January Blues Festival: The Animals + Geno Washington

The opening night of the January Blues Festival's tenth-anniversary year, bringing together The Animals, Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band and a DJ set from Snowboy. The bill draws on blues, rhythm and blues and 1960s British rock.

The Animals were formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1962 and played hard rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock. Signed to Columbia Records, the group had hits with House of the Rising Sun and Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, and is counted among the biggest groups of the 1960s. On this bill, founding drummer John Steel leads his own version of the band with friends.

Geno Washington is an American rhythm and blues singer from Evansville, active since 1966. The singer is joined by Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band, a UK group formed in 1965 whose debut album, Sifters, Shifters, Finger Clicking Mamas, appeared in 1968 on Pye Records. Dexys Midnight Runners celebrated the singer with their 1980 chart-topping single Geno.

Snowboy hosts the evening as DJ, playing Chicago blues, rhythm and blues and blues rock. The night is held at 229, a concert venue on Great Portland Street in central London.