A musician’s eye view of Belladrum 2015.
Sarah Williamson plays acoustic punk with a special kind of charm and quirk, she played several gigs over the weekend and well we thought we would ask her to keep a diary (Sarah also vlogged and her Facebook videos are well worth a look);
Can you enjoy yourself at a festival as a lone wolf? I imagine you are thinking why would you go to a festival by yourself , well the answer there is simple… My name is Sarah and I played 4 different times , three different stages throughout the Belladrum Festival.
Stepping out of the car I’m calm , at this point no body knows who I am. Taking my first loop of the arena I remembered the layout from the previous year , I search to find all the stages I will be on , and head back to the car, on the way a few familiar faces say hello ! Playing it cool I join them but really at this point I’m thinking THANK YOU GOD FOR LETTING ME FIND THESE FAMILIAR FACES.
A few hours of catching up with my friends I decide I should grab the guitar to be prepared for my first slot on the Milk Float Busking stage, however if you were in red camping that morning you got a little blast of what was to come from me.
So anyway on to the stage , I’m looking out from behind a microphone to an empty field, there’s a huge tent next door to where I’m playing, I guess everyone’s in there. Right enough they were however timed perfectly I begin to play as they begin to file out. I’m amazed at the amount of people who gather round, a lot of dancing and cheering and towards the end even chanting of my name. There is a boy in the crowd I’ve never met before but said “I love you Sarah”
As I finish I meet some of the people who were in attendance of my gig , these are brief encounters but they are amazing , a handful of people come up to me tell me how much they enjoyed it we exchange jokes and story’s , we hug shake hands and then back to the lonely festival. But now I feel great people like me here.
We spoke for a short while I hug her and she left it was beautiful. On my way back to the car I meet another lady she comes up to me shakes my hand and talks to me about my songs and how she enjoyed my set, then the boy from the day before goes past me simply says “SARAH!” and shakes my hand.
My final set was me and four girls who sat and cheered throughout a tired set that I used every last ounce of energy to make enjoyable for the quaint crowd. I had a chat throughout this intimate set and after and felt like I had gained new friends who made my Belladrum’s finally moments lovely! It’s safe to say I was not at Belladrum alone I was there with all of you fans of music who are so so much like me !I left belladrum feeling loved and happy so if you were to ask me can you enjoy Belladrum alone, YES.
It truly melts your heart how loving strangers infected with song can be.
Sarah can next be seen soon supporting John Otway.
Make sure you check out our Belladrum 2015 page for all the news and reviews of what’s happening at the festival.
Still in the mood for a festival then check out the forthcoming North Hop festival featuring the best beer, gin and local music in the area.
