Just Back

[Red Day]

Here's what I thought of Bella 10

Got there Thursday about 3pm and had to wait well over an hour to get in. There should probably been more staff doing the wrist bands but I had a few beers in the queue so all's well.

Pitched in quiet/family area in Yellow 3 and was surrounded by very nice folk. The mum in the family from Nairn ever brought us back the free programme on Friday morning without us even asking...take a bow.

Saw some excellent stuff on Friday and even managed to get a photo with Jeremy from the Levellers

Thought Tiffany Page was excellent although someone told me afterwards there were three blokes on the stage with her..never noticed

Levellers were a great headliner and saw the end of Feeder, which I thought was great. Bit miffed the Wailers were late cause I was realy enjoying them before I left for the Hothouse.

Saturday music wise wasn't my cup of tea but had a relaxing day and a few beers on the hill at the side of the Healing Field.

Candi Staton was excellent. Watched a bit of Neil Hanlon and thought he was good but maybe that paricular performance wasn't quite headline stuff..others may disagree.

Want down to meet up with the kids at Amy and didn't do it for me but she certainly seemed to be happy to be there and there's no doubt she's good at what she does.

The St Hellier cider was tops and no issue with bar tokens.

Hopefully there's no increase in capacity cause it's grand the way it is.

Great weekend and will be back in 2011.

Edited August 8, 2010 by Red Day

[tweemo freak]

Nice summation, and good to hear your was as good as mine . I can tell you that the first part of Feeder was fantatstic as well. How much did you see of Neil Hannon? Cuz he was just your descrition for the first part but around half way he really got going. And he (randomly) played My Lovely Horse (May have to rewatch that Father Ted now). More stuff to say later!

[Red Day]

Probably went in during the first part of the set and maybe should have stuck it out. Would have liked to watch that type of set in the early evening. The lads a talent but maybe just the wrong time of the evening for me

[Lee123]

Had a great time at Belladrum - it really is the feel good festival - T in the park isn't even in the same league. For me Amy Macdonald stood head and shoulders above the rest of the acts - the crowd were completely up for it and it made for an awesome finish to an awesome weekend. Don't know how they will better it next year

[hwanofbute]

Great festival, good vibe, and very friendly.

Getting in at the Quiet campsite entrance took an hour and a half. Organisers need to sort that out. Probably over a thousand people queuing to get in and and we were herded through 3 channels where one person at a time was searched (fairly rubbish search anyway so what was that about?). Then you could go back to your car and waltz through the outside channel laden down with bags without any search at all. Farcical if it hadn't been such a pain in the arse. Get a grip organisers. That was a brilliant way to piss people off.

After that, it was all rather good.

Feeder were a class above the rest for me. Oh, and Kitty, Daisy and Lewis were a fabulous live act.

[Spooner]

Had a great weekend, we were in the campervan field which was great, arrived about 3 thursday and no major ques etc. Saw stornoway (my fav of the weekend) the boy who trapped the sun, badly drawn boy (singing songs from his ipod), feeder, bot of the wailers, elixa doolittle, candi staton, amy macdonald. Took my niece nephew and friend for a wander yesterday afternoon and ended up in a tent dancing to mr boom. Great weekend had by all.

[Mr Jill G]

Well I had a great time. Friday was my highlight day, while Saturday was quiet musically, I still had a great time.

Minus vibes. The festival site is not big enough. I was down at the Heilan fields, and I could still hear the Dangleberries . The air display worried me. The aircraft were clearly overflying the arena, and I have seen enough air crashes to make viewing uncomfortable. Although saying that, the Dangleberries were playing at the time, and there was a wonderful opportunity... (sorry if it offends ;-) No Black Isle Ginger Beer

Positives. Too many to mention. My son enjoyed all the paraphernalia. The bloke with the musical butane devices (and the electric frogs) captivated my son (as did the Alice in Wonderland croquet). There was so much 'free stuff', that I occupied my son's time adequately without feeling the festival was trying to wring every last penny out of me. Thank goodness the fair rides didn't show...

