Wickerman Festival celebrates in style

Jul 27 2011 by Michael Pringle, Airdrie & Coatbridge

Noisettes

MUSIC fans from North Lanarkshire made the pilgrimage south for the 10th annual Wickerman Festival at the weekend.

Advertiser reporter Michael Pringle was one of an estimated 18,000 treated to a weekend of great sounds and the ritual midnight burning of a 40ft Wickerman effigy.

Friday night’s main stage line-up included Noisettes who delivered an energetic set in the warm sunshine, with singer Shingai Shoniwa enthralling the crowd by climbing nimbly onto the sound system.

The band delivered a set that included their two chart hits; “Don’t Upset the Rhythm” and “Never Forget You”, as well as a selection of tracks from their two albums and their forthcoming new album.

Later in the evening Echo and the Bunnymen delivered an atmospheric set despite some sound problems, although their sound difficulty was nothing compared to the problem James had.

For over an hour they battled with losing sound on every line of Tim Booth’s vocals and to add insult to injury the rain came for a while.

To the band’s credit they battled on and the crowd stayed with them despite the patchy sound. Both were rewarded as the sound men pulled it together for the last half hour or so, just in time for crowd pleasers like “Sit Down”, “Laid” and “Sometimes”; aided by the united voice of the crowd.

There were no such problems in the Scooter Tent as The Damned delivered a set spanning their 36-year history.

Coatbridge man Andy Dempsie possibly attends more festivals than anyone else from Monklands.

Andy’s responsible for ferrying music lovers to and from events across the UK with his Happy Bus travel company, he said: “It’s a great festival down here that seems to get more popular every year but still maintains a laid back vibe.”

Saturday brought a day of glorious sunshine with many campers forgetting the sun cream and sporting red patches.

The Pigeon Detectives, The Coral and Feeder all graced the main Summerisle Stage, while From the Jam were the main draw in the packed out Scooter Tent.

The sky was clear as thousands of men, women and children gathered at the top of the site for the midnight burning complete with a firework display but the party still wasn’t over as the festival continued until dawn.

I would bet that the festival will still be around, and possibly bigger, 10 years from now.

l Pictures by Chloe Adams.