A Night at the 30th Annual Peoria Blues and Heritage Music Festival

This weekend I traveled ninety miles west to visit Peoria for their 30th annual Blues & Heritage Festival, formerly known as the Blues Festival. Tickets were $65 for the whole weekend or $40 for a one day pass, I went with the less savvy latter. The headliners were Ben Folds and Buddy Guy. The scenery was the Peoria riverfront. With a beautiful view of the Illinois River accompanied by an eclectic group of artists, my confidence and anticipation grew for the riveting central Illinois festival.The festival grounds sat directly underneath Murray Baker Bridge in downtown Peoria. Several local merchants congregated along the river as well as a multiple carnivalesque food stands. The vendor area seemed very unique, bursting and ambient with lights strung around the trees lining the riverwalk. Items available for purchase ranged from handmade bags to glowing devices designed for dancing spectacularly during the various sets. Uniquely, this festival is the only one I’ve attended which allowed patrons to bring chairs in with them. In addition to all the booths selling clothes and food, there were several local artists selling paintings and small sculptures.The first act I attended was Roosevelt Collier’s, where I was struck softly by a smooth Blues and Jazz set. He was later joined on stage by an upcoming performer, Brandon “Taz” Niederauer. They had a laid back extended jam session which lasted for around ten minutes, characterized by lime-green guitar riffs, violet keyboard solos, and burgundy percussion rudiments if I were to have synesthesia. It was a good set for the evening as the sun took its sweet time setting, waiting for the opportune moment to excuse itself as attendees began milling about before Ben Folds. I made my way to the main stage in anticipation of Ben Folds’ piano show.Because most people brought chairs, a small divide was made for those who wanted to sit for the concert and for those who desired to be classified as standing onlookers. Both parties received a comfortable line of sight from their separate civilian posts. The standing folks were given a pit directly in front of the stage, allowing my legs and eyes to be rewarded by proximity to a headliner. While at most festivals this set would have been overwhelmingly loud and distorted, the music floated around at an actually pretty comfortable volume, even from merely a few yards away. Part of this was likely because Ben Folds wasn’t accompanied by any band or extra instruments. He performed solo with his piano, which isn’t to say it was any less exciting. Folds’ stage presence and personality were both excellent. The atmosphere was so comfortable that Folds even stopped once mid-song to detail his experiences the last time he toured central Illinois and visited Normal.Ben Folds began by playing a few of his more recent late 2000’s songs before moving onto his older 90’s tracks. In-between songs he would reminisce about the origin of various lyrics and at one point he even had the audience sing the tune of a song as he mimicked the actions of a conductor at the front of the stage. About an hour into his ninety-minute set, he began playing his bigger hits like “You Don’t Know Me” and “The Luckiest.” Surprisingly, Folds didn’t play any covers and his set was top notch as well as musically diverse in spite of only using one instrument.Overall, the 30th Annual Peoria Blues & Heritage Music Festival was an excellent display of talent for a genre that’s under-appreciated amongst the fast-paced 21st century. If you’re in central Illinois and are a fan of Blues and/or small festivals, this is certainly one to check out in the future. Overall, I’d give the Peoria Blues & Heritage Music Festival 7 Caterpillar Excavators out of 10.