Music - while not the strongest on paper (a frequent 'put-down), a lot of the performances were excellent and I didn't feel disappointed (except when BDB's iPod came out). Stornoway, Kassidy and Divine Comedy were stand outs for me, but I suppose that is my music genre. Kassidy were great - I mean, how can a band featuring Jesus on a 12-string not be successful ;-). I feel that Mr Hannon's performance would have been more suited for an intimate show, but it didn't feel out of place, and his performance merited a headline slot.

It is easy to be a fanboi and applaud the festival, but I still feel that this is the only show I can currently take my family. Maybe Rockness for 1 or 2 next year, but I am still wary of T. We are very fortunate that this festival is on our doorstep.

[Red Day]

Minus vibes. The festival site is not big enough. I was down at the Heilan fields, and I could still hear the Dangleberries . The air display worried me. The aircraft were clearly overflying the arena, and I have seen enough air crashes to make viewing uncomfortable. Although saying that, the Dangleberries were playing at the time, and there was a wonderful opportunity... (sorry if it offends ;-) No Black Isle Ginger Beer

Edited August 8, 2010 by Red Day

[Da_J_Doc-~]

Well another fabulous year at bella for the Doc crew, Miss Doc junior (10) was let of the leash a little and spent most of the festival with our friends daughter (15) traversing the stalls and frequenting the wishng tree, i am informed that Eliza Doolittle and KT Tunstall were excellent.

Master Doc jr really enjoyed the kids area and football field again and me and the wife enjoyed the 1 hour queue for the bungee trampolines that he stood patiently in whilst we lay on the grass supping lager and cider respectively, the whole kids area was excellent (again) with many a dad taking on the stilts and plate spining that was on offer, we watched all of stornoway whilt the women folk were away and he sung every word whilst on my shoulders.

As noted by Mr Jill G the fact the whole area apart from the bouncy castles and alike is chock full of free stuff to do is a huge bonus and the organisers should have a great pat on the back.

I had a great time drinking black isle lager and managed to take in a good wee band on the potting shed on the Thursday night which was a good alternative to the celidh which was jumping but just too rammed for a 6 year old,

after missing unicorn kid last year i put that right and caught his set which was good without being outstanding.As noted we managed to see Stornoway and i then ran across to see one of my fave artists who had thus far, after about 60 festivals alluded me live, Badly Drawn Boy should maybe be renamed to petulant potty mouth boy after a tirade about his guitar sound and then a revertion to singin from his ipod before proving his talent on the piano before finally storming off in the huff, grade a twat but still supremely talented. Took the wee lad to the woodland orchestra tent to finish off Friday as the ladies saw KT and we had a blast playing bongos and boogying to a wee band (i never got there name) from newcastle. Went to the mothers ruin wth my daughter for a wee boogie late on friday.

On Saturday i managed to catch the interview with Dennis Cnavan and posed a question about labour and the Scottish Parliament, i then took in the debate about Scottish sport all in all great debates from panel and audience, managed to catch (or be dragged to) the abba medley in the venus fly trap, an excellent band in the seedlings called Met-tech who were a fusion of Metal and Techno, finished the night off at Amy Macdonald, whilst she was going down well with the crowd for me she was never good enough to headline.

Other things of note were the wonderfull food, the chanting in and the temple itself, the wishing tree (as always some great comedy and poignant wishes to read)and the great nature of the whole crowd.

Belladrum is fast becoming Scotlands best festival, see you all next year.

[Red Day]

Your last line there is pretty much the truth but maybe we need to keep that to ourselves. Not looking for every man and his dog buying the tickets to flog on ebay

[jinglejangle]

got home earlier today , about 4ish and have talked mainly about belladrum , will be definately purchasing or trying to purchase tickets next year . It was my first year , only a couple of minus points i'll get out of the way quickly , I have kids , 8 and 10 , trying not to be a party pooper here , but at 2, 3 , 4 , 5 am , people still had no respect for others in the family / quiet area and this area is I presume there for a reason , so it really falls down to the stewards I guess not doing their job . I wouldnt complain at the time as I have

been younger myself and understand that teenagers fall into the family category . It seems that it's a great idea for a quiet area but I dont really think that its all that succesful , thats just me and my first year , the rubbish that stacked up was my other minus point , but , hey ho , rant over .

