The tickets were booked in April before any acts were announced, in fact the acts were not announced until August. The headliners were Shed Seven, The Undertones and The Vatersay Boys - mmm, not too keen on any of them, but it was an adventure, so what the hey.
The festival opened at 4 pm on Friday and we thought we had made good time to roll Bessie into camp at 2pm. Not so. The site was already crammed with caravans and campers, but in the end we were pitched in a good spot with grand views to Loch Broom. behind us tents were being whipped around in the high wind. I am amazed so many stayed up.
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| Ullapool Pipe Band |
Ullapool Pipe Band braced the gale and opened the festival. The first act we saw was Model Aeroplanes, a young raw band with OK sounds but nothing unique. Baby Strange was similar but with an hypnotic quality I couldn't pin down. The best of the afternoon was Public Service Broadcasting - an entertaining multi media outfit; two guys with drums and guitar/banjo and lots of technology. Their interpretation of Auden's Night Mail was spectacular. We looked in on The Undertones unimpressive set. I was amazed at how much weight Fergal Sharky had gained, then Colin told me Fergal left the band years ago.
In the beer tent Rythmnreel played in-between acts. A fusion of rock (old guys) and Scottish traditional (youngsters), this accomplished band gave us among other things Jimi Hendrix mixed with Fullsceilidh Spelemannslag and a Deep Purple/Treacherous Orchestra cocktail.
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| Find Bessie |
Back at the main stage Twin Atlantic were taking so long to have too many guitars tuned and retuned that the bored audience began a rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody. This was the highlight of the night and I suspect the band waited until the crowd ended with a rousing applause for itself before they dared to come on stage.
Utah Saints were headlining Friday and did not appeal so we went 'up the toon' to The Argyll Hotel where three piece Trad band Tweed played a fringe event. The packed bar rocked into the wee hours. On the way home we were sorry to see so many tents flattened by the wind and were glad we had a cosy camper to crash in.
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| Festival with a view |
Day two began at noon. One of the festival side tents was screening short Gaelic films (with subtitles) made by young film makers. Slumped in squidgy bean bags we watched a good selection of high standard and very entertaining films.
The in-between band was The Revellers followed by Davy and The Hosebeast - very Nineties. It was sunny outside so it was possible to sit on the grass and listen rather than cringe at the dad-dancing happening inside - all good fun.
The highlight of the festival was the Alabama Three Unplugged set. They were amazing and the only band I was tempted to listen to again.
The festival was a great success; the location, the organisation and facilities could not be faulted. The crowds were good fun and happy. The selection of acts let the show down for me. There was some very experienced acts but many had the same format and the whole festival was too heavy on the testosterone; of all the bands we saw only three featured women - the two fiddlers in Rythmnreel and Aurora Dawn from Alabama Three.
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| Ben More Coigach ridge in the distance |
