IN ASSOCIATION WITH
P H O T O :
R O B L O U D
P H O T O :
S O L E N C O L L E T
DATES FOR YER DIARY David Pollock rounds up all the big music events to keep an eye on throughout the year
Mega festivals in i elds are a bit out of fashion now. It’s all about events overseas, in cities, or in more compact countryside locations. But still, Scotland sustains a diverse landscape of music festivals in all sorts of locations. Although the once-famed T in the Park has been put on indei nite hiatus, for example, its spirit lives on in TRNSMT (Glasgow Green, Glasgow, Fri 12–Sun 14 Jul), a smaller city event which still attracts the biggest names. Back to a three day weekender from its odd i ve-day split in 2018, expect a lineup heavy on indie, rock and pop.
Or if you prefer to get out of the city to hear music, Electric Fields (Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries & Galloway, Thu 29–Sat 31 Aug) is the next biggest thing, with one foot in boutique and the other in booking sizeable artists to headline; it was Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Lefti eld and James this year. Belladrum Tartan Heart festival (by Beauly, Inverness-shire, dates not coni rmed; Primal Scream, Paloma Faith and Gerry Cinnamon played in 2018) is of a similar scale, while smaller events with a good party ethos and distinctive sites include Doune the Rabbit Hole (Cardross Estate, near Stirling, Fri 19–Sun 21 Jul), Kelburn Garden Party (Kelburn Castle, Largs, Fri 5–Mon 8 July) and Eden Festival (Raehills Meadows, Moffat, Thu 6–Sun 9 Jun).
For even more unique locations, try out the clubby and extremely scenic Skye Live (Portree, mid-late Sep) or the town-i lling Loopallu high up on the north-west coast (Ullapool, late Sep), while Glasgow hosts the party-focused Fiesta 2019 (Kelvingrove Bandstand, Sat 29 & Sun 30 Jun) and the electronic Riverside Festival (Riverside Museum, late May). Finally, winter weather is no barrier to a festival in Scotland; Celtic Connections (various venues, Glasgow, Thu 17 Jan–Sun 3 Feb) is Scottish folk- based in origin, but takes in a wide range of international styles.
1 Sep–31 Oct 2018 THE LIST 121
Broken Records, with Jamie Sutherland (middle)
Are they being really proactive about it? There’s value in everybody’s music, and we just try to provide a blank canvas for them to do their thing.’ In a city with a wealth of brilliant bands juxtaposed against venue closures and noise complaints, Sutherland’s advice to keeping the scene alive is pretty simple.
‘Support the venues, i rst and foremost. Buy a beer there, rather than somewhere nearby. The difference that makes in terms of how solvent a venue is is enormous.’ Unfortunately for councils, music venues aren’t the sexy option in terms of money-making, but Edinburgh’s history is in the arts, in literature, poetry, music and theatre. And Sutherland feels this needs to be acknowledged.
‘It feels like a proper capital city to live in, apart from this one thing: everyone’s happy to have one month of the year where the arts happen,’ he says. ‘And nobody wants to support it outside of that, and I can’t understand why that would ever be the case.’
As for what Nothing Ever Happens Here has lined up to continue their support of the arts, it’s looking good. Having built up an Edinburgh music audience, outside promoters are rallying to help with programmes and i nances, resulting in some exciting bookings for the Summerhall space. ‘We’ve got Mark Kozelek coming through in October, Kathryn Joseph in September. We have Jon Boden doing a solo show. Balkanarama are coming back again. There’s a weird and varied programme running until the end of the year and into next.’
summerhall.co.uk/nothing-ever-happens- here
J amie Sutherland was a labourer working in Summerhall after coming off a tour with his band, Broken Records, when he realised the venue’s potential. In its zig-zagged warren of nooks and crannies, he noticed that the Dissection Room – unambiguously named when the space was still a vet school – would be a good spot for gigs.
‘We looked at the fact that a lot of music venues around Edinburgh were closing, or having noise issues,’ he says. ‘Summerhall reminded me of some of the European arts spaces we’d toured – like the Paradiso in Amsterdam – a refreshing change after having done the British toilet circuit.’
After giving a business plan to the venue’s GM, who trusted in Sutherland’s decade of music industry experience, they built a partnership based on the desire to see Edinburgh’s music scene thrive: Nothing Ever Happens Here was born. The thing about Summerhall, Sutherland says, is that it’s a step on a symbiotic ladder that connects a number of venues throughout Edinburgh.
important
‘Sneaky Pete’s and Leith Depot – those two venues in particular are ones that support absolute grassroots music,’ he says. ‘And we’re always keeping an eye on what they’re doing, so when a band is ready for the next step, they can start looking at us.’ After they’ve played Summerhall, bands can look to step up – to the likes of the Liquid Room, the Queen’s Hall and, eventually Leith Theatre and beyond. In terms of bands Sutherland takes on board, there’s a short checklist: ‘where are they in their career? Who’s interested in them? Are they getting written about? Can they bring people?