Overview
The Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival is the largest blues festival on the West
Coast and the second largest blues festival in the nation.
The festival not only brings the best
blues artists to Portland, it benefits Oregon
Food Bank’s work to eliminate hunger and its root
causes … because no one should be hungry.
Festival Milestones
| 2008 |
The festival celebrated its 21st year with perfect festival weather. The four-day festival featured both legendary icons and young and edgy musicians. The lineup included soul icon Isaac Hayes, Charlie Musselwhite, Phoebe Snow, Canned Heat, The Mannish Boys with special guests Kid Ramos, Kirk Fletcher and Finis Tasby, Joe Bonamassa, Elvin Bishop, James Hunter, Eric Lindell, Ruthie Foster, Arthur Adams, Curtis Salgado, Portland Soul All-Stars, Carolyn Wonderland, Back Door Slam, Fred Wesley & Groovesect, Robert "Wolfman" Belfour, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Classie Ballou, Paul Thorn, The Legendary Shack Shakers, Tribute to Freddie King with Phillip Walker, Sherman Robertson and Andrew "Jr. Boy Jones and zydeco with Rosie Ledet, Christ Ardoin & Nu Step Zydeco, Cedryl Ballou & the Zydeco Trendsetters, Dikki Du & The Zydeco Krew and more. With the help of Portland Parks and Recreation, Hoffman Construction and Kink.fm, fireworks featured two barges and were twice the size of any other fireworks display in Oregon. Generous blues fans donated $538,000 at the gate, making gate donation the second highest in the festival's 21-year history and highest for a four-day festival. Attendees also donated 91,192 pounds of food. Oregon Potters Association raised $12,995. And for the first time, boaters listening to the music from the Willamette River, flew special flags recognizing their combined donations of $3,306. |
| 2007 |
The festival celebrated 20 years of blues, community and fighting hunger with its hottest lineup ever. Headliners included The Neville Brothers, a Waterfront Blues Festival first; Koko Taylor; Joan Armatrading; The Blind Boys of Alabama; Mavis Staples; Marcia Ball; Pinetop Perkins, who celebrated his 94th birthday at the festival; Watermelon Slim; James Cotton Band with special guest Hubert Sumlin; The Dirty Dozen Brass Band; Eric Burdon and the Animals; Voice of the Wetlands Allstars (Tab Benoit, Cyril Neville, Anders Osborne, Johnny Sansone); Savoy Brown; Lurrie Bell; Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums; J.J. Grey and Mofro; J.W. Jones; Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks and more. Portland Oregon Visitors Association presented the festival with its 2007 Rose City Award. Gorgeous new scrims on the A&E Front Porch Stage put blues fans right in the heart of the Delta Swamp. Special 20th anniversary features included an expanded lineup of nine DME Blues Cruises, an offical U.S. Post Office postmark commemorating the festival, more features for children and families, surprise collaborations and guest apperaences and much more. Generous blues fans donated $510,000 and 97,343 pounds of food at the gate. |
| 2006 |
Dr. John, a.ka. "The Night Tripper"; Irma Thomas, "Soul Queen of New Orleans"; New Orleans "Blues Queen" Marva Wright; Little Feat, Rebirth Brass; Big Chief Bo Dollis and the Wild Magnolias; Porter, Batiste & Stoltz; Henry Butler; Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk; Henry Gray; Buckwheat Zydeco; The Bluerunners; John Hiatt & The North Mississippi Allstars: The Hacienda Brothers; Tommy Castro Band; Jimmy Thackery and Reba Russell; Rich DelGrosso; Harper and Mia Dyson from Australia; Ian Siegel from the U.K.; The Soul Stirrers; The Lee Boys; A NW Tribute to Ray Charles; Geoff Muldaur and Jim Kweskin on stage together for the first time in 30 years to pay tribute to Fritz Richmond; and more. The 2006 festival focused on the music of New Orleans. It featured celebrity Chef Cris Pasia. The 4th of July featured two a cappella renditions of the National Anthem with 10-year-old Javon Carter, 4th-grader at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School and winner of the National Anthem project; and Irma Thomas "Soul Queen of New Orleans. Blues fans donated 103,500 pounds of food and $545,000 at the gate. |
| 2005 |
Buddy
Guy, Charlie Musselwhite, Oliver Mtukudzi, the subdudes,
Mavis Staples and Shemekia
Copeland headlined the 2005 Safeway Waterfront Blues
Festival. A Tribute to Ray Charles, featuring Portland's
finest, was a huge hit. More than 100 blues artist performed,
including Reggie Houston, Guitar Shorty, Big Monti
Amundson, King Louie & Baby James, Eric Johnson, Mark
Lemhouse, the Kenny Neal Band, Sherman Robertson, Chubby
Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band, Jon Cleary and the Absolute
Monster Gentlemen, the Campbell Brothers, Roy Tyler &
New Directions, Stephen Bruton, Doyle Bramhall and
more. The 2005 put the spotlight on Women in Blues, Gospel
Blues and the blues-based music of the Gulf Coast states
of Texas and Louisiana. Music lovers donated $348,000
and 107,000 pounds of food. |
2004
|
Keb'
Mo', Jonny Lang, the Holmes Brothers and
Canned Heat headlined the 2004 Safeway Waterfront
Blues Festival. In addition to the headliners, blues
fans raved about Hubert Sumlin, Sonny Landreth,
James and Lucky Peterson, the Mannish
Boys, Motor City Rhythm & Blues Pioneers,
Ruthie Foster, Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers,
Reggie Houston, Cyril Neville and the Uptown
Allstars, Robert Belfour, Mark Lemhouse, Roy Book Binder,
Arthur Adams, Tracy Nelson and more. The 2004
festival celebrated the late Howlin' Wolf and
spotlighted the blues-based music of Louisiana and Texas.
