, Fay Brotherhood (of Spriggan Mist), Mark Harrison and local talent such as Hip Route, Bob Bowles, SGO, and Bone Chapel

Festival Director Evie Em-Jay from Jazz Knights said, “we are really proud to be hosting Wildwood Kin’s as part of their UK Tour together with a packed line up of nationally known acts as well as local talent and I can’t wait to be back in the stunning venue of Christ Church where our last event sold out. We really hope that the public support live music in what has been a devastating few years for the music industry.”

Co-Director Ed Dyer from Songs of Praise called it “a privilege to be able to host a band as talented as Wildwood Kin. To be able to do it in a venue as spectacular as Christ Church is an added bonus. It is a perfect combination that is sure to create a truly magical musical event.”

All this comes as The My Dad’s Bigger Than Your Dad announces their 2023 date, in July, and tickets are up for grabs; affirming Swindon on the live music UK map, and demolishing any wonky preconceptions it’s just a collection of roundabouts. Go, Swindon!

For the record, I like all the roundabouts, Swindon, keeps the traffic flowing.