Guiting Music Festival – Open Air Blues: The Manfreds & Charlie Wood Trio

The Manfreds bring the 1960s back to a Cotswold field

The Guiting Music Festival ends its 2026 run not in the marquee but on the playing field. The final Sunday steps outside for an open-air blues afternoon, a looser finish to a week of classical, jazz, and opera.

Opening at 12:30pm is Charlie Wood, a Memphis keyboardist who spent years as Albert King's touring keyboard player and held a long residency on Beale Street, drawing drop-in sets from B.B. King and Joey DeFrancesco. In 2014 he received a Brass Note on Beale Street, the Memphis equivalent of a Hollywood Walk of Fame star, joining B.B. King, Al Green, and Isaac Hayes. Now based in the UK and married to jazz vocalist Jacqui Dankworth, Wood and his trio perform songs from his new album "Your Love Is My Home": Hammond organ soul with a New Orleans piano lean.

The Manfreds follow at 2:30pm. Two original members of Manfred Mann are at the core: Paul Jones on vocals and harmonica, Tom McGuinness on guitar. The band has been touring without Manfred Mann himself since the 1990s reformation; he never rejoined the group. Expect the hits: "5-4-3-2-1", "Pretty Flamingo", "Mighty Quinn", "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", alongside rhythm and blues gems. Food and drink available on site; bring something to sit on.

Sunday 2 August 2026 · Guiting Power Playing Field, Guiting Power, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL54 5UX · 12:30pm–4pm