review

So the final road trip for myself this festival season was a long journey north for what is described as ‘the best little fest in the west’ – Loopallu. I'm not know on this website for writing reviews of festivals, but this one deserved a bit of time being put into it just to let you all know how good it really was.

The festival itself is held on the grounds of Broomfield Campsite, which is situated next to Loch Broom in the sleepy North West highland village of Ullapool with a small population of under 1500. So when 3000 revellers come to town to party for the weekend, the locals pull out all the stops and put on one hell of a weekend. There is also the Loopallu Fringe which has all the local pubs putting on entertainment into the ‘wee sma hours’ for everyone to head back to after the festival arena finishes.

The festival itself runs over 2 days, the Friday/Saturday with the arena opening around 4pm on the Friday and 12pm on the Saturday with entertainment on both nights in the Village too. With the whole festival being on an official campsite, all the facilities that you would expect from that are on hand. There are proper toilet blocks and shower facilities which were kept clean and maintained over the weekend which sure does make a difference to using portaloos at a festival. Also having proper roadways around the site, and the close proximity to nearby shops and pubs made this festival have that ‘edge’ over others I have been to this year.

Officially the weekend camping tickets allow you to camp on the Friday to the Sunday but if you wish to arrive earlier or stay longer you just pay that when you arrive. I travelled up on the Thursday and pitched my tent late afternoon in a very quiet and peaceful campsite.

The scenery and view from this site is quite simply stunning, there are hills all around and the view over the Loch and out to sea is breathtaking. Ullapool is also the gateway to Stornoway and I just wish I had more time to catch the ferry there and take in more of this gorgeous Scottish countryside.

The line up of this festival was not the reason I made this trip, although I did manage to see a few bands over the weekend. The first for me was a local band from Stornoway called ‘Our Lunar Activities’ who played in the Seaforth Bar on Thursday night and was the perfect way to start the weekend. They have a great selection of tunes, and I was not the only one to mention that they sounded as if they were influenced by Placebo.

On the Friday, we headed into the arena to catch Sergeant, a young band based in my old hometown in Glenrothes, Fife. These guys have done a fair few festival appearances now, and again the failed to disappoint with this performance. Other acts which stood out on the Friday were Vatersay Boys and Dreadzone, both putting on foot stomping sets. And with only one stage within a Big Top at this festival, you don’t have to worry about any clashes.

Within the arena there was a small but wide choice of local food stalls if you felt peckish. From crepes, BBQ Salmon burgers, pint pots of local prawns, Stoats Porridge, fresh venison/lamb kebabs and home made soup. Prices were very reasonable and what I tasted over the weekend was lovely. Also there was the local bar running the beer tent, and with the drinks priced at £2 it certainly was the cheapest bar I have seen at a festival.

Musical highlights on the Sunday came from Figure 5, a Glasgow based band that are currently supporting The Fratellis on tour. Also the main headliner of Franz Ferdinand, who although I am not really a fan of their music, actually had me jumping around and dancing my boots to by the end of the evening.

So overall, this festival had it all for me... a stunning location, cheap food/drink, fantastic atmosphere, friendly locals, good music and great company. Woo Hoo Loopallu!

review by Paul Melville

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