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Linlithgow

August 11th 2018

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For the past couple of years, one of the Mumble’s reviewers – Raymondo Speedie – has been raving about Party in the Palace at Linlithgow. This year, however, he couldnae make it – he was in Uganda or summat – so I leapt at the opportunity to check it out for myself, just for the Saturday night, but I was guessing that would be enough to get a feel for the place.

Me & the wife arrived to the sounds of Cast singing their classic rocker, Sandstorm, which just so happens to be my favourite tune of theirs. ‘A wonderful omen,’ I thought as I hit the site dancing. And what a gorgeous & curious spot; by serene loch waters, under the famous old castle, & barely a stone’s throw from Linlithgow itself. It was also busy, but not in a hectic kinda way, but in a ‘we love coming here every year‘ kinda way, as attested by the swarming islands of portable chairs.

Party At The Palace has one main stage, a fair size, & always full of revelry & song. The vibe was amazing, really, unpretentious, unlouty, undrugg -, its the perfect day out really & me & the wife were soon enjoying more than the one crispy pint of lager. We also enjoyed Cast, who were now grizzling & greying & chubbing out a bit, but still delivering pitch-perfect renditions from their fantastic catalogue, especially Walk Away which had the crowd in raptures.

Then Gabrielle arrived with the best hair-mop I’ve ever seen, complemented by a tight-ass band. After a few numbers we thought we’d check out the rest of the site, & to our delight found more stages & a great bar at the back playing slick tunes, half of which were motown. None of us knew Aretha would be dead within days. It was there that we also met our new best mat Neil, a doctor from North Berwick very kindly volunteering as litter-pickers with others of his grace for the West Lothian Scout group.

We had no idea how the event would be received – obviously in year 1 there was huge excitement locally with the prospect of some amazing bands coming to the town – we soon outgrew the venue and had to move across the loch so its fab to see that the demand for tickets is so high and people are now buying tickets before we event announce the line-up. We feel we are a go to event knowing that the weekend is fun regardless of the line-up. We are very family driven too which ticks many boxes for our customers. Read the full interview with organiser, Peter Ferguson 

 

It was now time for James, one of Manchesters’s, & indeed the world’s best live bands. Anticipation was high; there were many familiar & iconic James t-shirts fluttering about the site, all of whom congregated in front of the main stage for sunset like butterflies in a cabbage field. It was an interesting gig, a rollercoaster really. The band had released their new album, Living In Extraordinary Times, only a week before, & were playing many songs from it. They sounded great, but of course they were hardly known, so the gig ebbed & flowed between euphoria for the classics & mild indifference for the new ones. Me & the wife were completely pissed & blissed out anyway, so we simply got on with it & fell in love with each once again at the the romance-inspiring setting of Party in the Palace.

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LOST PROPERTY

Black Waterproof Jacket – George (Asda)
Black Quenchua poncho
Black / white dots umbrella
Turquoise bag with picnic rug inside
Lilac umbrella
Black card purse with bank cards
Black scarf
A selection of glasses and sundglasses
Spiky bracelet
ASOS denim jacket – size 12
XL grey Jacket
Black ted Baker shoulder bag
Green primark rain coat
Blue zip hoody with white stripe up the arms
Black Masai short sleeve cardigan
Leopard point umbrella
Bunch of keys (3)
22 bank cards! (All have been destroyed.)
Silver / White gold ring