A few months ago DGWGO was approached by the committee from , Youth Fest and Youth Beatz to help them promote their events to the whole of Dumfries and Galloway , as their official online media partner! Well with our experience growing all the time with helping promote local festivals and events we jumped at the chance !
Tonight ( August 10th) I went along to the festival not really knowing exactly what to expect ! Because of the Dumfries Dock Park being closed, the festival was moved to the David Keswick Centre in the town , for the first time! But I have to say , I myself and many other folk I spoke to , including Sid Ambrose who has years of experience running large festivals including the Wickerman, and Eden, thought that the Keswick Centre was a fantastic Venue !
The team at Youth Beatz had given out 12,000 free tickets this year. Making YB the Largest Free Music Festival in Scotland ! Which is something we should all be proud of ! D&G is really starting to create a fantastically strong local Music scene . This evening I spoke with Robert shields from the band ‘Finding Albert’ , Robert said how amazing the music vibe is right across the region now , and how good it is to have Support from the whole of the region from west to east ! He also said even though the Band play festivals all over the country now , it’s only because of the chances they had to play local gigs and festivals like Youth Beatz that got them started and gave them the experience , which has been a huge advantage to them now!
I also got to interview Ali Donowho From ‘Alive Radio ‘ this evening , who also was in total agreement , that D&G is creating something very special ! And the whole of the region has now such a strong influence on the music scene with festivals starting in January with the ‘Big Burns Supper ‘ and going on right through the summer with Comlongon Rocks, Eden, Thornhill Music Festival ,Gatehouse Mid Summer Festival , Kirkcudbright on Song, D&G Arts Festival, Stranraer Park Fest, Moniaive and Portpatrick folk festivals, The International Musicians platform and of course Youth Beatz , and many more! Ali and I both chatted to Local councillor ‘Finlay Carson ‘ who is D&G councils events guru , He Said we was so pleased to see such a great atmosphere at Youth Beatz today, in such a great venue !
The Festival which is Named Youth Beatz because it is aimed at the younger members of the local population , but at the same time has a really good family feel to it . had everything from a massive fun fair , to it’s centre piece , being ‘Wonka Land ‘ this year . Which was a fully interactive experience! Myself and The fantastic Laura Hill ( Dumfries community choir, Theatre Royal) and Justin Hyslop ( Electric Theatre, Big Burns Supper) all got to experience a visit through Wonka Land ! A hard hitting walk through show , which was loosely based on the Roald Dahl story , walked you through tunnels with stop points of live theatre , acted out by local youth groups , teaching you all about subjects that effect the young of today. Including Racism, sexism, bullying, homophobia, Internet stalking , depression , disability and much more! I found it a really thought provoking experience , and it made me realise just how tough it must be to be a kid these days , compared to when I grew up back in the 70’s .There is a lost innocence, not always a bad thing, as modern kids are much wiser than we were, but it does make me a little sad that that niaevity that I grew up with seems to of faded for modern youth!
But the experience tonight wasn’t just about the huge funfair or Wonka Land or all the stalls and food shops , it was about the music ! With an amazing line up of local bands and huge named headliners , there was music for all ! From the sister act from Wigtown ”The Mermaids’ to local lads ‘Dee and Scope’ to Castle Douglas teen hearthrobs ‘ Cloud Nine‘ , local success story ‘Finding Albert’, it went on to headliners , Radio 1 favourite ‘Reece’ , X factors ‘Amelia Lilly’ then chart topper ‘ Professor Green’ to round the night off!
The crowd , young , very Young or like myself Young at heart , seemed to be loving the whole event! And even though I was only there a couple of hours , the atmosphere was amazing , and the event was being very professionally run, with fantastic security and policing , and festival staff! Another event that can be classed as a Credit to the whole region! And one that DGWGO has been proud to support , and hopefully will be involved with supporting for many years to come !
DGWGO would just like to thank Youth Fest and Youth Beatz for their return support to us ,and we thank them for putting our banners up at their events over the last week !
RB
