The bill also includes Capercaillie's Karen Matheson and Donald Shaw, the Peatbog Faeries, songsmith James Grant (with friends on board), the colourful Totó La Momposina, and the monochrome Grim Northern Social. Inverness-based blues outfit The Andy Gunn Band will feature a special guest in the shape of soul singer Geno Washington, Highland rockers Dionyssus have been added to the bill in the wake of their Emergenza successes, and you will also hear David Ogilvy, The Lush Rollers, Mystik Shoes, Planet Potato and Beats Working.
Free parking and camping is available (see the website mentioned below for details), and expect street theatre, alternative therapies, yoga, dance, crafts, various stalls, food and drink among the other distractions, and all for £25 (in advance – it’s £35 on the day, and that’s only if there are any tickets left). Families are welcome, and under 12s get in free, bless ‘em (again, see website for full details of hwo to book).
“The music will take place in the old Italian Gardens at Belladrum, which is a kind of natural outdoor arena.”
THE FESTIVAL is in aid of Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre, and brings together several strands of Joe Gibbs' interests, including his love of music, his work for charity, and his need to restore the gardens at Belladrum.
“The idea came out of a lifelong obsession with music on my part. I had worked on a compilation album with Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull when he was still at Strathaird, in aid of Highland Hospice at that time. He donated tracks, as did other people. and he produced it, and it raised quiet a lot of money.
“I wanted to go on and do some kind of festival after that, but the hospice changed their funding methods, and I was no longer involved with that. Then I was recruited for Maggie’s to do the same sort of thing, and I sit on their fund-raising board in the Highlands. I felt this was a great opportunity, because Maggie’s is actually quiet a hip charity, with a consciously contemporary feel that I thought would fit well with a festival. It is an awareness raising exercise for Maggie’s, and we hope to make them some money as well.”
“The other line of impetus was the gardens here, which have been crumbling into a rather over-romantic ruin. This last winter dealt it a body blow, and we needed an impetus to do them up, so it all came together. The music will take place in the old Italian Gardens at Belladrum, which is a kind of natural outdoor arena. We will have one stage this year, and 12 hours of bands.”
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