Plus points , plenty for the kids , great food available , and of course great music . the wailers , the dangleberries , amy macdonald to name a few that stuck out for me personally , candi staton was fantastic also and thats not to take away any credit from the bands that I came across in the passing but never really got to enjoy them for their whole set . plenty of merchants to keep you occupied for a long time , amazing festival and would recommend it to anyone , overlook my minus points because they really are small points .

take care all

be there next year (hopefully)

[Jill G]

Well I had a great time. Friday was my highlight day, while Saturday was quiet musically, I still had a great time.

Minus vibes. The festival site is not big enough. I was down at the Heilan fields, and I could still hear the Dangleberries . The air display worried me. The aircraft were clearly overflying the arena, and I have seen enough air crashes to make viewing uncomfortable. Although saying that, the Dangleberries were playing at the time, and there was a wonderful opportunity... (sorry if it offends ;-) No Black Isle Ginger Beer

Positives. Too many to mention. My son enjoyed all the paraphernalia. The bloke with the musical butane devices (and the electric frogs) captivated my son (as did the Alice in Wonderland croquet). There was so much 'free stuff', that I occupied my son's time adequately without feeling the festival was trying to wring every last penny out of me. Thank goodness the fair rides didn't show...

Music - while not the strongest on paper (a frequent 'put-down), a lot of the performances were excellent and I didn't feel disappointed (except when BDB's iPod came out). Stornoway, Kassidy and Divine Comedy were stand outs for me, but I suppose that is my music genre. Kassidy were great - I mean, how can a band featuring Jesus on a 12-string not be successful ;-). I feel that Mr Hannon's performance would have been more suited for an intimate show, but it didn't feel out of place, and his performance merited a headline slot.

It is easy to be a fanboi and applaud the festival, but I still feel that this is the only show I can currently take my family. Maybe Rockness for 1 or 2 next year, but I am still wary of T. We are very fortunate that this festival is on our doorstep.

[Jill G]

Well I thought it was great, as usual! And the Dangleberries were fab, I was in the mosh pit having a whale of a time. Was also in the mosh pit for the Vatersay Boys because I am just rock and roll, man! Also enjoyed The Levellers and Cassidy. Was very disappointed by Badly Drawn Boy's hissy fit, and would just like to point out that not all Lancstrians are miserable gits!

The kids all enjoyed Eliza (although I thought she was rubbish) and the dirty old men all seemed to enjoy Tiffany Page - Mr Jill G and Red Day and co!!

Will definitely be buying tickets early for 2011 - only 362 sleeps!

[Jill G]

Well I thought it was great, as usual! And the Dangleberries were fab, I was in the mosh pit having a whale of a time. Was also in the mosh pit for the Vatersay Boys because I am just rock and roll, man! Also enjoyed The Levellers and Cassidy. Was very disappointed by Badly Drawn Boy's hissy fit, and would just like to point out that not all Lancstrians are miserable gits!

The kids all enjoyed Eliza (although I thought she was rubbish) and the dirty old men all seemed to enjoy Tiffany Page - Mr Jill G and Red Day and co!!

Will definitely be buying tickets early for 2011 - only 362 sleeps!

[Jill G]

Well I thought it was great, as usual! And the Dangleberries were fab, I was in the mosh pit having a whale of a time. Was also in the mosh pit for the Vatersay Boys because I am just rock and roll, man! Also enjoyed The Levellers and Cassidy. Was very disappointed by Badly Drawn Boy's hissy fit, and would just like to point out that not all Lancstrians are miserable gits!

The kids all enjoyed Eliza (although I thought she was rubbish) and the dirty old men all seemed to enjoy Tiffany Page - Mr Jill G and Red Day and co!!

Will definitely be buying tickets early for 2011 - only 362 sleeps!

