Belladrum's hottest sounds
MAYBE it was a special Buckingham Palace honour bestowed on Belladrum for this year’s "Royal" theme – but SUN! and two days of it.
For that alone Bella deserves a knighthood, or should that be a damehood?
As a free gift with your Tartan Heart ticket, having summer thrown in was pretty special.
And the atmosphere at the festival was as sunny as the weather with smiles all round.
Well, nearly ...
Somehow it seemed harder to fit in even a glimpse of all the acts with the geography now going from the HEN stage all the way to the further-away Hothouse stage.
But there was so much to see that the disappointments of missing some acts was just something to take on the chin – while slapping the sun cream on everywhere else.
And the temperature in the sky was well-reflected in the sizzling way that our local acts turned up the heat to perform out of their skins.
Youngsters LAST SUMMER EFFECT instantly impressed in the Seedlings tent with their cool intro, fierce playing and totally-in-command singer Chris Smith aka Fox – they even had a giant fox rampage about in tribute!
One of the most emotional sets of the two days came when Ross McEwen and Bod Elder took their places with ROADWAY in the Seedlings tent - May's serious car accident making their full-on rock even more appreciated by their noisy fans for Saturday's set.
Both the WHISKY RIVER BAND and IAIN MCLAUGHLIN AND THE OUTSIDERS ended their blistering sets by telling their whooping crowds "See you next year!"
And if there’s any justice that may even be on a bigger stage or a later slot.
Heavy rock growling scariness was never more entertaining than geeing up the start of Saturday in the Hothouse tent with ZOMBIE MILITIA, a bit of Depravity and the hardier members of the crowd Wall of Deathing by running round and slamming into each other in bruising ways.
That and the menace, precision and sheer tightness of the band’s playing would be a main stage dream some day soon.
Yet just as impressive late afternoon on Saturday in the Seedlings tent were newer Inverness/Ross-shire outfit TOBY MICHAELS ROLLING DAMNED. Not so much scary as comedy heaven happened when Toby jumped the barrier to run around the crowd, taking a gasping breather while reminding the band "No pressure boys, I’m watching you", before running outside to an impromptu version of Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love from guitarist Gary Thain and the rest of the band.
Toby’s suggestion that a good festival motto might come in their final song’s title – A Little Bit Of What You Fancy Does You Good - was spot on
And he was right.
Even the final half of the last song from MAN LIKE ME showed just what you’d missed. Friends confirmed that the set had been a stonker with singer Johnny (or possibly Pete) scaling a lighting rig to sing.
And in the same Hothouse tent, a song or two in the company of TORRIDON came with Kenny falling victim to a band bet about selling the most Torridon-logoed pants – and happily playing away on guitar ONLY in his pants!
That sort of behaviour might get you arrested in some places. But I’m still not sure why LITTLE MILL OF HAPPINESS singer Steve Obern ended their set saying "Come and see me in Barlinnie!" The drums and deep vocals sounded like Joy Division as you approached the Hothouse tent where the singer’s usual sepulchral lyrics awaited – "I’ve been waiting for a cowboy to rein me in, but the universe doesn’t have enough rope".
On a lighter note, another bonus from lots of the local acts was supplying an added twist to sets their regular fans might already know fairly well. So HOODJA brought in rappers Two Many Ts for an utterly new fusion, The OUTSIDERS brought in ROADWAY’s Ross McEwen for a guest slot on keyboards, MAINLINE NORTH brought in Bruce McGregor on fiddle at the Potting Shed.
And that’s where one of my favourite festival discoveries, recommended by a friend, MIR was accompanied by a band including Martin Stephenson.
KOBI brought in borrowed Leonard Jones Potential Andrew Morgan on trombone and Doug Hutchison on trumpet to add some nice brass stabs to I Remember, among other songs.
Singer Gary Thain revealed at the start of older track The New Before: "We should have played the first Belladrum, but we were replaced by some belly dancers who I’m sure were more attractive!"
Female singers sparkled on all the stages. KARIMA FRANCIS, whose fragile yet kooky presence, enhances her heart-rippingly emotional songs such as Stay and If I Walk Alone Will I Be Forgiven, recommended fellow Blackpool singer in the Seedlings tent – the equally-talented RAE MORRIS.
The festival’s own fledgling superstar RACHEL SERMANNI from Carrbridge has progressed through the stages, this year packing out the Grassroots tent where many discovered her for the first time last year. And another young singer songwriter making a lot of noise on the Inverness scene, MEGAN BLYTH, confidently rolled out a couple of new songs in her set, Bring Me Down a full-on experience with Megan fully in control of our attention.
And on the main stage, no-one could compete with the hi-energy full-on glamour of Wolverhampton diva BEVERLEY KNIGHT. Bigging up the Olympics, Beverley included a tribute to lost legends Whitney Houston and Donna Summer, reviving Summer’s funky disco cool with crowd singalong phrase "Toot toot aaaah beep beep!"
But for energy, the singer had competition from Friday main stagers VINTAGE TROUBLE and frontman Ty Tyler.
The human dynamo later turned up for an impromptu set at the Potting Shed Stage (there was another surprise appearance from Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison at the Tomatin whisky stand).
But the main stage teatime crowd were putty in Ty’s hands and though his jacket was dark with sweat, there were plenty takers when he fulfilled his promise of coming out afterwards to their merchandise suitcase on the grass where "... we’ve got some sweat to rub all over people from Scotland".
Bella always rewards you with treats if you just randomly go off-checklist and poke your head into a tent or stop by an unplanned stage.
Something special at the Jock The Reaper stage (this year with its own straw surroundsound) was NITEWORKS and their house plus traditional music formula of dance cool – a real rival for the more junior charms of the full-on teen mecca of Mother’s Ruin where Inverness DJ ALAN GRANT set the stage firing on all cylinders from the off on Saturday.
The TREACHEROUS ORCHESTRA’s 10-man traditional fiddle, accordion, pipes and whistle madness reeled the main stage with Sausages a perfect dish for a dancing Saturday teatime crowd.
WILLIE MASON’s quiet power impressed in the Grassroots with I Got Gold, later featured on the BBC Alba coverage.
And when it came to race to next main stage headliners, the jury’s out between Friday’s mystery guests KASSIDY and Sunday crowd favourites FRIGHTENED RABBIT.
But on their days, both THE WOMBATS ‘quirky indie storm on Friday and TRAVIS’s huge-hearted singalongs on Saturday found their perfect place.
The BUZZCOCKS packed out Hothouse which exploded for the big tracks What Do I Get and encore monster Ever Fallen In Love (yes, guitarist Steve Diggle did his traditional throw-guitar-into-the-wings trick). And on Saturday, RODDY FRAME’s set may not have included the rumoured guest slot from pal Edwyn Collins, but he sang his song for Edwyn’s wife Grace with Hymn To Grace.
And the rammed tent needed little encouragement to sing along with old gems like High Land Hard Rain and Oblivious to Frame’s smiling buddha of delight.
The TV cameras didn’t make that one – but being able to watch other highlights over three nights in BBC Alba’s coverage was an extra bonus with three more highlights shows set to come.
Highlights were in mind, sitting at the far-off yet brilliantly-located bagel and panini stand (my best tea and food in festival award), watching as the children’s parade giant gold crown was carted away on its side late on Saturday evening.
This year Bella was the hottest party queen ever.
For more Belladrum pictures and coverage, check out the what's on website and your paper! And why not add your favourite moments, bands and tales from the festival frontline in the comments box below!
