Top Scots talent heads for Burns festival

Mar 27 2009

A LINE-UP of top Scots comedy and music will headline this year’s Burns Festival.

The Red Hot Chilli Pipers, Hue and Cry, and Rhona Cameron are to top the bill.

But the programme, revealed exclusively to the Ayrshire Post, is missing its signature event Rock at the Racecourse.

Organisers have chosen to spend their cash on other events rather than stage another rock extravaganza.

Pop duo Hue and Cry, who topped the charts in the 80s, will aim to fill the musical hole left by the rock gig.

They’re set to showcase their first album release in 16 years, Open Soul, at the festival in May.

Bagpipe act the Red Hot Chillis will also draw the crowds from far and wide when they hit the stage in Ayrshire.

And award-winning comedienne Cameron will bring her stand-up show to the festival as part of the line-up.

Festival organiser Michael McDaid revealed: “We’re tremendously excited to be previewing such high-quality, exciting performers as Rhona Cameron, Hue and Cry, and The Red Hot Chilli Pipers.

“And there’s much more to come. This year will feature the kind of fantastic large-scale events that have always made Burns festivals so popular.

“But we’ve got so much more up our sleeves. There will be music, poetry, comedy and food events spilling out of Wellington Square and pubs, clubs and cafes near you.

“Expect 2009 to be the year of the most inclusive, accessible and fun Burns festival to date.”

More than 100 events will take place during the cultural festival which, this year, will mark the 250th anniversary of Burns.

Organisers are pledging to make the festival the most “Burns-focused” in its eight-year history.

Tickets go on sale from March 30 at Ayr tourist information centre, Ayr Citadel, and online at ticketmaster.co.uk