Wickerman Festivals 6 and 7

Wickerman Festival 6 took place in July 2007 with the usual suspects in attendance. The bill that year obviously contained the ever-present Dangleberries. The ska influence was well represented with Scottish band Big Hand providing a rousing energetic set and legends The Beat were in attendance led admirably by Rankin Roger and Junior Rankin.

Cider Spiders provided a New York inspired set in the vein of the Strokes and The Law were representing the fair city of Dundee. Neck was a Celtic punk band from the London suburb of Holloway and in the same ballpark were the Peatbog Fairies. John Langan from Glasgow played as a solo artist before he went onto to form the John Langan Band. Also, on the bill were Modus, The Targets and Xcerts from Aberdeen.    

The electronic element was covered with Somerset’s Eat Static and dance legends The Orb. Reggae collective Easy Star All Stars were on the bill who interestingly once recorded their interpretation of Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ amusingly titled ‘Dub Side of the Moon’!  

Former Public Image Ltd bassist Jah Wobble and his English Roots Band also played alongside Hayseed Dixie from Nashville whose name is a linguistic tangent on AC/DC’s name and their first album was titled ‘A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC’ who unfortunately despite all that back story were pretty limp live. Huey Morgan and his Fun Lovin Criminals also provided an energetic set.

The Wickerman has over the years had a lot of old punk bands playing, many of them are very frayed and have seen better days, thus when a band who can still kill it on stage arrives, you take serious notice. One that met that criterion was Edinburgh’s the Rezillos who were absolutely superb with their prime single ‘Top of the Pops’ being the highlight.

I recall at this particular festival we all imbibed too much on the Friday and things became a tad hazy resulting in a tidy hangover the next day which slightly tarnished the Proclaimers headline set as they were in stellar form with ‘Cap in Hand’, ‘500 Miles’ and ‘Letter to America’ being rapturously received. The Proclaimer boys had digs at the Selkirk Arms, located 10 steps from Dewhurst Towers! 

The festival site was about 8 miles down a winding dark country road from the Towers located halfway between Kirkcudbright and Dalbeattie. There was shortage of local taxi firms which necessitated us having an uneasy alliance with Allens Taxis run by the larger-than-life character Mr Allen who we utilised for all the 14 Wickers we attended.  

He could at times be an obstinate chap. One time we were in a full minibus returning from the site and he received a call requesting a taxi and much to our chagrin he shamefully told the customer he was unavailable as he was in Lockerbie which was a mere 50 miles away!

Wickerman 7 saw KT Tunstall in town, there was some funk from the Cuban Brothers and the Kazoo Funk Orchestra and also Dodgy who were ‘Staying out for the summer’! Also, on the bill were Twisted Nerve, Colin Storrie, Rodan, Robin Cairns, Underground Heroes, AKA Ska, Parka, Underling and Beecake.

Annie Nightingale performed a DJ set and Lancashire Hotpots provided some light relief, and ‘Indie Disco’ was fun to hear. The Manc legends the Fall played on the main stage and rolled out my fave track ‘Mr Pharmacist’.   

Additionally, on the roster were Orphan Boy, De Salvo, Bass Syndicate, Peaking Goddess Collective and The Ads.

There was a decent set from Edinburgh’s Broken Records and some rousing punk from the old stalwarts Sham 69. The highlight of this particular weekend was the last act who played after the Wickerman burning on the Saturday night. This was namely Gary Numan who I though beforehand would be a tad one-dimensional, but he was terrific and created a real cacophony on the main stage post-midnight for all the ‘Numanoids’ in attendance!