[Elbear]

the dirty old men all seemed to enjoy Tiffany Page - Mr Jill G and Red Day and co!!

[Jill G]

ok, I seem to have posted the same comment 3 times -what can I say? I've had half a can of cider....

[cat60]

Our first Bella experience with 3 adults, 2 teenagers and 5 12 year olds and we all loved it! It was brilliant that we could go and enjoy something as a family in equal measure. The festival has a great family atmosphere. Our highlights, for the adults, The Wailers were great, Wolfstone had us all dancing, Candi Staton and her band were amazing, went to see K T who was good but wish we had stayed with Feeder! The kids loved unicorn kid (as did dad who took them!), the wailers, amy macdonald, but for most of them the highlight was Candi Staton, who had them bopping along with the oldies!! We were in the caravan area which was great, not too noisy late on and fairly clean (some more bins would help with this!) The toilets here were the best we used. Food was good, kids loved the noodle bar and crepes, we enjoyed the Mediterranean stall. The whisky stall did great cocktails. All in all a great time had by all and hope we will be back next year!

[donkatoot]

Great time for the 4th year in a row and no sign of interest fading from our group. Musical highlights included Stornoway, Levellers, the end of Feeder, James McKenzie & The Aquascene and unusually the best were Young Fathers. Not my normal taste but boy, do these guys entertain!! Never seen a whole audience so smiley when leaving a tent - although I also smiled after seeing Tiffany Page......

Not many negatives - Amy was ok but still not really headline material, number of p'd up teens making a racket all night in the family area (but I've been young myself), and the cancellation by Goldheart Assembly.

Otherwise all good and if they can set up a good line up for 2011 on the back of an early sell out this year, I reckon we'll all be there for year 5.

[theampersanddevil]

Had a really fab weekend. Its a great wee fest and there are many little things I enjoyed.

Candi Staton was a big surprise and most enjoyable for me when I wasn't expecting it. Divine comedy was excellent plenty of singalong songs, with some classics for fans.

Badly drawn boy was a debacle, in an attempt to play devils advocate I would say that I couldn't listen to a guitar buzzing that bad, the way it was in the first 5-10 mins. BUT, the way he went around sorting it out did him no favours. The Ipod thing was quirky, but as a friend of a friend said, I can sing along to my own Ipod.

Wishing tree as always was tear inducing. Great place that heilan fields.

[herindoors]

Well, despite my reservations (line-up wise) we had a bloody stonking time

A wonderful boogie was had along to Rhythm n Reel on Thursday night, Friday we had a fantastic time just wandering the site and enjoying all the bairns entertainment with our 3-year old Goddaughter - particularly the circus skills tent! - and reading the mostly hilarious, sometimes heartfelt, wishes on the Wishing Tree. The Wailers and, in particular, Feeder were immense on Friday night. Feeder were my big draw for the weekend and I'm not ashamed to say that my brother and I were right down the front, bouncing our tired wee legs off and singing along with the (mostly) young 'uns. Bloody fantastic night.

Saturday started a wee bit slower in the morning, had another wander about the site just taking it all in. Made it to the Garden stage in time for The Side (brilliant) and The Dangleberries. Unpopular as I know this will be we had a fantastic time singing along and jumping around to them. I can see why they aren't everyone's cuppa tea but by feck they got us moving. Loved the fly-over too.

For us, music-wise, Saturday rather stalled after that and we spent several more hours wandering, eating and drinking before returning (VERY reluctantly) to the Garden stage for Eliza Doolittle. I cannot stress enough how much I protested and huffed at this, and rightly so. She was sh*t. Candi Staton wasn't my thing but the masses seemed to enjoy it. Added to my earlier Dangleberries comments I may well get lynched for this but, erm, I really liked Amy MacDonald

I completely agree that she wasn't headline material, especially for the closing night, but she does what she does very well. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would, and I knew more songs that I had realised. Fair play to her, the lass can sing. We all loved the fireworks & the piper at the end, I'm not a fireworks fan but the heart and saltire shaped ones were genius. Lots of "oooh" and "ahhh" noises were made.

