Keep Calm and Belladrum

Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival 2012 review

Saturday was another bright and sunny day, and following some breakfast and a wee game of badminton with the neighbours' kids over the windbreaker (you have got to love kids' inventiveness), we headed onsite. The campervan site, which was moved further away last year, had been expanded again this year and upgraded with some electrical hook up points and a road around the edge of the site as organisers continue to work to reduce the risk of flooding and vehicles having to be towed out. To date, Bella remains the only campervan site that we have had to be towed into, never mind out of, but the road, good weather and legions (okay two) of tractors onsite and ready for action clearly worked in some sort of Murphy's Law kind of way with pretty much everyone making it on and off site without any problems.

Belladrum's legendary chilled atmosphere was never more evident than on Saturday afternoon. In the Garden stage arena in particular, people had set up for the day, with picnic blankets and chairs, and were just soaking up the atmosphere - enjoying the sunshine, reading newspapers, playing cards, chatting and watching bands as and when they came on. There was no aggro, and the only people charging about (despite the packed programme of events) were the kids collecting plastic cups.

The recycling plastic glasses competition really seemed to have hotted up this year, with packs of kids running round clearing up plastic glasses for 10p a glass. What has in previous years been a fairly relaxed affair had ramped up a notch this year with kids fighting over broken bits of plastic, sweeping the stage areas for plastic pickings after each band performance and waiting for adults to finish their drinks. My own children were encouraging me to drink more and faster to the extent that I paid them 10p to stop. By the end of the weekend, organisers had paid out over £4000 to kids, with mine already planning which Airfix kit and DS game they are going to buy with their earnings. It is another great example of innovative thinking that is part of what makes Bella special - the site was pristine all weekend thanks to those kids.

First up for us on the main stage then was Federation of The Disco Pimp, who I had caught at the Big Tent Festival in Fife a couple of weekends ago and love for their name alone. The Glasgow seven-piece funk disco outfit, who describe themselves as "extreme funk", provided another professional performance. We then tried to catch Jericho Hill, a Johnny Cash tribute band who also played at Wickerman last year and whose reputation clearly preceded them as they packed out the Grassroots stage. There was no way we were going to get in there so we were "forced" to sit at the Black Isle Brewery bar next to the stage and listen. They certainly sounded amazing, and played everything from 'Jackson' to 'Hurt', 'A Boy Named Sue' to 'My Own Personal Jesus'.

Ellen and the Escapades, described by Glastonbury's Michael Eavis as "better than Joni Mitchell" when they won the emerging talent award there a couple of years ago, was next on the Grassroots stage and are certainly a talented bunch. Although they possibly suffered slightly from following Jericho Hill, the smaller crowd made for a more intimate performance that seems to suit the subtle nuances in Ellen Smith's voice and in the musicianship of the Escapades.

It was back to the Garden Stage then for another Belladrum stalwart, The Dangleberries. Always popular with the audience, who love their brand of Galloway pipe rock, they upped the momentum with their usual blend of bagpipes and drums and covers of hits including the Black Eyed Peas' 'I Gotta Feeling'. This year they also debuted a song that they have written especially for Belladrum: "I got a tent, a sleeping bag...and a festival hat". I've always said you've got to have a festival hat.

Another band that has this year graduated to the main stage is the mighty Bombskare. This was one of the sets of the weekend for me as the ten piece ska juggernaut from Edinburgh got a chilled out field of parents, kids and hungover folk up giving it laldy, as we say in Scotland, despite a very warm afternoon. Their rowdy and raucous performance, which included 'Do All Dogs Go to Heaven', 'Walk Like An Egyptian', 'Beatriz', and culminated with their by now customary interpretation of the theme from James Bond, which woke everyone up and was unforgivably overlooked by BBC Alba's coverage of the festival. It is dancing music, skanking music, happy music, home grown talent music; everyone should see this band.

On the Hothouse Stage was more home grown talent, this time Willie Campbell and The Open Day Rotation. Willie Campbell has an extraordinary, melodious voice and gave a seriously heartfelt performance, supported by a wide ranging group of musicians including a guitarist, a bassist, a pianist, a fiddler a drummer and a cellist. On their Facebook page they describe themselves as "gathering together on special occasions and making a lovely noise" and to be honest I couldn't have put it any better myself.

From a passionate Willie Campbell it was back to the Grassroots stage for a very intense Smoke Fairies set. The blues and folk influenced band have supported Bryan Ferry and performed at several festivals including SXSW in America and Primavera in Spain. Their second album, 'Blood Speaks', was released in May this year and The Guardian describes their musical style as "spartan and spectral". It reminds me of a cross Kate Bush. We head off to see Frightened Rabbit on the main stage, who gave a very energetic performance. The band claimed to be delighted to be playing this year after having to pull out at the last minute last year when they scored a US tour, and certainly gave their all.

Roddy Frame of Aztec Camera fame was headlining the Grassroots stage in what was touted as being the gig of the weekend. His beautiful voice and intelligent and well crafted songs still impress after thirty-odd years and I am always impressed when one guitar and one voice can hold a crowd in the way that he did that night. There were no gimmicks, no flashy light shows, just a honed talent that caused grown men to hug each other in sheer joy when he finished with Aztec Camera's greatest hit, 'Somewhere In My Heart'.

On the main stage headliners Travis pitched their performance perfectly too, commenting on how many of the audience would ever have thought twenty years ago when they were pogoing to the Buzzcocks that twenty years later they would be dancing with their kids on their shoulders here. Travis are not my cup of tea at all but I think it is choosing "safe" headliners like that rather than perhaps more "wow" headliners that helps Bella keep its special vibe and doesn't affect or upset the dynamics of its regular audience.

It really doesn't matter who is playing Bella to its regulars, the mainstay of its crowd, but book a different type of band and it could shift things, perhaps lose its cool a little. The organisers have a tried and tested formula that truly works year after year - if it ain't broke, don't fix it. As the T-shirts said, Keep calm and Belladrum.

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