This past weekend, Doug MacLeod was a headliner during the Rotura Blues Festival in New Zealand. But he wasn’t only playing, he was also helping to pass the blues torch to the next generation. We’ve come across a lot of fun stuff from the festival and we’ll share some of it with you here.

From the Hamilton Blues Society:

“Saw Doug Macleod on Saturday night, what can I say, absolutely awesome, no words come close to describing this experience. A true master, the playing, the singing, the stories were world class, a true once in a lifetime experience.”

From the Rotorua Daily Post:

“Organiser Sally Garner said it had been a fantastic festival, which had grown since last year, with many people out enjoying the sounds around the city.

“Town has been just pumping,” she said. “We’ve had so much positive feedback.”

More than 200 people attended Doug MacLeod’s concert at the Novotel on Saturday night, which was a huge success, Ms Garner said. “I’ve never seen such a standing ovation. People were up as soon as he finished,” she said.

Event organiser Warren Houston said it was pleasing to see so many people from out of Rotorua taking part, with more than half at the dinner concert on Saturday night being visitors to the city.

Some were even from overseas, Mr Houston said. “It’s really grown a lot and that’s what we wanted to do. We’ve been lucky to have one of the world’s greatest blues players in the world here. Our young people have had the chance to learn from one of the great masters of blues.'”