ORGANISERS of the South Beach Sessions and WinterStorm have announced a new weekend of Blues to take place from February 22 until 24.

The three days will each have their own tickets and will feature a Tribute night on the Friday featuring the sounds of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band and the great Rory Gallagher - particularly poignant now given the recent tragic death of Ted McKenna who played drums for both bands.

Saturday sees a five-band all day line-up headlined by the excellent Climax Blues Band with the Brian Rawson Band, local youngsters Rigid Soul, local not-so-youngsters The Penetrations and the George Lindsay Band. The 2pm doors will also allow ticket holders to watch the France Scotland rugby international before the music kicks in.

The Climax Blues Band of today carries the same standard of quality as it did when the band formed back in the late 60s and achieved such great success and recognition through the 70s and 80s, huge selling albums like FM / Live and Gold Plated, the 1976 hit single Couldn’t Get It Right (from Gold Plated) and I Love You in 1981, the reputation carrying right through until the tragic death of founder member Colin Cooper in 2008.

Colin’s death could have meant the end of Climax Blues Band but his desire was for the band to continue creating the fine blues blend that the band has been associated with since its formation, and that desire has been accepted with relish by the remaining members of the band.

George Glover has been at the keyboards in Climax since 1981, very much part of the nucleus of the band, Lester Hunt on guitar joined in 1986, drummer Roy Adams in 1987 and Neil Simpson on bass in the early 90s.

This solid unit has flown the Climax flag with tremendous passion and style.

Sunday’s afternoon programme will feature a collection of acoustic unplugged acts during the day where locals can just drop in enjoy a drink and some music at the seaside venue.

Organiser Ian McCaig is looking forward to the weekend and said: "We’ve had the idea for a WinterBlues in February for a couple of years and the aim now is to try to build it to the similar levels that WinterStorm has reached. Year one is going to be very similar in style to the events we hold under the South Beach Sessions banner – intimate and personal but we are already planning a much larger Blues and Jazz event for 2020.”

Tickets for Saturday’s all dayer are going well and are available to purchase on Skiddle now.