The King Bees play Monkton Arts in Ryde on Tuesday 24 June, digging into the Chess Records end of the blues rather than treating it as a museum piece. Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley are all part of the promise, with the extra thread of 1960s British blues showing how those records travelled and changed shape.
That matters because the best blues nights do more than tick off famous names. They catch the swing, bite and push that made those songs worth stealing in the first place. If you like rhythm and blues with grit in it, not just polite background guitar, this should be a stronger bet than a generic covers set. Doors open at 6.30pm and tickets are listed at £12, which feels fair for a room where the music has a chance to sound close rather than washed out.
Ryde works well for this kind of evening because you can get in, hear something with proper weight to it, and still be home at a civilised hour. Monkton Arts has become a dependable stop for intimate live sets, and this one sits squarely in the island's music events calendar. Go if you want blues with backbone, not a theme-night version of it.
