Let the live music sing out again!
The Mull of Kintyre Music Festival is back for 2021 with a great line-up of music across various venues in Campbeltown from August 18 - 22.
Things will be slightly different this year due to safety regulations, but the festival organisers have assured everyone that the event and concerts will be as close to normal as possible.
The Victoria Hall concerts will be set with tables and chairs with all concerts having much lower capacities in line with Scottish Government safety guidelines.
This means that tickets for the concerts in the Victoria Hall will be restricted to 250 on the Friday night and 350 on Saturday and Sunday.
Tickets for the Heritage Centre and Gaelic concerts will be released at half their normal capacities. So get your tickets early to ensure you can go.
More tickets may be sold for the Heritage Centre and Gaelic concerts if capacity levels ease.
The headline acts across this year’s ticketed concerts are Tide Lines, Da Birlinn, Scotia Ceilidh Band, Claire Hastings Trio, Ross Couper and Tom Oakes, Catherine Tinney, Ainsley Hamill, Slainte Davaar Allstars and the Wee Toon Tellers.
This year’s Glen Scotia West Coast Rocks Concert in the Victoria Hall on Saturday August 21 will headline with Tide Lines who have taken the Scottish music scene by storm and sold-out festivals and concerts since their debut in 2016.
This four-hour concert starts at 7.30pm and will also see the debut of Beinn Lee, an exciting sixpiece band from Uist.
Opening the concert will be the hugely popular Rhuvaal who performed a unique set for last year’s virtual event on Davaar Island.
That same night the Heritage Centre opens its doors for the festival’s Traditional Concert which has a real treat for the audience with double headliners Da Birlinn and the Clare Hasting Trio. Da Birlinn are a dynamic three-piece band featuring Peter Morrison and Ross Couper, lead players with the Peatbog Faeries, and they are accompanied by Seumas MacLennan on bouzouki.
BBC Radio Scotland’s 2015 Young Traditional Musician of the Year Claire Hastings will be known to those of you who tuned into last year’s Virtual MOK Fest.
Clare is a Scottish folksinger and ukulele player and will be joined by Jenn Butterworth on guitar and Jeri Foreman on fiddle.
The festival opens on Wednesday August 18 with Beinn an Tuirc Gaelic Night in Ceol Campbeltown.
Headlining the concert will be Gaelic singer Catherine Tinney, who hails from the Isle of Skye.
Catherine is another musician who performed at last year’s virtual festival, and we will get a chance to see her live this year.
Expect the usual selection of local and visiting guest artistes including Norman MacKinnon, Iain MacPherson as well as firm favourite Chris McIntyre and Beinn an Tigh.
This year’s Festival Ceilidh features the Scotia Ceilidh Band, festival favourites The Wee Toon Tellers and the Dalriada Connections Band.
As expected in a night including the Wee Toon Tellers, the event will have a mixture of great songs and tunes and will give the audience a chance to get a night out in a relaxed and safe atmosphere to hear some great music.
Organisers hope dancing will also be allowed by the time of the event.
On Sunday afternoon Campbeltown Heritage Centre will again open its doors, this time for the Kilkerran Dalriada Connections Concert.
This concert has some real treats for the audience with the fantastic duo of Ross Couper and Tom Oakes headlining and performing a mixture of infectious melodies, Celtic grooves and fiery, driving rhythms.
Ainsley Hamill, who headlined the festival’s Gaelic Night in 2019, will also perform accompanied by Alister Iain Paterson.
Expect the usual selection of local and visiting artistes including Ciaran Mulholland (NI) and Lorne MacDougall.
The legendary Survivors’ Night later that evening will feature Campbeltown super-group Slainte Davaar Allstars, who last year broadcast to the International Space Station performing David Bowie’s Space Oddity.
A host of other bands including Rhuvaal, we.R. soul, Alex, Archie and Arran McAllister will also perform.
Firm festival favourite The Young Folk Night starts the events in the Heritage Centre on Thursday August 19 featuring some of Kintyre’s finest young musical talent.
News on the Saturday afternoon open air events plus other festival attractions will be announced shortly.
Tickets for all concerts will be available from A P Taylors, Main Street, Campbeltown and online from Ticketweb at www.ticketweb.co.uk on July 29 at 10am.
For more updates go to www.mokfest.com or email mokfest@hotmail.co.uk.