Music Festivals in Scotland
Scotland has some of the best music festivals in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and I have been lucky enough to attend many of them with my family. On occassion I take photographs and below you will find galleries of those few that I risked taking my cameras. I say risked as it is so easy to lose stuff at music festivals, through my own stupidity more than anything as crime is extremely rare at Scottish music festivals which are generally extremely friendly and very suitable for even small children.
Sadly music festivals have something of a bad reputation but, in most cases, this couldn't be further from the truth. Consider the facts, the 2008 Rockness music festival I attended had a crowd of over 35,000 party people and yet I think that there were only around 10 arrests. Sadly there was one death but think of any town centre on a Friday or Saturday night that has such a number of revellers and the trouble that usually occurs - certainly far more trouble than any music festival, especially those in Scotland.
More and more people are beginning to realise how wonderful music festivals are and many cut their festival teeth at Scottish music festivals such as Rockness, Tartan Heart and Wickerman which can even be considered family friendly. Every festival I attend I meet people on their first visit and every time the first thing they say is that "if I had known that music festivals were like this I would have been coming years ago". This year I took many photo's of Rockness 2008 and you will see that there are all different ages from the preschoolers (wearing ear defenders) to the old age pensioners. A real cross section of society all out to enjoy themselves in the most friendly of atmosphere's safe in the knowledge that the people around them will jump to their assistance if needed. Why do so many people have such a bad opinion of music festivals? Music festivals in Scotland are, in my opinion, the friendliest and I have attended music festival across the UK since my first in 1980 so I have many to compare.
Checkout our Wickerman Music Festival 2010 Photos
This has to be my very most favorite music festival in Scotland. Unfortunately last year was the first year I was able to attend as all previous attempts failed, mainly due to my poor health, cost is not a concern as it is also one of the cheapest two day music festivals in Scotland.
The Wickerman Music Festival is on a wonderful site not too far from Dumfries and spread over a rather large area. As I have mobility problems I was a little concerned but the slopes are gentle and the ground solid so rather easy to walk upon and relatively easy with a wheelchair (but the offroad types are better).
Spread over a larger area the Wickerman Festival allows for large crowds with little congestion, plenty of room everywhere to dance around, twirl your sticks or whatever else you fancy. Fairground rides and other forms of entertainment besides the music and the movie related attractions and a great many stalls means that Wickerman provides the widest entertainment of all the Scottish music festivals. I have a few Wickerman Music Festival Photos 2009, photographs of the Wickerman Music Festival 2008 and also photographs of the Wickerman Music Festival 2007 but I will eventually return to build a whole section about this music festival as I have many other photographs and I hope to take many more this year.
Rockness is held in Dores near Inverness on the banks of Loch Ness. Read more...
Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival
Tartan Heart at Belladrum is one of the most family friendly music festivals in Scotland and the UK. The Tartan Heart Festival 2006 was the first I attended with my children, my youngest being only 10 years old at the time. There were tents with baby changing facilities and private areas for breast feeding etc, and people were extremely careful to allow those with pushchairs lots of space even in the most packed of tents. It was also at Belladrum that I saw one of the most wonderful sights of human kindness I have ever witnessed. Right at the very centre of the mosh pit there was a huge gaping gap. Looking closely, smack in the middle of the open space was a guy in a wheelchair. Without organisation the lunatics bouncing around had left ample space for this guy to sit safely enjoying an extremely popular band. He had the best view possible and I am sure that this goes some way to show how great the festival goers really are. I saw numerous examples of kindness and although I was unable to go last year, and unfortunately I may be too skint to go again this year, I hope that Belladrum has remained one of the most kind and friendly festivals ever - even though the crowds consist mainly of young teenagers, punks, rockers, blues lovers, oh well, I can only describe the crowd as one of the broadest besides Wickerman! You can view my 2006 photos of Belladrum by clicking the following link to Tartan Heart 2006 This year Scouting For Girls are headlining with many up and coming acts well worth checking out.