Belladrum 2023 – delays, changes, sunshine, punk heroes and local talent
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It might be ‘That’s all folks!’ from this year’s cartoon-inspired Belladrum…
But the chat continues on everything from the reasons for those massive traffic delays on Thursday – to choosing your favourite act.
Hottest topic?
Hit the festival’s socials and you’ll get super-contrasting views on shifting the main stage to the Hot House field – the biggest change Belladrum has put itself and the audience through since the start.
The milling bodies at the top where toilet queue meets coming and going audience, could be challenging at times over the weekend. But it was easy enough to get clear by heading across the back of the field and moving past the food trucks and Foodie Forest to find a peaceful space to sit or room to walk on for a space at the front barrier in front of the stage.
The view from the crest of that hill down and across a crowd that seemed to stay put longer at the stage than ever before – was impressive. So was the sound, bar a bit of echo or delay on the one you couldn't miss Punk Rock Factory listening on the Foodie Factory side!
Line-up choices?
Inspired ‘line-up wrangling’ – getting the mix of music right – saw a bill of crowd-pleasers for Hot House, such as Thursday’s Skerryvore-Sam Ryder-Sigrid. Friday followed with Colonel Mustard-newcomers Punk Rock Factory-local heroes Elephant Sessions and on to Saturday’s commercial core of Olivia Dean-Scouting For Girls-Peat & Diesel setting up the crowning act of closing headliners, Travis.
But this year more than any before, the after-hours acts Gimme Abba, Martin Kemp’s 80s DJ set and the later start final acts in the Grassroots tent, emphasised two different groups in the crowd, those heading home and those staying to camp and party.
Who won your top of the headliners prize?
Sigrid won perfect opening headliner prize with her youthful exuberance and perfect ending for first-ever Scottish headlining set – wrapped in a Saltire, bringing on Skerryvore’s Scott Wood for a unique sound memory of Strangers for all the young girls and families loving that set. But a little bit samey?
Bastille brought frontman and master creator Dan Smith’s’s pop-rock vision back to us, the power of 2013’s Pompeii with dance mash-up Of The Night and latest album Give Me The Future’s Shut Off The Lights.
Travis, set off Saturday night getting us to sing along with melody-rich story songs woven through Scotland’s soundtrack of the last 30 years. Frontman Fran kept it real about everything from aging – he was 50 last week – to songs.
“I feel like music has been slightly sh*** for a while, and by sh***, I mean sh***,” he said. “Songs should be about something! If you are in a band, then this song is dedicated to you!”
The band launched into one of their earliest big-hitters, All I Want To Do Is Rock, about making a stand for music, for anything. But Fran in his Barbie-pink – or was it red – suit had one more thought to share: “Thanks so much for having us, and for your voices. Have a great weekend. Make love not war, and make love tonight and make children – and get them off social media! Throw the phones away, just be cool. You’ll thank me later.”
Nice to think a new generation of Belladrummers might have been created on the headliner’s advice!
The generation game ...
Keeping their different tribes happy is something Belladrum works hard at – the Garden Stage belonged to the younger group – and more mature at different times.
Dylan John Thomas on Saturday saw the front of the stage packed with teens and early 20s, a more mature crowd thronging round the stage on Thursday when the delayed Altered Images appeared with hits from their 80s pop hit past and Clare Grogan as glamorous and dangerous in her scarlet gown as you could wish for.
But who did you discover?
Along the way there were jewels to find at any stage you cared to try, local musicians making the most of a Belladrum slot to take their chance to impress a bigger out-of-town audience stopping by.
Macgilli at the Ice-House early on Saturday drew a building crowd with his looped guitar instrumentals, explaining to his audience what he was doing, as they stood silent and mesmerised for the first couple of tracks into Fire and Stone a raw, fast piece. In that, you got to see all his different ways of playing the guitar - as percussion, ghostly harmonics with a light touch of the strings or running a flat hand up the fretboard and swinging his hunched torso around to add power to ferocious strumming. To me, it started to come across as some kind of ballet, his fingers, hands, arms, dancing to the music. Chapters – his latest single raising money for charity - was a total contrast, slow and thoughtful with a poem by his friend Dail Macdonald woven through it in the recorded version. “It’s like Braveheart!” someone in the crowd whispered to her friend as the piece began. And Macgilli’s music has that epic quality.
