Linlithgow
Sunday 14th August 2022
For yesterday’s Rock N Roll Shennanigans, I was granted a Guestlist from the rather amazing and talented Jamie Keira lead singer of one of Scotland’s fastest rising musical talents, “Black Wolf Trap” Who would play a blinding set of Drum And Bass greatness, but more of that later.
I had forgotten just how much of a beautiful setting Linlithgow Palace is. As the train pulled into the local train station, I thought hmm am going to enjoy this. It was a beautiful warm day perfect conditions for enjoying musical greatness. My first port of call was The Purple Orange Stage to enjoy some of West Lothian’s local talent. As I arrived Nikki McDonald was entertaining beautifully to a relaxed sunbathing audience, with fine voice and a skilled gutarist. A lovely start to musical proceedings. After a wander round the festival site, to see what was on offer, I returned to The Purple Orange stage to catch the work of a musical prodigy called Molly Jane now this was equally as special, Molly’s repertoire invoked the first dance of the day, this young lady was brilliant, her rendition of Jolene by Dolly Parton brought a tear to my eye it was so good. Great things will come from both of these brilliant musicians.
Then I headed down to the main stage to catch Clair Grogan’s Altered Images for a trip down memory lane, Clair really has aged well, she is still gorgeous, All the hits were represented, I Could Be Happy, Happy Birthday and a fine selection of new compositions.
It was a hot afternoon. with everyone thoroughly enjoying themselves.
As the afternoon drew into evening I headed for a bite to eat, Haggis Neeps And Tatties, filled my belly, just before Black Wolf Trap Took to stage number 2 to deliver a performance of power-driven Drum And Bass. with frontman Jamie Keira in fine form, bouncing on the speaker stack to pull his audience in. And they came in droves to get down to the Rock N Roll brilliance of this relatively new band and ripped the field apart and everyone was bouncing.
Next on the Divine to-do list was a band called “Party Fears Three” I had heard the name before and was excited to see if this was an Associates tribute, but when they opened with a rendition of Aha’s Take On Me, I realised it was an 80’s Tribute, Brilliantly covering the hits of Depeche Mode, Blancmange, Simple Minds, Erasure et al. We were all dancing, but alas they didnae have time for any of “The Associates” I was expecting “Party Fears Two” I really wanted to see if the singer could do a Billy McKenzie. It was good fun.
I headed back to the main arena to catch Sophie Ellis Baxter’s perfect rendition of Madonna’s “Like A Prayer” Sophie is brilliant isn’t she, everyone was singing along and having a really good time.
The clouds were moving in, big dark and pendulous as the stage was being prepped for the arrival of the Human League a band I have loved since I was a nipper. It was a fantastic sing-along, as the first notes of Sound Of The Crowd arrived, Rumbles of thunder and lightning complimented the experience. It was a greatest hits set and everyone loved it despite the falling rain, By the time the encore was reached, “Together In Electric Dreams” And the closing number “Being Boiled” A full blown electric storm was taking place it was brilliant and a fitting end to the days rock n roll shenanigans.
Whilst on the Linlithgow train station platform awaiting the 11.26pm train back to Aulde Reekie, it was packed with happy party people. A chorus of “Don’t You Want Me” Broke out, everyone was singing. When we finished the song, The people on the opposite platform, heading to Glasgow, gave us all a round of applause. Indeed it was a day that kept on giving.
Thank you to Jamie for giving me the opportunity to attend and have such a “Good Time” It was brilliant.
Review: Mark ‘Divine’ Calvert
Photos By Norman Brown, Jamie Keira And Michael Mathieson
Mumble Festivals 