Tampa Bay Blues Festival 2014

From Michael and Rina Marie Yanko
for Rock Legends Photographers
and Concert Photos Magazine

This year the Tampa Bay Blues Fest celebrated its 20th year! Day 1

 

Chuck and Tracy Ross along with a slew of loyal sponsors have been putting on this wonderful festival for 20 years http://tampabaybluesfest.com/ and the proceeds have gone to PARC, a non profit non-profit organization whose mission is to provide opportunities for children and adults with developmental disabilities to exercise their independence and experience life to the fullest. http://www.parc-fl.org/

We just started shooting blues concerts and festivals a little over a year ago and we learned very quickly that if there are artists or bands playing that we never heard of before they will probably win a BMA this year. 

The venue, Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg, is perfect for concerts and this year the weather was perfect. Our friend Larry Lisk seems to MC every festival we shoot on Florida's west coast, and this one was no different.

The lineup started Friday with the very talented Selwyn Birchwood who warmed the growing crowd up perfectly for what was about to come over the next 3 days.  Here's some photos from his performance http://a-better-dj.smugmug.com/ROCKLEGENDSPHOTOGRAPHERS/BLUES-CONCERT-PHOTOS/Selwyn-Birchwood-Concert/



Selwyn was followed by Matt Schofield and band who also put on a fabulous performance.  You can see more photos here http://a-better-dj.smugmug.com/ROCKLEGENDSPHOTOGRAPHERS/BLUES-CONCERT-PHOTOS/MATT-SCHOFIELD-Concert-Photos/ and we'll be publishing our exclusive interview here very soon.

After Matt we were treated to a great performance from the famous Coco Montoya. Coco played some great blues in his classic style and really thrilled the crowd. Here's a look at  

Cocoa and his band http://a-better-dj.smugmug.com/ROCKLEGENDSPHOTOGRAPHERS/BLUES-CONCERT-PHOTOS/Coco-Montoya-Concert-Photos/ and http://a-better-dj.smugmug.com/ROCKLEGENDSPHOTOGRAPHERS/BLUES-CONCERT-PHOTOS/COCO-MONTOYA-CONCERT-PHOTOS/

Next up was a young lady with a set of pipes that really made a big impression on us, Shemekia Copeland. Her band was fantastic and we really enjoyed every song she sang. You can see the images we captured at http://a-better-dj.smugmug.com/ROCKLEGENDSPHOTOGRAPHERS/BLUES-CONCERT-PHOTOS/SHEMEKIA-COPELAND-CONCERT/

Headlining the first night and being crossed off Rina Marie's bucket list was the legendary Buddy Guy. Buddy was really feeling it this night and it gave us the opportunity to shoot some great stills of his performance. You can see them here http://a-better-dj.smugmug.com/ROCKLEGENDSPHOTOGRAPHERS/BLUES-CONCERT-PHOTOS/BUDDY-GUY-CONCERT-PHOTOS-TAMPA/