2023 International Blues Challenge
January 24th - 28th, 2023
The International Showcase will open the event in May with competition rounds in venues located along historic Beale Street. The International Blues Challenge will conclude with finalists performing at the Orpheum Theater.
Takes place in various clubs on Beale Street
The Blues Foundation, is world-renowned as THE organization dedicated to preserving blues music history and celebrating recording and performance. The International Blues Challenge is the Blues Foundation's signature event that turns all of Beale Street into a five-day big blues venue for more than 260 blues acts from around the world.
Five days of Blues on Beale
The 2023 International Blues Challenge will be the 38th year of Blues musicians from around the world competing for cash, prizes, and industry recognition. The world's largest gathering of Blues acts represents an international search by The Blues Foundation and its affiliated organizations for the Blues Band and Solo/Duo Blues Act ready to take their act to the international stage.
Finals at the Orpheum Theatre
Acts fill the clubs up and down Beale Street for the quarter-finals on Wednesday and Thursday, the semi-finals on Friday and the finals at the Orpheum Theater on Saturday.