overview

When it comes to festival weather good old Scotland never lets us down. As an alternative to the rain soaked Glastonbury this weekend's Scottish venue also ended up in mud, glorious mud all over the site.

"The Outsider" is an exciting new concept on the festival scene. Held on midsummer's weekend (22-24th June 2007) in a large field surrounded by mountains just outside the village of Aviemore in the heart of the Cairngorm mountains. Kind of like a posh T in the Park, described by someone to me as more of a 'Peppermint T in the Park'.



The latest Scottish festival to hit the ever-increasing summer scene blows away the stereotype that most Scottish festival-goers are beer-swilling, chip-eating layabouts. No, this festival's different. There are some sporting activities as part of the festival, honest, and I don't mean boat racing by drinking pints, real life cycling and running - more later!

The aim of this festival was to enjoy good music in a stunning outdoor setting, whilst maintaining an appreciation of our environment. It was an undeniable success with a sense of humour of the environment (lashing rain for most of the weekend)...The way I see it, yet again it showed the true grit of festival goers of all ages young and old. It would have been so easy to pack up and go home but after days of nearly continuous rain by Sunday night people were still having fun despite the weather. Whether it was the countless under fives I saw covered in mud with big beaming grins, or a couple of 70 something dancing waltz like style to Crowded House through a swamp, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. And yes mud featured massively, just look at the photos which accompany this review.



The main stage offered a good range of acts over the weekend; from Salsa Celtica on the Friday night to KT Turnstall performing her first-ever headline act on Saturday and a re-formed Crowded House closing off the festival on Sunday Night. Other highlights included ex Del Amitri front man Justin Currie performing an acoustic set and American songwriter Willy Manson turning in a great set in the pouring rain. The only downside to the scheduling was the fact that on both Saturday and Sunday there was very little on the main stage in the early afternoon.

In its first year, with around 8000 tickets sold up front, it's a small festival by UK standards. However, the range of the acts booked and the numerous other activities on offer should secure it a regular place on the Scottish festival circuit.

The first thing to strike me on arriving on site was the great friendly atmosphere, with numerous family-sized tents and endless activities arranged for the younger festival-goers.



The venue was reached through a massive 20 foot wooden entrance made from twisted pine trees, to emphasise the environmental theme. The site was easy to negotiate, with unusual but striking totem poles placed on a hill, with panoramic views of the whole site and surrounding mountains.



In addition to the music environmental issues are central to this event. The event large screen cinema shows Al Gores inspirational look at global warming in 'The Inconvenient truth', while Saturday's environmental forum starts two days of discussion and debate on the environmental issues that effect us all. The highlight for me was the visually stimulating Hard Rain slide presentation which graphically illustrated how our planet is on a headlong collision with nature. To quote Mr X when he was talking about inequality in the world it was a sobering thought to appreciate that the three richest individuals on the planet have more wealth than the 47 poorest countries, and a domestic cat in the USA has more money spent on it (purchasing power) than nine children in the third world. The environmental forum was well attended throughout the weekend. I know it was bad weather and this may have accounted for part of the indoor crowd, but the quality of the debates and speakers was testament to the hundreds of people who crammed in to hear them speak.

The great Scottish outdoors was embraced by many, with a 65km mountain bike race on the Saturday morning and a 12km countryside run on the Sunday morning. The Merida bike race, part of a UK series saw several hundred riders take part in a stunning circuit through the Cairngorms offering 'brilliant trails in dead gorgeous landscapes'.


Away from the biking and the music the festival offers lots of other activities, the comedy tent at the Bothy offered a great line up of comedians including Karen Dunbar and Craig Hill.

Kids were well catered for at the festival with countless activities centred around the Tipi village including American Indian Crafts, recycled material crafts, story- telling, yoga, astronomy demonstrations, films, daily kids' comedy shows and a free climbing wall, which I found it extremely difficult to entice my two kids away from.



This festival seemed to get disproportionally little coverage in some sections of the press. I was amazed to read the following mis-quote from the organiser saying "the future of the Outsider music festival is under threat due to the rain," forcing bosses to reconsider holding the event again. The way I see it everyone really enjoyed themselves despite the rain. If future outdoor events were only held in dry 'Scottish' summers we would all be sitting at home watching telly. Get used to it; having fun in the rain is part of life in Scotland. I've started going to festivals expecting to get wet. Anything else is a bonus.

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