Hebcelt music festival abandons plans for a full-scale comeback
One of Scotland’s most highprofile music festivals has been forced to ditch plans to make a full comeback this summer due to the ongoing impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Hebridean Celtic Festival, which has brought the likes of Van Morrison, The Waterboys, The Proclaimers, Runrig and KT Tunstall to the Isle of Lewis, has called off its postponed 25th birthday celebrations in favour of a “hybrid” format.
That may see a scaled-back form of the festival take place in Stornoway, where it has been staged since 1996, if restrictions on travel and live events are eased.
However, organisers of another music festival, Belladrum – due to take place in July just outside Beauly, near Inverness – have revealed that they are confident that the event will go ahead.
And while the Spirit of Speyside Festival is planning a virtual event in April, the team behind the hugely popular whisky event confirmed that the online showcase will bring together some of the region’s most loved distilleries and whisky makers.
Hebcelt organisers said it was looking “increasingly likely” that the vaccine rollout would not happen i n time for the full four-day festival to go ahead safety. They have warned fans that if even live performances are able to be staged in Stornoway “the event will not be the Hebcelt our audience has come to expect”.
The absence of the full-scale
festival will be a huge blow to the local economy as Hebcelt has attracted an overall audience of more than 17,000 across its four days and was valued at nearly £1.9 million in 2019.
Festival director Caroline Maclennan said a “key consideration” in the planning of what to go ahead with this summer would be the safety and protection of the local community.
Specially-created online performances
are expected to be broadcast as part of this year’s event, after organisers said it was vital to find a “bridging solution” to the pandemic ahead of a planned full-scale comeback in 2022.
Responding to last week’s cancellation of Glastonbury, Belladrum has insisted it is a “more agile event”, more “able to adapt quicker to the fast moving and hopefully improving Covid-19 situation as we move into summer”. Bellad
um director Geoff Ellis pointed out that it takes “days rather than months to build” and insisted there was “reason to be optimistic” about major events going ahead in the summer.
However First Minister Nicola Sturgeon later warned it was likely to take “a little bit longer”.
Spirit of Speyside organisers are hopeful that the event, which would have been celebrating its 21st year in April, will be able to go ahead in person on November 3 to 8, providing it is safe for everyone to travel at that time, based on Scottish Government advice.
Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival chairman James Campbell said: “Given whisky lovers won’t be able to come to Speyside for our annual festival this April, we have decided to take the festival to them.”