The food on site was fantastic, the vast majority of punters were in fantastic spirits, I thought the site was kept very tidy (until later on the Saturday at least) and the toilets were decent enough. As usual a few more would have been handy as the queues got longer as the weekend went on but they seemed to be emptied/cleaned regularly. We were in family camping and had a few issues with younger ones (teenagers) making a racquet in the early hours but they did shoosh when politely asked. The little touches at Bella - the hearts in the trees, the mud animals, the meeting point, the lit tree stumps at night, the Wishing Tree & Hielan fields, the randomness of some of the fancy dress costumes and the variety of pretty much everything on offer means we will definitely be back next year, no matter what the line up

[herindoors]

Oh, and despite that essay (sorry!) I forgot to mention that Admirals Fallow were also fantastic on the Friday. I had heard of them before, particularly their track Squealing Pigs, but I now officially love them.

[EK Spider]

I'm brand new to this forum but as it was my third Bella I thought I would add my tuppence worth.

I travel up all the way from East Kilbride for this festival and think it's well worth it (not sure if my wife feels quite the same way as she is the driver !) As I've got two kids this is an ideal festival.

Highlight music wise for me were King Creosote (first time I had seen him and was amazed how good he was), Erland and the Carnival, Kassidy, Bombskare (could easily have played the Garden Stage as the Hothouse tent was mobbed) and Dick Gaughan. Also saw a couple of newish acts that I thought were excellent - Astral Planes and Patch William (even if the latter was on at 12 on Saturday!).

My boys were desperate to see Feeder and loved them and they were undoubtedly very good but a wee bit polished for my liking. They also loved The Wailers - just disappointing they had to cut their set short.

Only acts I didn't enjoy were Twin Atlantic (wanted to like them but where were the tunes?), The Dangleberries (had to leave after two songs - they don't mix well with a hangover) and Lledra Chapman who kept telling us how overwhelmed she was at the polite ripple of applause she received for her insipid tunes.

Whole festival vibe was great as usual. Only gripe would be the level and standard of staffing. The previous two years I thought they were excellent. But this year we had to wait well over an hour to get in, the rubbish bins were never emptied and the toilets were a lot worse.

However that is a minor gripe that did not detract from my enjoyment of the festival. As long as they continue to sell Red Kite Ale I will be back!

[Lee123]

Amy Macdonald was amazing and I don't understand why anyone was surprised by that. She's the biggest selling European act this year and has headlined loads of festivals all over Europe and her set was so busy - it seemed that the whole site was there. However, the star of the show is Belladrum itself, the people and the atmosphere which I think was much better this year than it was last year.

[saraha]

A bit late posting my thoughts but here goes.

We were in a group of about 15 with 7 teens and 2 Bella virgins. We all had a fabulous time.

Positives:

we were in quiet and did think it was amazingly quiet compared to previous years. I actually slept. 2 of the teens with us prefered camping here, they just partied in general and returned late for a good sleep.

The toilets were cleaned regularly and were the best of the festivals we've been to this year.

Music wise Feeder, Neil Hanlon, Stornaway and Mothers Ruin stood out for me. Our teens loved seeing Tommy Reilly again and meeting and chatting to him in the arena. Orkesra Del Sol were excellent as usual but would have been better in a tent.

Thursday night we really enjoyed the wine tasting and the ceilidh was amazing fun-I think the Black Isle Beer helped alot combined with the half a box of wine we'd consumed before we headed in!!!

Negatives- arriving quite early to a most enormous queue to get in taking about an hour.

The food stalls having little choice for a gluten free diet apart from one curry choice, chips and baked potatoes. Why do so many options have to be served on bread and why can't they provide a GF option since it a pretty common problem, even the reliable stovies weren't GF anymore having now added bisto to the gravy. Glad we took some food to cook back at the tent else my hubby may have starved.

Apart from that I can't think of anything else that was bad about the weekend- eeven the weather proved to be a total surprise after the terrible forcasts.