This is quite long so for those of you with short attention
spans like me here is a short version of events….
Had an absolute blast, highlight from Saturday was Biffy
Clyro and highlight from Sunday was Drive-by Argument. Campsite/arena were brilliant, nice and
spaced out, not too busy and not too quiet, so you could dance about at will.
Anyway for those of you who have slightly longer attention
spans than me, here is a full rundown of my first Belladrum Tartan heart festival
experience!
Friday:
Due to my brother being on a course till 4pm, we didn’t
arrive at the festival till 9pm. Gutted to have missed Guillemots who were on
just before we arrived, but unless we could travel at the speed of light it
just wasn’t going to happen. They are
long overdue a UK
tour anyway so I should catch them soon.
Anyway having got there, we quickly set up our tent and helped some
other guys set up theirs and headed straight for Biffy…….
Biffy Clyro – Hothouse Stage
These guys were due on at 8.35pm, so when we got to the tent
at 9.15pm we were expecting to catch about 15 mins of them. However due to the whole planes being
cancelled, some of the bands had to cancel, so Biffy ended up playing till half
10! Almost a 2 hour set at a festival
must have been like Christmas come early for many of the hardcore biffy
contingent present in the crowd today.
This crowd were also in the know that this was probably the only Biffy
live appearance this year. Having seen
the band it was also clear that they have been locked up for a while as they
look even more hobo’ish than before! ;-)
The set itself was almost like a greatest hits set and some
new material too. I hadn’t seen these
guys since there debut album. Three
albums later its clear they are now a solid live band and have got a good
variety of tunes to back it up.
Personnel highlight for me was Justboy and 57 as these songs still sound
amazing as they did when they first came out.
At the end of the set, lead singer caused a min riot as he threw his
guitar into the crowd, which one lucky punter took home. I wonder how much
that’ll go for on ebay………..?!
Echo and the Bunnymen – Garden Stage
Due to the Biffy set being extended, I only managed to catch
half an hour of E and B. My first impression was that I really did not miss
much at all. When we got there the lead
singers moaning was clearly in full swing and that didn’t stop till they left
the stage. They were very average and
the crowd really were not getting into it at all which was understandable
considering the bands been around for over 10 years you would thought they have
some professionalism by now, but oh no, how wrong I was! Maybe I just caught these guys on an off day,
but I certainly have no intention of finding them on a good one.
Saturday
Had a look at the line-up for starter and decided just to
wander into a random tent…….
Feis rois - Grass
Roots stage
So the first band we randomly went to see was Feis rois who
played to a packed out tent which was impressive for a midday slot. Complete with accordions, violins, keyboards,
clarinets and acoustic guitars combined to make some thoroughly enjoyable folk
music which led to louder jeers and applause than any received in the Echo and the
Bunnymen set the night before. Overall a
great start…
Stereoglo – Hothouse stage
After hearing a lot of people around the campsite go on
about Stereoglo the night before, I thought I’d check them out to see what all
the fuss is about. What I got was
clearly an Oasis/Charlatans influenced band hailing from the Isle
of Skye . Don’t get me wrong
I really enjoyed their set and they have some really good tunes. But you get
the feeling the only reason they’re popular is because they play places the
likes of the Charlatans and Oasis don’t.
Fair play to them and I wish them all the best; but a bit too similar
for me.
Between 2 and half 5 nothing really caught the eye so went
to the Invverness vs Hibs game.
Morning Runner – Hothouse stage
Just got back from the football in time to catch the majority
of Morning Runner’s set, which was good.
Had the choice between them and the Automatic who were playing the
Garden stage. Quite clearly most people
opted for the latter but I preferred Morning runner because there a much better
live band. From what I’ve seen of the
Automatic live on the telly they were rubbish.
I also get the feeling that they are heading for the one hit wonder
category.
Drive-by Argument – Seedlings Stage
Found out about these guys through My space months ago, so
it was good to finally see them live.
There electro/rock set was fully of energy and catchy tunes which some
of the crowd were already familiar with.
The crowd really got into it and the band responded with their utmost
appreciation. With one of there songs
already being used as the lead out song for an NHL team, these guys are
destined for bigger and better things.
Bellowhead – Garden Stage
Having looked at the descriptions of the bands in the paper
Bellowhead immediately caught my eye being an 11 piece folk act. Then I found to my surprise (and everyone
else’s) when they came on to the stage there was only 2 of them! First thing they said was “ the rest of the
band are currently making there way from the train station right now!” Instead
of waiting for them the 2 of them got on with it. 10 minutes later 2 more
appeared. 15 minutes after that, 2 cars
went by the side of the stage and 6 of them ran out onto the stage to be
re-united with there instruments. The
circumstances ended up adding to what was a very entertaining set and band I
would like to hear a lot more of.
Embrace – Garden Stage
Now for the weekends finale; Embrace took to the stage and
stormed through all of there hits. A
notable absence was England ’s
world cup song “the world at your feet”.
A wise move and showed that Embrace actually value their lives ;-). The rest of the set included songs such as
Ashes, All you good good people and Save me.
However from what I heard, they really didn’t convince me at all. The lead singer comes across very poor live,
both as a showman and singer. Its clear
that he spends a lot of time trying to get the vocals right for the album
because live, he seems to struggle a lot to reach notes or even sing at the
right time at some points. It was still
enjoyable to sing along to all the songs,
but this will probably be the last festival they headline, judging by
today’s efforts.
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