Another homegrown success story is Tik Tok sensation and most recently Ivor Novello songwriter award finalist Katie Gregson-Macleod. The clearly delighted young star was treated to a throng of people at the Grassroots stage on Saturday for her first gig back here since her Highland tour in the early spring. In a set that gave us a reprise of many of the songs from that set – Body, I’m Worried It Will Always Be You, TV Show which she hopes to release soon, My Second Single Bed – where for the second time she pointed into the crowd, this time saying ‘You got it right, I got it wrong’ to the person singing along with the words.
She told us she was worried her mum who was in the crowd would be annoyed she was going to mention smoking. And the sense of how close she felt to this festival – which she reminded us had been her first to perform at – came when she told us that she had been asked to play Bella this year and which stage she would like to play and she had chosen this one, the Grassroots. “This was always my favourite stage – I have seen some amazing people people here - Rachel Sermanni last night!” And Katie asked for help to sing White Lies – “I hate singing it so if you know it, sing it with me …”
That means when the last song came next, the voices were warmed up and hearts were open to share Katie’s memories.
“I wrote this on Belladrum weekend last year,” Katie shared. And she said at the time, she thought it was a bad song ..!
But just before announcing Complex to a giant roar from the crowd, Katie invited us to sing it with her.
She revealed in her down-to-earth jokey style that a friend had told her inviting us to sing made her sound like “an arrogant p***k”.
But half-crying, and wiping away tears, then half-laughing at the overwhelming sound of everyone singing the song with her, word-perfect, the singer was anything but arrogant, glancing behind her into the crowd to catch the eye of her family? It was a special moment to share.
And no Belladrum makes sense without a few new discoveries from more exotic locations to check out.
The Seedlings stage, now close to the Hot House and perfectly-placed to keep popping in to check out the best new and hottest indie music, served up Lubana – from Edinburgh – on Thursday night.
A chilled RnB pop sound schmoozed across the tent for what frontman Darren told us was their first outing as a four-piece before taking us to Palm Springs, the title of the song. “Oh God, what a mess I made,” the story went. Hooked in by the keyboards and guitar riffs, the good news for the busy crowd of people was that the teaser for their single was one thing to check out – the second, that they’d be back at the Tooth & Claw in Inverness on October 20.
Forgetting The Future conquered at the same stage on Saturday (see an interview with the band's Robbie McNicol and Sam Cowan on Inverness Courier online). And it hosted revived instrumental post-rock Inverness legends Shutter too.
Inverness band The Joshua Hotel there on Saturday saw a packed-out tent for Josh Mackenzie’s three-piece. One of their early sets of last year – third gig! – was in The Seedlings, a showcase of a set of indie-electro-pop songs that already stood out from the crowd. As the singer, guitarist and keyboard-player had revealed in an interview before Belladrum, he was sure they would feel more relaxed for this one and ‘refined’. That came across, his own playfulness coming through in Queer Holiday, casually pushing his keyboard to the ground. New single Don’t You Remember was the song of the set, though inviting on guest singer Shanine Gallagher added a new dimension.
A first-time visitor from California made her way to the Hootananny Trailer Trash stage on Saturday lunchtime.
Louise Goffin – daughter of famous American songwriters Carole King and Gerry Goffin – showed off her own talents in front of a packed audience there. Sophisticated multi-instrument backing tracks AND the sound of in-demand master guitarist Isaac Sutherland enriched songs including love warning Some Of Them Will Fool You and a song creating American pictures in your mind, Main Street Parade – “Big balloons soaring by, floating down the lane …”
Kiefer Sutherland – my Hollywood wildcard – singing authentic country/Americana in Grassroots with musicians to die for might have been a little disappointing from incredibly high expectations. But you’d still love to see him in the sweaty little venues he feels are his natural habitat for a close-up on his performing songs like his own song, the title track of latest album Bloor Street.
Favourite cartoon moments?
Mine? A tie between The Hootananny Trailer Trash truck with Wile E Coyote and Road Runner and the bestselling Beano-Belladrum collaboration T-shirt.
Belladrum 2023 – how was it for you?
After the challenges, event producer Dougie Brown was upbeat on Sunday: "Aside from the traffic issues on Thursday, I think this festival is one of the best – if not the best – one yet!"
Next year will be the 20th anniversary – which artists will everyone wishlist into life for that momentous occasion?
The debate over what is going to work for the traffic in future may continue, the bedding in of the Hot House layout will go on, the legend of developing and supporting this annual miracle of logistics and a pulling together of what organisers plan to be the best in music and entertainment to brighten these testing times, has already begun for next year.
But that was 2023.
