The Feeling, Del Amitri and Utah Saints bring brilliant two day Festival to a Close
As the flames of Wickerman’s iconic 40 foot statue burned brightly over a 15,000 strong crowd, organisers, artists and music fans were celebrating the 13th year of the festival being one of their ‘luckiest’ to date – near perfect weather, brilliant performances and a relaxed two days of music and entertainment.
Saturday’s main Summerisle stage produced another day of memorable music, kicking off with sets from Cut Throat Razors, LIFE and The Tea Street Band, before crowds were treated to the cutting edge sounds of two of Scotland’s hottest new bands: Dundee’s Model Aeroplanes and Glasgow’s Baby Strange.
The familiar guitar intro of ‘In a Big Country’ summoned the masses to the Summerisle stage to enjoy a powerful set of classic tracks from Scottish music legends Big Country, closing with a singalong finale of ‘Fields of Fire’ that could be heard across the Galloway hills. The celebration of iconic music talent continued as The Zombies reminded the Wickerman crowd just why they were one of the standout bands of the 60s – delivering a stunning performance of hits including ‘Time of the Season’ and ‘She’s Not There’.
A drizzle of rain failed to stop crowds enjoying the soaring guitar tunes of indie-favourites British Sea Power, particularly when their renowned stage antics came to the Summerisle stage in the form of two giant dancing bears who entertained the crowds at the end of their set.
The Feeling, purveyors of some of the catchiest, best-loved pop songs of recent times thrilled fans from the start as a rainbow made a timely appearance over the arena. After starting with their massive hit ‘Fill My Little World’, their slick, melodic set kept the hits coming, with frontman Dan Gillespie Sells leading a mass festival singalong to ‘Never Be Lonely’ and ‘Sewn’ and a classic British covers mash up – including Beatles and Kinks tracks – to wild Wickerman applause.
Some of Wickerman’s finest moments have been when Scottish artists, past and present, take over the headline slot on the Summerisle stage – from Texas, to Primal Scream to Amy Macdonald. This year it was the turn of Glasgow’s Del Amitri and they more than lived up to expectations, as the band delivered an incredible hour and a half of classic indie-pop led by Justin Currie’s unmistakable vocals.
Around the other stages, the Scooter tent served up an energetic line-up, with Cockney Rejects and The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra raising the tent roof at the end of the festival day. The line-up of rousing traditional Scottish music in the Lowland Links tent created one of the biggest parties of the day, with brilliant new talents The Amazing Snakeheads and Hector Bizerk packing out the Solus tent as the festival came to a close.
After the spectacular 2014 Wickerman burning and fireworks at midnigth, Utah Saints took to the Summerisle stage for a high octane DJ set to take Wicker fans into the early hours of Sunday morning. ‘Wickerman has delivered another brilliant festival in 2014, despite all the jokes about it being our thirteenth year,’ said Festival Co-ordinator Helen Chalmers. ‘We always take a few risks to deliver a truly diverse Wickerman bill for our fans, and once again this has paid off. The response to the music and entertainment on offer has been incredible, from Dizzee Rascal’s incredible set on Friday night to the huge support we have seen for breakthrough Scottish acts in the Solus tent right through to the rousing cheers for our traditional Scottish acts in the Lowland Links tent. The blazing sunshine and chilled out atmosphere on site have also played their part, and our thanks go to our artists, our audience and everyone on site for making this another Wickerman Festival to remember.’
Pictures Copyright R.B Photography
