Belladrum Festival 28/07/2023 (FRIDAY)

I had time to grab food before the next act, Broken Records at the beloved Garden Stage. I can’t say I was impressed with any of the food but it’s great they had so many options. I discovered “Foodie Forest” by the main stage far too late as I totally forgot about seeing it on the map but I had a lot of choice anyway. There were even veggie vans and one which sold strawberries. There was also a Co-op as you entered, so it was easy to find somewhere to eat and drink. It was so prominent that I used it as a marker to find the exit each night as the place wasn’t well lit. The festival was a good size but not so massive you felt exhausted after walking the length of it. Broken Records are an Alternative Rock band from Edinburgh and I liked what I read about them, so gave them a go. They did a mixture of old and new songs, stating one of the songs was from 2009 which already “feels like a lifetime ago”. They announced it was their fourth time doing Belladrum, so some of the crowd probably had an idea who they were already. I did feel like a bit of an outsider, attending the festival for the first time and going solo. Their last song was ‘Someday You’ll Remember Me’, which I assumed was their biggest hit by the sound of it but I struggled to find it on Spotify and saw it was released in 2018, so actually one of their later ones. I liked how traditionally “rocky” they sounded, compared to some of the other bands at the festival. There are some videos of their performances on YouTube, if you want to check them out. I’m surprised more people weren’t taking videos. I think most people couldn’t get any signal and gave up on their phones for the weekend. Some of their songs were quite slow but they didn’t fail to get the crowd going.

I didn’t know Keir Gibson until he opened for Clean Bandit at The Northern Meeting Park at the end of June. I sauntered past the tent and saw they were getting everything ready. I didn’t want to go in straight away and look overly keen, though I’ve become a huge fan of his music over the past month. It was nice to hear him perform again, now that I’m familiar with his songs. I was one of the few people to stand right up at the barrier but he encouraged more of us to come forward. His time slot was thirty minutes, which was the only disappointing part of it for me. People complained the Hot House noise interfered with the Seedlings Stage when they went there but I didn’t have a problem with that at all. I guess it depends who is performing and when. He did his new song, ‘Kill You In My Mind’, which I knew nothing about at the time. It’s funny because the song came out that day, which was reminiscent of ‘As Lost As Me’ being released the day I saw him last. I didn’t hesitate when it came to booking a ticket to see him at The Tooth & Claw in Inverness as part of his upcoming tour in September, which he proudly promoted before exiting the stage. There were some funny moments too. A bug landing on the microphone interrupted his singing, a guy shouted “I LOVE YOU!” at the top of his lungs and his guitar unplugged itself right at the very end of his last song. He asked “Why didn’t anybody tell me?” but it had only just fallen out. He claimed it was the second time that has happened to him! He posted photos on Facebook and I am in one of them, looking really happy for once.

I went for coffee and a “rolo slice” afterwards but the van’s card machine had stopped working and then the girl poured me a latte instead of a cappuccino. I told her I would take it to stop it being wasted but I was hoping for a bigger caffeine hit. She sprinkled chocolate dust on the top and said “It’s the same thing!” No, it’s not. I went back to the Garden Stage to see Lauran Hibberd with my latte posing as a cappuccino and sat on the grassy bank in the sunshine for a while. I went up to the barrier before she came on and enjoyed her set a lot. She reminded me of Dead Pony a bit – her singing style and stage presence. She told us she is from the Isle Of Wight, which is at the opposite end of the UK from Inverness. She also said she might move here, just to get far away from her ex-boyfriend. Her songs were catchy and memorable. They’re the type of songs which instantly put you in a good mood but I didn’t fully understand some of the lyrics, especially when she sang “He drops his trousers in my shampoo”. She told us to remember her name even though it is strange and asked how many of us have heard of her, which was a bold move as I wouldn’t imagine many people up here have. It was funny when she talked about having “IBS” and asked if any of us lived close by so she could use our toilet before introducing her song ‘I’m Insecure’. It was hilarious since she didn’t come across that way at all. She also had a song about being second best, which might have been my favourite. She said she wrote it after an ex-boyfriend called her “the second prettiest girl” he had ever seen, which is a bizarre compliment. I looked her up on Spotify and enjoyed her songs the second time around too but it isn’t the sort of thing I would ordinarily listen to.

