I’ve written about our local music festival around here many times, despite never having experienced it for myself. I’ve dropped DD and her friends off, picked them up, and washed the mud off their wellies, but have always dithered, and never quite got round to buying tickets. At first (it’s been going since 2004) I thought such festivals were for young people and for those who don’t mind camping in a muddy field for a weekend, but over the years I’ve discovered that all ages congregate at Belladrum during the last weekend in July, and blow me down, you don’t even have to camp as there is a shuttle bus that goes back and forth from the town centre. You can even buy a day ticket nowadays, so this year, the year I’m desperately trying to tick things off the bucket list before I get any older, I did just that. The day I chose was the Friday as that was the day when The Human League were going to be headlining on the big stage. They definitely didn’t disappoint.
But first, a little bit of background to The Tartan Heart Festival. Although about a tenth of the size (up to 25,000 capacity), it’s become known as the Scottish Glastonbury, and I can see why. It’s held on a farm in the middle of the countryside and as well as featuring music, there are also all sorts of artsy things that go on in the various upcycled farm buildings and pop-up venues – poetry reading, cinema, comedy, circus skills and so on. It’s also very family friendly with lots of activities for kids and special camping areas set away from the boozy youngsters! We never get the really big names of course, but we are on the circuit for all those artists who are doing the current year’s round of festivals. It’s also a great venue for local and traditional Scottish bands.
And so it came to pass that Mr WIAA and myself got up early last Friday and as if preparing for a military campaign, packed all the things we thought might be useful for a long day at an outdoor festival. Layers of clothing complete with wet weather gear (as it turned out we were lucky with only two short showers the whole day), pop-up chairs (essential for oldies like us), paperwork for the bus and venue (no phone signal out there) and plenty of hand sanitiser and tissues (just in case the toilets were less than ideal – they were ok actually).
It’s only 7.6 miles door to door so we just had to walk down the hill from our house and catch the bus from our local stop. The drive through the countryside is beautiful at this time of year but of course double decker buses are not a common sight on such lanes so if you’re at the front on the top deck (as we were), it’s a bit scary to see solid tree foliage heading towards you, but both the bus and the trees survived I’m glad to say.
We got there well before 11am and some of the campers were just getting up so the fields were still quite empty. I was amazed to see a pop-up Co-op supermarket near the entrance full of all the essentials needed by festival goers. The fact we both had our Co-op membership cards with us proved very useful later in the day but I’ll come to that in a bit. DD advised that we would need a lanyard which would guide us to what was going on throughout the day, so after a coffee we set about acquiring one. Seasoned festival goers will know about such things but as newbies we needed all the advice we could get. It was time for a proper walk around the entire venue so we could get our bearings on where all nine stages were, and what else was on offer (the food options were amazing).
It was reassuring to see that all ages were represented and who knew that hippies still walk amongst us! There were plenty of people there who looked as if they “dropped out” many decades ago and good for them. Their clothes and hair styles were a dead giveaway and very different from the outfit of choice for teenage girls this year. The spray tan centres in town must have run out of product, as they all seemed to have skimpy shorts, orange legs and cowboy boots. I was tut-tutting at the skimpiness of the shorts, but hey, I was being a “mum” and I might well have worn the same had I been their age.
But this is a music blog so where is the music I hear you ask. At midday the acts started to appear so first we caught a couple (Fiddle Forte and Devin Casson) in the Grassroots tent then ventured out to get some lunch. Mr WIAA met some yoga friends who were holding a class in one of the tents and I met an old work friend whose daughter was getting married in the temple later in the afternoon (there are a few weddings held every year). For the afternoon we planned to see Colonel Mustard and the Dijon 5 on the main stage and then Out Of The Blue (a celebration of Joni Mitchell) at The Ice House.
It’s a bit difficult to describe the Colonel Mustard outfit from Glasgow, and this clip is really tame but I can’t find a decent one of them in action. Suffice to say everyone headed to the main stage for their set (they are regulars at the festival) and there was much audience participation when they sang their songs, Cross The Road and Bouncy Ball. This is how they describe themselves: We are the shiny disco ball hat wearing, ultimate genre hopping, twisted festival, live stage machine that puts the emphasis on music, entertaining and laughter. We are a party at its most outrageous and ridiculous.
We then got to The Ice House just in time to watch the Joni Mitchell tribute band and were treated to many of her songs starting with Big Yellow Taxi. Most of the audience looked as if they had been around during her heyday, so we fitted right in.
After that we met up with my friend again in the area cordoned off for wedding guests having cake and champagne. The ceremony had already taken place, so they were having some down time before heading off to enjoy the rest of the festival. The friend was a little tipsy by this time so we left them to it and headed off to find something tasty to eat to set us up for the evening ahead. The sun had even come out so it was all good at Belladrum.
