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Welcome to Darlington R'n'B Club
The R n B Club was formed in May 1995 by a small group of blues enthusiasts who decided to do something themselves due to a lack of live rhythm & blues music in Darlington. Their success has seen various Public Houses in the town follow their lead, and now live blues and rock bands can be seen most weekends in Darlington.
A committee of six people run the R n B Club, along with the help and guidance of the Arts Centre, where the bands perform in either "The Garden Bar" or "The East Hall". The Club has a hard core of 50 to 70 members who come along to most gigs. The others are floating fans who probably choose which bands they prefer to see.
The club's atmosphere is very friendly; so what could be a better recipe
for a great night out, than listening to superb rhythm n blues and having a
great variety of northern beers to choose from at the Arts Centre's well
stocked bars?
LATEST NEWS
The current economic climate seems to have had an effect with ticket sales for live music events lately. Both the R'n'B Club and Gasto Promotion's ticket sales have been well down on gigs that should have sold better.
Due to the high price in fuel charges, bands are putting their prices up and this has had a knock-on effect in that we have to pay sometimes up to $100 more for the same band we last paid them some 18 months previous.
We could of course lower our standards and go for bands that are not as expensive, but we have now after all these years, attained a certain standard with our bands and we don't want to go back-over. In football terms it would be like having to accept relegation from say the Premiership to the Championship - something we don't want to have to do, but if things don't improve we may have to look at that.
Traditionally summer gigs are affected by holidays, and of course there's lots more to do in the fine weather - long weekend breaks, barbeques and other outdoor activities to enjoy. So we are not panicking just yet, we've taken all that into account, but we are very aware that our recent gigs haven't sold well.
Its not just us, bigger venues are also having to think twice; the Carling Academy in Newcastle has recently had to move two "big-name" acts to a smaller venue - The Cluny due to poor ticket sales. Both the Fabulous Thunderbirds and Robben Ford gigs had to be rescheduled to try and reduce running costs.
We have just completed bookings for the next season - late summer and autumn, including the Rhythm 'n' Brews and Market Square Festival's. Tickets are now on sale, so please phone the box office for further details. We can promise another great line-up with some big-name artists - we are sure all blues fans will certainly know Buddy Whittington and Herbie Goins to name but two. We can also confirm that the headline band's for the Market Square this year will be Dr. Feelgood, Otis Grand, Blues 'N' Trouble and The Smokin' Spitfires.
We are also currently working on our next compilation cd - our 7th - with 12 artists who have appeared at the R'n'B Club over the last two years. We think it could be our best yet, [but we would say that wouldn't we?] As ever it will be a limited edition, and should be available from mid July. We've called it "Keeping the Blues Alive" which is what we aim to do - but only with your help.
So, although it is a difficult time at the moment, please continue to support the R'n'B Club if you can. This is our 13th year of promoting live R'n'B and Blues music in Darlington - let's hope it isn't going to be an unlucky 13th!
If you would like to join our new mailing list and receive regular updates and the latest gig information from the R'n'B Club, please send an e-mail to Mike at: gasto.promotions@gmail.com and he will put you on the list.
