BELLADRUM festival is in full swing as the sun shines and the temperamental wind blows the twenty pound tents like kites in the blue sky.
Deep in the depths of the festival lies the Hothouse Tent, a bugger to find when the excitement of The LaFontaines taking to the stage blurs your vision.
Many miles from their hometown in Motherwell, The LaFontaines pull an impressive crowd four hours north in the beautiful highlands. The secluded tent is home to tracks that receive deserved reactions.
Big choruses mix extremely well with Kerr Okan’s rap. The choruses truly outstanding, with the tempting tones of The Fonts bassists John Gerard taking centre stage.
Tracks Under the Storm and Paper Chase see the crowd dancing; especially in the middle of the tent- many girls donning ‘The Fonts’ t-shirts showing the love for their favourite Scottish band many miles from home.
And that’s not to say that there aren’t local fans enjoying this set, it is just testament to the strength of this band and their home crowd.
The band took the opportunity to tell the crowd stories of their Belladrum experience, Okan admitting to coming up to the festival a day earlier and regretting it with his sore head this morning.; although there was nothing stopping them putting on a cracking performance, beer headaches clearly left at the side of stage.
Next up were Baby Strange, a great buzz band from Glasgow who have recently supported Palma Violets, the bravado of the latter clearly rubbing off on the young lads throughout their set.
During Friend , the drummer became particularly mesmerising- only choosing to look up from his skins once throughout the three minute track- clearly lost in the Belladrum moment.
The punk-esque band remained loud and aggressive throughout- hardly interacting with the crowd. A few cheers were followed by swigs of their beer to cool them down from their ferocious performance.
The band left the stage warm and upbeat. Although this was another great Belladrum performance, it seemed some of the crowd got lost in the sunshine in the bustling Belladrum site unable to find the tent on time.
Tenement TV caught up with the band after their set, buzzing from their first time in the Highlands: “We thought our set was fun. We didn’t expect a massive crowd, we didn’t have any high expectations.
“Nobody left during our performance. And we loved playing to a new crowd.”
As the sun continues to beat down on Belladrum, The Straits take to the Main Stage. One of the most original of its kind in the festival circuit, the stage sits at the bottom of a hill with a raised standing platform available for fans to take in the moving crowd on a whole other level. There’s also a ten foot tree bark for climbing endeavours for a better view, if you dare.
Sultans of Swing embarked on an extended melody thanks to The Straits, bellowing throughout the Belladrum site. This was a lovely performance, doing The Dire Straits proud.
Tonight it’s all about Twin Atlantic, Seasick Steve and Alabama 3. More reviews coming soon.
