Tag: The View

Wickerman Festival 14

A degree of sadness pervades as I draft this week’s blog as it details the fourteenth and last ever Wickerman Festival to be held which took place on 24/25 July 2015. There were rumours for over a year around the future of the event, eventually resulting in the confirmation later in 2015 that Wickerman would be no more leaving a huge chasm in my annual gig calendar!

On the bill were the Waterboys, who I recall I first become aware of when they played the Tube on a Friday teatime on Channel 4, also playing were Squeeze whose set I enjoyed. Glasgow post punks Catholic Action and electronic synth band Ubre Blanca, bizarrely named after Fidel Castro’s favourite cow were also in residence, alongside Errors, Belle and the Beast, Beth Fourage, Be Charlotte, Wayne Devre Set, Sister Fox, Vaselines and the grungy Tuff Love.  

The punk contingent was covered by Amphetameanies and stalwarts Eddie and the Hot Rods with their timeless Top 10 hit ‘Do Anything You Wanna Do’, their only constant member being singer Barrie Masters, prior to his death in 2019. 

Cellist Calum Ingram headlined the Acoustic Tent and the reggae/ska corner had Jimmy Cliff with his ‘Many Rivers to Cross’. There was hip-hop from Hector Bizerk and main stage performances from Lulu, Stereo MC’s, the ever-impressive Neneh Cherry and Pere Ubu who I did once own one album by, namely ‘The Tenement Year’ however the only song I can recall is ‘George Had a Hat’.  

Neneh Cherry. Image Credit djdmac.com

Folk tones were ensured by Glasgow five-piece Washington Irving, John Bramwell, frontman from I Am Kloot, Chichester’s Tom Odell, Novantae! from Galloway and Rick Redbeard which was the solo performer stage name for Rick Anthony, lead singer for the Phantom Band.   

My notes also inform me that I saw SLUG who were promoting their debut album ‘Ripe’ though I cannot recall their performance. In the last two or three years they have received a lot more attention and received considerable radio airplay from the likes of Mark Reilly.

Aiden Moffett (of Arab Strap fame) and Bill Wells were also on the roster. We also headed over to the third stage to see the excellent Pains of Being Pure at Heart, who I was watching for the fifth and final time before their subsequent break up.

Many of my favourite Scottish bands had played this festival over the years including Teenage Fanclub, The View, The Proclaimers, Idlewild, Aerogramme and The Rezillos to name a few, however the cream of the crop Mogwai had never graced the festival.

This was partially rectified by Stuart Braithwaite, Mogwai main singer appearing for a solo set on the Acoustic stage which we obviously attended. I managed to have a brief photo shoot and chat with him and who knows if there had have been a following year perhaps Mogwai might have played, we shall never know! 

John Dewhurst, Uncle George, Stuart Braithwaite and me replete with dubious festival hat in the Acoustic Tent. Image Credit Mrs Braithwaite.

So, before we depart the South West Scotland amphitheatre permit me, if I may to take you on a final tour of the site. From the initial taxi/bus drop off point you would traverse through the tents to the wristband collection point then onto the main entrance which in reality was a hole in the wall.

Opposite the entrance you could purchase a stage times list before turning left past the funfair, circus or cinema, dependant on what they chosen to incorporate that particular year. Onwards past the Acoustic Tent, behind which in later years there was a craft beer and Mojito tent.

At the apex of the hill was the shop, Third Stage and Solus and Scooter Tents, of which the latter in the early years resembled a Mash Tent where they had stellar DJ’s playing. From here, you had a superb vantage to watch the Wickerman burning at midnight on the Saturday night. I seem to recall one year they had a little mini golf course next to the statue.  

Traversing down the hill rolled you past the VIP area and main beer tent, where occasionally bash em up bands would play. In the natural bowl was the main stage followed by the Dance and Silent Disco Tent. Just in advance of fully circling back to the main entrance you would find the fabulous Reggae Tent which was always erected on an incline. This tent was a regular final stopping point of the evening where you could purchase a hot mug of tea and a flapjack whilst being dually soothed by the Bob Marley inspired soundtrack and stoned by the pungent aroma permeating all around.     

