The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Striking right note with music fans
Is festival tourism in Courier Country at saturation point or is there scope to grow? Michael Alexander tuned in to find out.
The unprecedented heatwave and a run of high-profile music festivals in Tayside mean stay-at-home music fans have been spoiled for choice this summer.
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and Emeli Sande were among the artists who drew the crowds to the BBC’S Biggest Weekend at Scone Palace in May, matched only by the thousands who flocked to see the likes of Status Quo and OMD at the 80s-themed Rewind Scotland extravaganza last weekend.
Slessor Gardens in Dundee followed up the success of last year’s Little Mix and Olly Murs concerts with Steps, Blue and Aqua performing at the end of June.
Rita Ora will take to the stage on Saturday and the much anticipated Simple Minds, Pretenders and KT Tunstall on September 9 gets ever closer.
Add to that crowd-pulling Lionel Ritchie and Gary Barlow gigs earlier in the summer, and events like Almost Blue in Dundee where more than 100 gigs took place across 20 Dundee venues at the end of June, and there’s no shortage of home-grown gatherings. This is over and above the dozens of gigs held at pubs and clubs every week.
But two years after T in the Park’s 20-year association with Tayside came to a halt, has Courier Country reached saturation point when it comes to music festival tourism or is there scope for expansion in the years ahead?
Caroline Warburton, Visitscotland regional leadership director, says: “Courier Country has hosted some spectacular music events in recent years, offering fans the chance to see unmissable performances from some of the biggest acts in the country.
“The region’s location makes it an ideal central point for fans travelling from much of Scotland and the diverse range of events helps draw new audiences to the area to discover our excellent tourism offering.
“These visitors all contribute to the local economy – staying in accommodation, eating in restaurants, spending in shops and sightseeing.
“In 2015 alone, around four million day trips by UK residents were made to a live concert or music festival, generating a total of £317 million to the national economy. Going forward, if we wish to continue hitting the right note with music fans across Courier Country, we need to ensure we are offering a fantastic mix of events that cater for a variety of ages and tastes.”
Alan Wilson, organiser of the Almost Blue festival and music programmer for Westfest in Dundee, thinks there’s definitely scope for another big, regular, live music event in Courier Country – possibly at Dundee FC’S proposed new football stadium at Camperdown Park or at Scone Palace.
But for that to happen, a lot of things have to fall into place.
“Promoters would have to be convinced it was viable for a start,” he says.
“Almost Blue 2018 and Westfest Big Sunday at Magdalen Green had recordbreaking years, which shows there is an appetite for big events with live music.
“The point there though is that those two are free entry and the BBC Radio Biggest Weekend was hugely affordable.
“But to expect thousands of people to hand over their hard-earned cash means you have to continue to get the product right or it will end in disaster.
“Sadly, Carnival 56 (a Dundee music festival headlined by The Charlatans in 2017 and scrapped after just one year) was a good example of that.”
With DF Concerts now organising TRNSMT over two weekends in Glasgow and that city’s Summer Sessions now being extended to Edinburgh with Brian Wilson, Kasabian and Tom Jones announced, along with all the top names regularly appearing at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Alan says it seems “increasingly unlikely” DF would find any gaps in their calendar to organise something in Courier Country that would replace T in the Park.
Following the forced move from Balado and subsequent problems at Strathallan Castle , DF promoter Geoff Ellis was recently quoted as saying there are “no plans” to stage another camping festival such as T in the Park in the next few years.
According to Annie Marrs of the Dundee Place Partnership – a creative body which has been running a threeyear programme of activity to celebrate the cultural talent and creative diversity of the city – what it really needs is a good quality 300 to 500capacity venue to support the many upand-coming local bands who find it difficult to access established smaller venues and who are too small to play big ticket venues such as the Caird Hall.
“A lot of people consume their music through festivals and we have a lot of great wee pub/club venues in the city, which shows demand for music is there,” Annie says.
“But these can be quite niche and for many bands accessing venues can be really difficult. If you are 15 to 16 years old with a band, where do you go to develop?
“We can’t force these good quality small scale venues to exist as most operate as independent businesses. But we can generate the demand for it. We can make sure we have a good database so that if someone is looking for a specific kind of music they can be hooked up.”
Annie says a lack of suitable venues is one reason for many local bands moving to Glasgow, because there are more opportunities there to perform.
With V&A bosses predicting 500,000 visitors will flock to Dundee’s £80 million museum in the first year after it opens on September 15, Annie says the important contribution music makes to the city’s night-time economy should not be forgotten.