25-Jan-17 – Headliners have been announced along with a new location for this year’s Chicago Blues Festival. After 33 years at Grant Park, the annual music festival is moving to Millennium Park, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events announced on Tuesday.

Performing over three days, June 9-11, will be Billy Branch and the Sons of Blues with special guest James Cotton, Rhymefest, William Bell, Gary Clark Jr., Rhiannon Giddens, and Ronnie Baker Brooks. A full schedule will be announced in the spring.

“The City of Chicago is committed to presenting high quality live musical performances featuring international, national, and local artists that celebrate Chicago’s rich blues history and its influence on all genres of music,” said DCASE Commissioner Mark Kelly.

He called Millennium Park a “setting that will only heighten the event’s reputation as the world’s preeminent free blues festival.”

Chicagoan, Grammy and Oscar winner Che “Rhymefest” Smith (left) will open this year’s festival with a tribute to the influence of blues on rap and hip-hop. Closing the festival will be blues rock musician and Texas native Gary Clark Jr. Headliners will perform at Jay Pritzker Pavilion every night from 5:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Between 11:15 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., music will be performed at three nearby stages. A preview of the festival is scheduled for June 5 at noon at Daley Plaza. The first Chicago Blues Festival in 1984 celebrated the music of Muddy Waters, who had died the year before.