Wickerman is burning brightly on the festival circuit

Aug 3 2009 By Michael Pringle

Wickerman Festival 2009

THE ritual burning is over for another year. The Wickerman Festival attracted almost 20,000 revellers and the only disappointment was that the weekend passed too quickly for most. The weather held out for the most part, the only damp spot being torrential rain and strong gusting winds that meant more than a few tents weren’t where they should have been on Sunday morning. Thankfully it was almost 7am before the deluge started.

Friday and Saturday were dry with long sunny spells and festival goers were treated to a tremendous weekend of music. Friday night saw the Human League, The Magic Numbers and Idlewild on the main stage while up in the scooter tent Los Angeles band The Dickies and punk legends the UK Subs were warming the crowd.

Ayr band, The Hostiles had the unenviable job of being the first band on in the scooter tent on Saturday and with many still trying to shake off the excesses of the night before they did well to draw a sizeable audience who were appreciative of their music. An energetic performance entertained those who had either managed to get up in time or had stayed awake.

Later in the day the main stage was graced by soul legend Candi Staton who sounded as fresh as ever. The headliners for the evening were Liverpool band The Zutons on the main stage and ska legends Bad Manners in the scooter tent. The burning took place just after midnight with this year’s wicker man made to represent Rabbie Burns, complete with book in hand. It is the Homecoming year after all.

Following on from the burning man, Utah Saints took to the main stage and the massive crowd were treated to an hour and fifteen minutes of outstanding sample ridden dance music including classics ‘Something Good’ and ‘What can you do for me’. Triumphantly they proclaimed to the crowd that Scotland was a special place for them: “We played our first ever live gig just up the road in Ayr”. As they left the stage the masses cheered for more but it wasn’t to be and stewards had to wave the crowds away to dance on in the house and reggae tents that were still in full swing.

This festival used to be a hidden gem; it’s now a real polished sparkling diamond that looks and gets better every year.