Clean Bandit @ Inverness Northern Meeting Park 30/06/2023

Where: Northern Meeting Park – Inverness, Scotland (UK)

Venue rating: 8/10 (I had more fun here than most other places but the stage was very basic and there were no screens)

Who I went with: Myself

Where I stayed: My house

How I travelled there: Walked there after finishing work at 5pm and then got a lift home from Paul at about 10:30pm

Beverage of choice: Vimto and then beer (classy)

SETLIST:

*Sadly unavailable*

I saw this advertised on Facebook a while ago and figured there would be no harm in going, since Clean Bandit have a few big hits and I obviously like Ella Henderson, who was opening for them. It’s hard to pass up a concert when it’s taking place on your doorstep, especially when I went to great lengths to attend various concerts in the past. Inverness doesn’t hold events like this often and most musicians who play here are local and not incredibly well-known. Now The Ironworks has closed down for good, we have even less opportunity to see our favourites live. I saw Duran Duran in Inverness last summer and I can’t remember any big names gracing the stages of our quaint city since then. I imagine bands can’t be bothered travelling all the way up here to no-man’s land when they can play the likes of Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh instead. Inverness isn’t even the fiftieth city in the UK I’d think of performing in. We don’t exactly have the most spectacular venues, either.

I was looking forward to it, despite this. I was working until 5pm but it worked out quite well for me because I made my way across the river in time for the gates to open at 6pm. I got there a bit early because I was concerned about my ticket. I checked my Ticketmaster app the night before and panicked when I saw I needed a paper ticket to get in. I assumed it would be an e-ticket, like almost everything else. I contacted Ticketmaster and pleaded with them to convert it to a mobile ticket but they couldn’t do it in time. They instructed me to collect my “duplicate” ticket from the box office on the night but I was worried they wouldn’t have it ready in time. I was actually having a complete mind blank and remembered via a badly timed flashback I did receive my ticket in the post, weeks ago! It escaped my mind because I wasn’t excited about it when it arrived. I tossed it into my “all-sorts box”, which is mostly full of craft materials. I dug it out and messaged Ticketmaster back, with my tail between my legs. I tried to retract my request but they went ahead with it anyway and voided my original ticket… To my surprise, they did have my replacement ticket waiting for me at the box office. The girl said Ticketmaster is terrible for losing people’s tickets and I guiltily mumbled “Yeah”, before hurrying off. After all that, it turned out I didn’t even need the new one since a teenage boy at the gate simply let us through without even scanning them. My new ticket said “General Admission” but I’d paid extra to get into the seated area, so I switched my tickets over in order to gain access to that bit and get a special wristband.

I barely spent any time there. I sat down for approximately four seconds before wandering around the field and grabbing myself a beer. I felt like I needed one after my stressful day at work. I enjoyed exploring the venue but there wasn’t a lot to see. The beer tent was opposite the seated area and there was a tent dedicated to body art/jewels etc. At least that’s what I think it was, as it was hard to tell without going inside. I thought that would be much more suited to a festival setting but it was still an interesting addition. A merch stall was nowhere to be seen. I don’t know if I would have bought anything but it would have been nice to have had the option. It can’t be that challenging to transport merchandise. The only beer they had was Tennent’s, which was fine with me. People were complaining the cans were £5 each but I didn’t think that was too bad, considering prices are always inflated at concerts because you’re being held captive. There were plenty of food vans, providing tons of choice. I’d already eaten onion rings by the river, from a food van taking advantage of the fact an event was just about to take place next door. They were ninety percent batter but still nice.

I tried to look competent pouring my beer into my plastic cup when the woman next to me asked for directions to the beer tents. I pointed them out but she couldn’t make up her mind whether to go “before it got busy” or not. When I thought the conversation was over, she asked me if I thought our bench had the best view of the stage. I tried to convince her it did, since we were technically closer than all the other seats and still had cover if it rained. I’ve never understood what the Northern Meeting Park is used for but my dad told me he used to go there to watch rugby. As soon as Keir Gibson came on, I decided to abandon my seat and get closer to the stage as both the sound and view were appalling. Barely anyone had arrived by that point, so there were only two rows of people at the barrier. I walked around and took lots of photos, angry that my new phone hadn’t arrived in time for this. It was delivered that afternoon and I didn’t have time to go home and get it. I was anxious to experiment with the camera on it but I suppose that will have to wait. I made do with my old phone and tried to make the photos look as good as possible. They would have been abysmal if I’d stayed seated. When he first came on stage and announced he is from Fort William, the woman beside me said “It’s nice they have a local musician supporting!” and her friend replied, “Is it?” which was funny. The man on the other side of us said “Anywhere closer than this is too close for me!” They were more interesting than the people I ended up shoulder to shoulder with by the end of the night but I had a much better experience near the stage. I like to feel the vibration of the music. KG described ‘When Nobody’s Left’ as slower than the song he performed previously, “If that is even possible”. He used self-deprecating humour throughout the evening, which was quite effective and got plenty of laughs. He explained ‘As Lost As Me’ just came out at midnight and probably sounds better on Spotify. I was disappointed when I looked him up as I preferred the way his songs sounded live but I later fell in love with all of them. Someone behind me said “As lost as me! Like me at the end of the night!” He said he wrote one of his songs with his producer. I can’t remember which one it was but he said it has a sunny vibe. It might be the same one he said you don’t need to know the words to sing along with it, especially if you’re drunk.