A couple of years later, when in attendance at another Scottish festival, one of the gig brethren said the festival was good, but it is not Wickerman and we all murmured in assent, I can think of no more fitting epitaph than that!

Edinburgh Gigs

My first visit to Edinburgh was in my youth when I recall vividly visiting the Castle in the days when you could wander round free of charge and of walking up Arthur’s Seat for a panoramic view of the city. We must have commuted in from one of the many Pontins/Butlins family holidays we undertook at that time, probably from Berwick on Tweed. We visited many of those camps, Ayr, Pwllheli, St Ives and Torbay spring to mind. We also once frequented Camber Sands, which many years later became the home for the All-Tomorrows Parties Festival events where they have had some fantastic bills, an event which I have never yet managed to attend.

In the early 90’s, Gill and I undertook a trip up the East Coast in our trusty beige Austin Allegro staying initially in Arbroath where I developed my kinship to their football club, before visiting Dundee, home of the View, before a leisurely couple of days in Edinburgh, including a visit for tapas at Café Anduluz on George Street, completing the trilogy of their Glasgow/Edinburgh restaurants, just the Aberdeen and Newcastle branches to visit at some stage to complete the club!

We have since utilised the excellent train links from Preston for other trips as the costs going North are infinitely less prohibitive than the extortionate fares now charged by Avanti down to London. I love the fact, like Glasgow, that the main Waverley Station is slam dunk in the centre of the city with easy access to the main drag on Princess Street. Running parallel to there is Rose Street with its plethora of bars and restaurants. On one of those forays, we missed an opportunity to see the Kilmarnock band Fatherson.

Edinburgh Waverley station with the Castle to the right. Image Credit edwud.com

We utilised Edinburgh as a base camp for my first visit to T in the Park in 1999, but it was a lengthy commute to the site, and we found some digs in the closer location of Glenfarg for my final two visits to the festival.

My first musical trip was to see Mogwai at Edinburgh Usher Hall on 27/04/06. The venue is a grand old concert hall near the castle on Lothian Road. It was constructed in 1914 and went through a huge refurbishment at the start of this century and has a capacity of 2200. It is in somewhat of a cultural zone with two other theatres adjoining it on either side.

In its early days it was a multi-purpose venue including political rallies, but they curtailed in 1934 after a huge protest occurred when Oswald Mosley was in town. It was also used as the boxing venue during the 1986 Commonwealth Games. In the main, it has been a classical venue but also hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 1972, and as you well know the UK entry that year was the New Seekers!

We decamped before the show into a pub next door watching a portion of a Middlesbrough UEFA Cup match as they were on a remarkable run to the final that year. The gig venue itself had French Riviera beer prices at the bar, so much so when at a lass at the bar ahead of us enquired the tariff for an ale, she cogitated for a moment and changed her order to a bottle of wine. This had to be decanted into the obligatory plastic glass, so became her pint of wine for the duration of the gig.

The Mogwai boys were in crackling form with a few songs being drawn off my favourite album of theirs ‘Mr Beast’ and the venue and acoustics really suited their expansive sound.  

Edinburgh Usher Hall. Image Credit sandybrown.com

My second visit was unsurprisingly to see Mogwai again at Edinburgh Corn Exchange on 21/10/08. We had digs near the Grass market area, and we identified that we needed to purloin a cab to the venue as it was located a fair way out of town in the Chesser area.

The original building was founded in 1909 and had Category B listing, it was restored towards the end of the century becoming a live venue then, before very recently being taken over and changing its name to the O2 Academy. It was a large multipurpose venue with a 3000 capacity, and I found the place to be a bit metallic and soulless.

The support act was a duo from Bristol called F##k Buttons whose first album was produced by Mogwai. Their harsh aggressive sound was initially intriguing but soon became repetitive. To be fair also it wasn’t one of my favourite Mogwai performances, they are always minimum level good, but the set list didn’t play to their strengths. Thankfully the band have a habit of rotating their play list each night so when I saw them in Manchester two nights later, they were back in exemplary form.

Via a further cab we reversed back to the Grass market area, where unfortunately I was not yet aware of Sneaky Pete’s as a venue of some repute which was located across the road, so we did not make a visit, but maybe will do so next time!