Gartempe Blues Festival

ℹ️ Festival discontinued. The Gartempe Blues Festival is no longer active. The edition previously listed for August 8th to 11th, 2026, in Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe will not take place, the official website gartempeblues.com is offline, and no future editions are scheduled. The final edition was held in August 2025.

The Gartempe Blues Festival: Blues at the heart of heritage

Born in June 2013 around the Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe abbey church—a UNESCO World Heritage site renowned for its Romanesque murals—the Gartempe Blues Festival created a unique bond between historical heritage and live music. The first edition was held over three days around the abbey. Over the course of a decade, what began as a bold gamble became one of the most popular blues festivals in west-central France, attracting international artists and a loyal audience every summer. The 11th edition took place in 2024, and the final one in August 2025.

Three formats, three atmospheres

The originality of the Gartempe Blues lay in its three complementary concert formats that punctuated each day of the festival:

• Blues en Bar: free concerts on the terrace of the Pass'Temps, located on Place de la Libération. A friendly way to discover new talent in a relaxed atmosphere.
• Blues on the River: starting at 12:30 PM, the banks of the Gartempe hosted open-air musical sessions. The audience would settle on the grass by the water, with food available on-site.
• Blues au Château: from 5:00 PM, the abbey park transformed into an open-air concert venue. Four bands would take the stage until late into the night, covering everything from Chicago blues to blues rock and Delta blues.

An international lineup

Each edition brought together bands from France, Europe, and the United States—seventeen groups over four days for the 2025 edition. Over the years, the festival hosted artists such as Alabama Mike, Aynsley Lister, Nico Wayne Toussaint, Ben Poole, Laura Evans, and Grainne Duffy, alongside emerging acts and local talent. The lineup for the final edition in August 2025 included the Lucky Gas Band, Fab & The Blues Company, Miss Bee & The Bullfrogs, Black Cat Bones, and the Hoffmanfamily Blues Experience.

A festival rooted in its territory

Supported by the Gartempe Blues Festival association and a team of volunteers, the festival contributed for over a decade to the cultural and tourist appeal of the Gartempe Valley. Saint-Savin, a small town of character, provided a remarkable heritage setting where the blues resonated with rare authenticity, amidst medieval alleys, a Romanesque bridge, and lush green riverbanks.