Ella Henderson came out half an hour later. I had the freedom to go to the toilet, get another beer and sit down for a while before returning to the front of the stage. The people beside me when I was seated didn’t say anything funny this time around but I wasn’t there long. They were probably confused why I paid for a seat I wasn’t using. The turnout was pitiful and it never really got much busier. Only about a quarter of the field was filled up and it’s not big to begin with. It’s a shame because it was a Friday night and you’d think people would be out partying. I’m wondering whether people don’t really know Clean Bandit or if the tickets were just too pricey. It’s odd because they didn’t sing their creations themselves on the original releases but got others to record the vocals. They are kind of like Zedd and Calvin Harris in the way they make the music. Zara Larsson, Anne-Marie, Demi Lovato and Jess Glynne are a few of the popular singers featured on Clean Bandit tracks. This might enable them to reach a larger audience but it makes it difficult to become massive fans of CB, since it’s hard to get to know the members. I might be over-thinking it. Maybe people just didn’t fancy standing in the rain. EH was great, as always. It was fun to see her again, though this was a massive downgrade from The Isle of Wight Festival two weeks prior. She claimed we were her favourite crowd of the summer, which I know must be a lie. I was sad the field must have looked so empty from up there but she was making the most of it and said Scotland has the best crowds. She told us half of her family are from Scotland and some of them are in the crowd, so she always feels at home here. She also talked about her song ‘0800 Heaven’, which made it into the Top 20 that week. She was wishing for it to reach the Top 10 but I don’t think the two hundred people in the Northern Meeting Park could help bump its popularity very much. I’m sure she performed ‘Let’s Go Home Together’ with the same band member who was with her at IOW but I still didn’t catch his name! I was delighted ‘Ghost’ received the best crowd reaction by far, with heaps of people singing along. It rained for around ten minutes but nobody seemed to care.

Clean Bandit came on a little while later. Greed got the best of me and I decided to queue for ice-cream. I was at the van when CB had ten minutes to come on stage and there was still hardly anyone there. I managed to get close to the stage again, with no problem at all. The only upsetting thing was people climbing on each other’s shoulders constantly and blocking everyone’s view. There was no need for it because you could easily see the band from there, even if you are short. There was a girl on her dad’s shoulders and she spent most of the time looking anywhere but at the stage. A group of four or five teenage boys jumped on each other’s shoulders too, right in front of me. It didn’t last for the whole time but it was infuriating. They opened with ‘Solo’, a song I told Paul I disliked until I realised Demi Lovato sang it. I love her voice but songs can sound distorted when you hear them on the radio, with other background noise. They flew through each of their hits and I had forgotten about some of them. ‘Baby’ ended up being my favourite song of the night, though I was most looking forward to hearing ‘Symphony’ and ‘Rockabye’ – their biggest songs. The choreography was a lot of fun to watch and I loved the variety of instruments used. I sent a clip of one of the violin solos to my dad but he wasn’t as impressed as me. The crowd was clearly in awe at the time, though. A lot of people were commenting on how good she was at playing the violin.

Unfortunately (but not surprisingly), most of the crowd turned into idiots by the end of the night. One boy was waving a litter picker in the air, which was funny for half a second because of how random it was – until he decided to chuck it through the air, straight at people’s heads. I didn’t see where it landed but CB reacted to it, looking shocked. Lots of people joined in doing a chant I’m sure originated in Glasgow, which is often heard at concerts in Scotland. The lead singer at the time (whose name is impossible to find online) froze for a minute but their Scottish band member (who plays the violin) whispered in her ear that it is in fact a good thing and that cheered her up immediately. She shouted, “I love your energy!” and decided to embrace it. When they left the stage, I wasn’t sure they would come out again because I couldn’t think what else they had left to perform. Some people started to leave! I can’t remember which songs were included in the encore but I think they might have ended on one of the Jess Glynne songs. I kept thinking they were done but they would start another song, so I may be wrong. It was a fun night and they got a good reception but it could have been a lot better. I would have hardly been able to make out what was happening on stage from my original seat without the use of binoculars. Rag’n’Bone Man was also supposed to perform that weekend but cancelled due to crew members and equipment not making the journey up. That just added to the failure of the weekend, when it could have been a huge success. I didn’t have a ticket to see him but when I listened to his songs out of curiosity I realised I do recognise a few of them. I’m interested to see which events Inverness will hold in the future. I just hope they work out better next time around.

GALLERY: