The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Hopes of reviving Rewind for 80s music fans
Organisers behind Rewind Scotland are confident the Scone Palace music festival will be able to go ahead this year despite Covid.
In an update to ticket holders, organisers said they hoped the continued progress out of lockdown will allow the July festival to take place after last year’s cancellation.
Favourites from the ’80s, including Billy Ocean and Wet Wet Wet, are due to headline the festival, planned for July 23-25.
Jimmy Somerville is also scheduled to bring his “big band-tastic boogie” to Perth.
In a post on the festival website, organisers said they would be watching planned “test events” for large-scale gatherings closely in the coming weeks.
A number of new measures could also be put in place to keep people safe, they said, including the use of Covid vaccine passports.
Improved cleaning and sanitising stations could also be implemented, as well as reducing the amount of people queuing, while the use of big-top tents should ensure enough air flow.
An update from organisers said: “Over the next weeks and months, the government is carrying out a series of test events, both sporting and cultural, to decide and specify how events should work to provide a safe environment.
“Our health and safety team, who are independent consultants, are also working on some of these test events; they will then work with the local council licensing teams to implement any recommendations.”
A number of festivals and events originally planned for the summer have already been cancelled, including Glastonbury which was due to take place in June.
“We remain 100% committed to doing everything we can to bring you all three Rewind Festivals this summer and we believe our dates, size and set-up times work perfectly given they are a month after lockdown is lifted and we have enough time to plan anything that the test events throw up,” the update said.
It added: “However, please do rest assured that should we not be able to stage these events, then you will obviously be able to get a full refund or roll your tickets over to 2022.
“But we remain confident that, given all our audience, artists and most of the crew will be double vaccinated by July 23, we will be able to celebrate in true 80s style and, to coin an 80s phrase – ‘Our festivals are not for turning!’”
“Rewind festivals are not for turning