I mentioned earlier that we had our Co-op membership cards with us and as luck would have it there was a partially covered area next to the bar at the main stage, set aside for anyone carrying such a card. I don’t think many people knew about it or maybe the youngsters just wanted to be nearer the stage but it was perfect for us oldies who had their chairs with them, so we could have a drink and a sit-down between the acts. It was also a little higher up so you could look down on the stage without anyone’s head getting in the way. There was a slight problem in that you couldn’t see all the acts you would have liked as they coincided with each other on another stage, but it seemed the Hothouse Stage was the place to be.
First of all we had Scouting for Girls who came on at 6.25pm, then we had Rizzle Kicks at 8.05pm and finally, the one I was waiting for, The Human League at 9.45pm. Like at the Take That concert, I didn’t want to spend my time taking bad photos rather than watch the bands, but I did get a few shots which I’ll share here.
It seems that to do well at a live festival you have to be able to add a little banter between songs and both Roy Stride from Scouting For Girls and Jordan Stephens from Rizzle Kicks were really good at that. I enjoyed both bands and got a real surprise with Rizzle Kicks – they have lots of horns in their band so unlike most hip-hop outfits they have a very distinctive sound. They first found success in the early 2010s but after having gone off to do other things for eight years, they are back performing again. The girls next to us in our little area were obviously big fans so they knew they would finish with this song, Down with the Trumpets.
I did a bit of reading up about them when I got home and was surprised to learn that Jordan is the grandson of one of The Boulting Brothers, those English filmmakers who became known for their 1950s satirical comedies such as Lucky Jim and I’m Alright Jack. Every day’s a school day.
After a bit of a sit down and a drink it was time for The Human League to come on. It gets dark later up in the north of Scotland but dusk was approaching, always the best time for an outdoor concert to start. What can I say, they were absolutely fantastic. Phil was in fine voice and changed his outfit no less than seven times during their hour and a quarter set. The two girls, Joanne and Susan, emergency recruited for a tour way back in 1980 are still with him, and that is all you need really to recreate those synth-pop songs they became so famous for. They played all the hits starting off with Sound Of The Crowd and ending with Don’t You Want Me (obviously). I didn’t know Mr WIAA back in the early ’80s and was amazed that he knew all the words to all the songs, but he was at art school then and synth-pop was big with his fellow students. There is no footage yet of our festival but having watched a few other clips it seems they’ve been doing the same set for a couple of years now so plenty out there. There is quite a preamble in both these clips with Phil not coming on until 2:00 – just enough time to change outfits (yet again!).
Phil is aged 70 now but he certainly still has plenty of energy and traversed the stage continually from left to right. He still looks really “cool” and the outfits could have belonged to David Bowie with the occasional bit of headgear taken from the Pet Shop Boys closet. I loved it and had a big smile on my face for the duration. Mr WIAA, who has never been a fan of concerts or festivals (his middle-aged bladder being a worry) has decided we should now go every year, but maybe not to camp.
It was fully dark by the time The Human League finished their set (which thankfully did include my favourite song of theirs, Louise) so rather than stay late for the last act we decided to head for the bus home. About eight double-deckers were waiting at the PUDO area so it was all very well organised and we got home in no time. I again was acting as a mum and felt very sorry for some of the teenagers who were deemed too drunk to get on the buses. Their mums would be getting very worried soon if no-one helped them out, but there is a welfare team there who hopefully did.
So, “What’s It All About?” – I just dipped my toe in the water really but my first experience of a festival was very positive and all being well I think we’ll try and go again next year. It’s so close to home it would be ridiculous not to really.
Until next time…
Don’t You Want Me Lyrics
(Song by Jo Callis/Philip Oakey/Philip Adrian Wright)
You were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar
When I met you
I picked you out, I shook you up
And turned you around
Turned you into someone new
Now five years later on you’ve got the world at your feet
Success has been so easy for you
But don’t forget it’s me who put you where you are now
And I can put you back down too
Don’t. Don’t you want me?
You know I can’t believe it when I hear that you won’t see me
Don’t. Don’t you want me?
You know I don’t believe you when you say that you don’t need me
It’s much too late to find
When you think you’ve changed your mind
You’d better change it back or we will both be sorry
Don’t you want me, baby?
Don’t you want me? Oh!
Don’t you want me, baby?
Don’t you want me? Oh!
I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar
That much is true
But even then I knew I’d find a much better place
Either with or without you
The five years we have had have been such good at times
I still love you
But now I think it’s time I live my life on my own
I guess it’s just what I must do
Don’t. Don’t you want me?
You know I can’t believe it when I hear that you won’t see me
Don’t. Don’t you want me?
You know I don’t believe you when you say that you don’t need me
It’s much too late to find
When you think you’ve changed your mind
You’d better change it back or we will both be sorry
Don’t you want me, baby?
Don’t you want me? Oh!
Don’t you want me, baby?
Don’t you want me? Oh!
Don’t you want me, baby?
Don’t you want me? Oh!
Don’t you want me, baby?
Don’t you want me? Oh!
What's It All About? 