Newton Faulkner was incredible. I wanted to see him when he played Mouth Of The Tyne Festival last year but we planned our journey home before I realised he was there. I kept him in mind and made an effort to look up his events, so was delighted to see his name on the line-up for Belladrum. I don’t think it’s the first time he has performed there. I have loved ‘Dream Catch Me’, his biggest hit, since my teens. It’s one of those songs which never seems to get old, no matter how many times you listen to it. I have a couple of his albums but that is the only song which really stuck with me. A little way through his set, he said “I guess it’s time” for his famous song and explained his mum always told him he needs to do the song which paid for his house! The tent was looking busy when I arrived but I found a space by the barrier. I was excited but people kept trying to push me out of the way so they could see him. He was sitting down, which was an unusual decision considering the cramped layout of the Grassroots Stage. It didn’t give me a good impression of his fan base. He said he used to write normal songs but play them on weird guitars. I’m not totally sure what that means. He played a generic acoustic song as an example of a song we are all used to hearing singing, “I’m so depressed… but I’m deep… Sleep with me!” and got a decent laugh. He also encouraged us to sing along and asked us to vote whether we would like an old or new song to finish on. The majority of people raised their hands to hear an older one. He talked about his new song a little and added “This is not it!” before starting the one we had collectively voted for. I really enjoyed him, even though my blood had reached boiling point.

I didn’t have much time to make it to Hot House before KT Tunstall but I managed, somehow. I was further away from the stage than I would have preferred but the distance made for some good concert shots as a lot of my other photos didn’t include the crowd/atmosphere. She is clearly very talented but I only knew two of her songs. I was happy to hear ‘Suddenly I See’, which has become an iconic song over the years. I used to get her mixed up with Sandi Thom when I was a teenager before I knew they were both Scottish, which is interesting. She did a cover of ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)’ by The Eurythmics, calling Annie Lennox “The Queen” and claiming Scottish music is the best in the world. It was fun to see so many famous Scottish musicians in one place. Of course, I was most looking forward to Travis. She also did a touching tribute to Sinead O’Connor by getting the crowd to sing ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, after she had sadly passed away a couple of days prior. She said her song ‘Other Side Of The World’ is now old enough to drink now and said lately she has been “enjoying old”. I didn’t know that one either but it had a nice melody. All of her songs appear to have meaningful lyrics and aren’t just fluff, which I appreciated. She invited Julie Fowlis on to the stage, calling her one of her “favourite human beings”. They sang ‘Black Horse And The Cherry Tree’ together, which I recognised but didn’t know was a KT Tunstall song. I really like her voice and think it is well suited to rock music.

I felt so much joy when Bastille took to the stage. I have liked them for years and bought their debut album as soon as it came out. I have been dipping in and out of their music in recent years and got a signed copy of their latest album but I need to listen to it a few more times to really get into it. I didn’t manage to make it to the barrier but I reached four or five rows back when people left after KT Tunstall. I had to strain to see the band but the stage was built really high, which was a great idea. There was always a lot going on – lights, videos on their big screen and also a circular rotating stage. The lead singer, Dan Smith, was brilliant and interacted with the crowd a lot. He jumped into the crowd and sang amongst everyone. I couldn’t see him, just the giant spotlight following him around. He ran past everyone in the front row and sang at the same time, which was impressive. Later, he even walked along the top of the barrier – with the security guards propping him up so he could retain his balance. I’m honestly surprised the crowd behaved themselves and didn’t try and pull him off, or something. He held the microphone out to the guy beside me but apologised once he was back on stage for not being able to reach him. He did have to stop mid-song to ask everyone to take a step back to prevent someone getting hurt. I was happy about that because a girl was flat up against my back, with her hands all over me. My favourite song of the night was definitely ‘Happier’ and it has been stuck in my head since. I liked hearing him speak but the crowd kept chanting over him, which was disrespectful. Some people criticised their performance online but they had watched the show from home and weren’t actually at the festival, so I think they were just jealous. Everybody there seemed to be loving them and were singing and dancing along. I’ll always remember this night fondly and, like most other bands, I would see Bastille again in the future.