Arriving at Belladrum I was shocked by the laid back and all round chilled out aura that the festival was giving off right from the first moments of setting foot into the estate. Thinking of other festivals I have attended over the years I believe that Belladrum's comparative size to the likes of 'T in the park' and 'Reading and Leeds' add to its charm and give it the family vibe.
After a short walk from the car park, past all the new arrivals enduring the standard fight with a tent that marks the beginning of any festival, we found our way into the festival site and subsequently ended up at the Country themed 'Potting Shed' stage. Dave Sharp was just taking to the stage as we arrived and it was definitely worth sticking around for, his country style guitar playing accompanied with his almost spoken word style of singing was an ideal way to kick off our first ever Belladrum experience.
Next up on our to see list was six piece Aberdeen based band 'The 101.' These guys had won the honour of opening the Main stage (Garden stage) through a public vote on the Herald website and they certainly did not look out of place on the big stage. Right from the first song it was easy to spot some very big funk influences. The crowd to begin with wasn't great but it continued to grow song by song and the bands Strat trio and keys playing frontman seemed to draw energy from this growing crowd. Before their last song there was a moment of appreciation for the voters of the competition, with the singer announcing "This is the biggest thing we have ever done, thank you."
Before the festival, if you had told me by the third band in and without the help of alcohol I would be jamming along to an American style country/ rock and roll band I would probably have laughed in your face. However, that was exactly what happened when we returned to the 'Potting Shed' stage and were met by 'Dougie Burns & The Cadillacs.' The stage was way overcrowded, I didn't note down the exact number of bodies up there making sound, but it was definitely a very large band in numbers and in sound. The last song the band played 'California Cadillac' was stuck in my head for most of the weekend, and even driving home down the A9 I caught myself singing it. The set was topped off by a fantastic harmonica solo which saw the player dance his way through the crowd with a wireless mic, I've never seen someone 'shred' on a harmonica but this guy could.
After a while of pottering around, taking in the charm of the festival we made our way back to the Garden stage and currently performing were 'Ward Thomas.' I had never heard of them before, but after a quick look up on my phone I seen that they were quite a big deal. The twins seemed to be going for a more poppy version of the American country sound we had just witnessed at the last stage, it also felt a bit more processed, like my mass produced Punto as opposed to Dougie Burns' hand built Cadillac. The band backing up the singers were very tight and seemed to really enjoy playing the music that they were, however the twins voices seemed to clash a bit to me and the end result didn't settle well in my ears. I think individually each one of the girls have very good voices, but it just seemed they were both trying to fill the same frequencies of the spectrum and they clashed a lot.
Now onto one of my big highlights of the weekend. The trio from New York certainly did not disappoint with their set on the Garden stage. I had been looking forward to seeing the Fun Lovin' Criminals for most of the day in order to feed my nostalgia. The hip/hop, rock and electronic vibe given off by these guys is unrivalled in its eclecticism. In between songs Huey Morgan, was quick to give the crowd some his self proclaimed 'New York charm' and it was lapped up by the Highland crowd. The band seemed to find the perfect balance between playing good music and not taking yourself too seriously, which is a fine line. My personal highlight of the set was watching drummer Frank Benbini, mid song, keeping the beat with only his right hand while casually sipping a drink with his left, I felt that move, despite showing off a bit, very much oozed class and showed the experience of these guys.
Once FLC finished their set there was a very quick turnover of equipment and the stage was set for the first headline act of the festival. Closely following her band onto the stage the crowd let out a huge cheer as Amy Macdonald approached the mic ready to burst into song. Her set went without any hitch and was enjoyed by a huge crowd which had gathered in front of the Garden stage. At the risk of sounding very critical, personally most of her set list was very samey with not many stick out songs except the obvious "Mr. Rock n Roll" and "This is the life" this is probably down to my poor knowledge of recent Amy Macdonald albums but I did enjoy her easy listening sound nonetheless.
To round off the first day of my first experience of the Highland festival it very much mimiced the ideal festival setup I had in my head, from size to the general atmosphere surrounding it. Putting the music aside there was just so much to see and do, from Danny Macaskill's road show to some wrestling and comedy, and all of this while the most random things were going on around (Chinese dragons and 8ft kangaroos the name a few). The anticipation started for the next the day the moment I left the estate.
Check out our video of the headline act below.
Comments