It also offered more cruises and more educational workshops.
Generous blues fans donated $323,000 and 100,649
pounds of food.
|
| 2003
|
The 16th annual Safeway Waterfront
Blues Festival celebrated the Year of the Blues. The
festival broke all records. Even though the day was
a day shorter than the previous year, blues fans donated
$363,000 net and 120,000 pounds of food to Oregon Food
Bank. Performers included Etta James, Susan
Tedeschi, Taj Mahal and Steve Miller performing
with Roy Rogers and Norton Buffalo. |
| 2002
|
Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown,
Ike Turner & the Kings of Rhythm, Ruth
Brown, John Mayall, Dirty Dozen Brass
Band, Al Kooper and Michelle Shocked
highlight an eclectic lineup of more than 80 blues artists
performing for five days. The festival attracts 120,000
fans, who donate more than $310,000 and more than 115,000
pounds of food. In addition, the Oregon
Potters Association raises more than $21,200 through
its Empty Bowls project. More than 1,100
volunteers help run the festival. |
| 2001
|
More than 125,000 fans hear Shemekia
Copeland, Solomon Burke, Delbert McClinton,
Los Lobos, Rosie Ledet and Little Feat.
Fans raise a record $380,000 and 103,000 pounds of food.
|
| 2000
|
Safeway becomes the title sponsor
for the 13th annual Waterfront Blues Festival. The event
raises $350,000 and 100,000 pounds of food. Fans turn
out in droves to see rising stars—Jonny Lang
and Shannon Curfman—and legendary stars—Pinetop
Perkins and Robert Junior Lockwood. |
| 1999
|
The festival launches its third stage,
the A&E Front Porch Stage, for acoustic acts and
workshops. More than 100,000 applaud Koko Taylor,
Jimmie Vaughan, Booker T & The MGs
and Charlie Musselwhite. The festival raises
more than $210,000 and 80,000 pounds of food. |
| 1998 |
Performers include Bobby Rush,
Roy Rogers, Bobby Blue Bland, J. Geils
and Son Seals. Fans donate $155,000 and 60,000
pounds of food during the four-day festival. Albertson’s,
the festival’s presenting sponsor, donates an additional
truckload of food. |
| 1993 |
The festival grows by leaps and bounds.
Performers include Otis Rush, Johnny Johnson
and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. Fans
donate $105,000 and 41,000 pounds of food. |
| 1991 |
The festival is renamed the Waterfront
Blues Festival. Headliners include Chicago blues legends
Jimmie Rogers and Hubert Sumlin, Katie
Webster and Luther Johnson. Fans donate $80,000
and 25,000 pounds of food |
| 1988 |
Oregon Food Share, predecessor of
Oregon Food Bank, becomes the producer and beneficiary
of the Rose City Blues Festival. This becomes Oregon's
first annual blues festival to benefit people who are
hungry in Oregon. Miller Genuine Draft is the festival's
first title sponsor. The countdown of annual blues festivals
begins here. |
| 1987 |
Festival begins as the Rose City Blues
Festival, sponsored by the Cascade Blues Association,
to benefit Burnside Community Council's projects for
the homeless. Performers include John Lee Hooker,
Paul deLay Band, Curtis Salgado, Norman
Sylvester Blues Band and Lloyd Jones Struggle.
KBOO radio station broadcasts performances and has continued
to do so throughout the history of the festival. |
|
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