Arts / Shetland invasion set to mark Orkney Rock Festival milestone
NOT LONG after team Shetland descended on Orkney for the Island Games there is set to be another isles invasion in the coming weeks – this time in musical form.
A sizeable contingent of Shetland bands will be performing at the Orkney Rock Festival in early September in what will be the event’s 10th anniversary.
This includes a number of bands making their Orkney Rock Festival debuts, including The Revellers, (the) 3310 and Bitumen River.
In total there stands to be at least six Shetland bands making the trip down to join the line-up – as well as sound engineer David Bisset.
These include Ten Tonne Dozer, Shipyard Riot and Delorean.
The festival this year will see two ticketed events held on the Saturday and Sunday (6/7 September) as well as a slew of bands doing free gigs in Kirkwall pubs over the entire weekend, including the Friday night – with bands from Orkney, Shetland and further afield on the line-up.
One of the rock festival’s organisers Claire Ross said: “We are really looking forward to hosting all the acts.
“The Shetland contingent are usually a great laugh and we’ve formed some really good friendships with them over the years.”
She said the team are particularly looking forward to welcoming Shetland favourites The Revellers to the festival for the first time.
“It’s been floated about for a few years but never worked out for either us or them and it was a chance conversation with Magnus [Bradley, vocalist/guitarist] in Tesco when I was up for Lerwick Up Helly Aa this year and speaking about having them down in the future that set the ball rolling,” Ross explained.
“Initially Magnus thought they wouldn’t manage it for the 10th festival but a few weeks later he messaged and it went from there.
“We are also looking forward to festival favourites Ten Tonne Dozer who will be celebrating their 20th anniversary the weekend before.
“Shipyard Riot are making their third appearance at the festival having played as a pub act in 2022 then the main event in 2023.
“Bitumen River are making their first appearance at the festival too at the Sunday sesh event in the Neuk.
“Outside the ticket events there’s around 30 acts performing in the pub venues The Auld Motorhoose, The Torvhaug and The Ola back bar and there are a few Shetland acts making their way into the line-up on the Sunday too, with favourites Delorean bringing their own brand of musical hopscotch.
“I’m excited to have (the) 3310 come down as a pub act too. I’ve been at a few of their gigs now in Shetland and they have a fantastic energy so I’m looking forward to seeing that down here.”
Ross added that there will also be “pseudonym sets”, where some acts get to play whatever they like in pubs under a different name – which “usually results in much hilarity and a peedie bit of chaos”.
For any Shetlanders thinking about joining in on the chaos, early bird weekend tickets will be on sale online tonight (Monday) at 7pm, with a general sale from 4 August.
People will also be able to buy individual tickets for either the Saturday or Sunday main events, while there will be under-18 options too.
People are advised to keep an eye on the Orkney Live Wire Facebook page or website for more details on tickets.
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