So if there was a Caithness County Gig

**Reev** · 12-Oct-06, 19:36

Hmmm, all this talk about established bands, wasnt the point of the big gig for local bands, i do believe if a band wanted to play at the big gig they had to ask for themselves, who cares about established bands when it was based at local bands, i doubt the public really cared

all in all i think the majority of people werent really caring about if a band was established or not, the majority simply went for the fact that bands were playing, not the fact of who was who, though obviously friends of friends etc would of been there for specific bands

still, how it can be such a big deal i dont get it, the fact that someone bothered to give it a try in the first place is better than doing nothing at all

meh, another rant about nothing i see, still, better to rant about nothing than nothing at all

still, was a good gig, all those wannabe duress acts and all

**The Pepsi Challenge** · 14-Oct-06, 02:25

Unsure about how to go about formulating a small-but-guaranteed-to-get-you-good-results festival? Easy, start by speaking to Robert Hicks, who, practically single-handedly set up, organised, and promoted the fantastic Loopallu (that's Ullapool spelt backward, folks, in case you didn't know) Festival. [*Googlebox: I'll PM Robert's landline number to you.] Loopallu has attracted lots of press, admiration from others wishing to set up their own festivals, and, in a few years, will rival others such as Belladrum. It is, in its own way, the T in the Park of the highlands. Caithness (i.e. Thurso) has more people, more resources, the organisers - with the right planning and support - should be able to do something as good, if not better than Loopallu.

As the glut of the Caithness population resides in the West of the county, it makes sense to have the festival in Thurso. People, money, business, resources, space - it's all there. Host it at Millbank, so, if it starts belting down with rain (aye, it happens in the middle of summertime) the live entertainment could be re-housed either in The Park Hotel or Skinandis. That's only if the worst comes to the worst, however.

Bands? Obviously local bands garner local interest. The likes of Estrella, Howlin' Gaels and, if he's game for it, The J. Fats Band, would be a safe bet in terms of guaranteed entertainment. And you'd be surprised how many, ahem, 'name' bands would be interested in headlining such a thing. EVERY week I speak to bands who say they'd love to play somewhere like Thurso. Why don't they? There's no venues, promoters, nothing outwith word-of-mouth to convince them that it would be worth making the trip. A one-off show would suit them, albeit for a price, but not a hefty one. It's just a case of speaking to the right people. So here's a couple of acts I reckon would be up for it.

Hayseed Dixie. Performing classic rock songs in a bluegrass style, they're a sure-fire bet to get a crowd going. Keep them in booze for the weekend, a decent hotel and pay their expenses. You never know...

Aberfeldy...

(http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...endid=51521714)

They've played the Edinburgh Hogmanay Concert in the Gardens, supported REM, the Beautiful South, and will be ten times bigger this time next year. They've also been nominated for the Mercury Prize.

And another thing, papers and magazines love small, quirky festivals. The Scotsman, The List magazine, Daily Record etc. (just a couple of examples) have all done features, previews and reviews of small successful festivals such as The Wickerman, Loopallu, and Belladrum festivals to name but a few. I think they'd be 'tickled' by something like this happening in the Far North. Everytime I try to promote the area, I always say "it's the most northerly (insert whatever here), that during summer it never gets dark, and if you're lucky, you'll get to see the Northern Lights, too."

Next year the papers will focus heavily on any major surfing comps coming to the area. So I'd say get the festival sorted and organised soon as possible. You want to attract as many spectators as possible. And don't worry if it's over ambitious. My motto is "Punch Above Your Weight." The organisers should think on a similar line.
For instance, by promoting the above to the likes of The Proclaimers, they just might go for it. I'll ask Charlie Reid next time I see him. Again, you never know.

Good luck and Godspeed!

**Gleber2** · 14-Oct-06, 02:36

How strange, Pepsi's talking sense!!! On the nail!!!

**Gogglebox** · 18-Nov-06, 15:01

Thought id pop in and reply to some of the comments on this thread

THe weather on the day became a much bigger problem than we had anticipated even for Thurso.

It was really so close to being cancelled in the morning.

It was hard to have an alternative indoor venue as no large club/hotel wanted to set up and take in staff for a gig that wasnt likely to happen inside. It would have been all costs and little gain so no places of reasonable size were interested.

Marquee hire was £5k for the day. #
It was a gamble that didnt pay off weather wise but It was August and we thought it would be dull with occasional rain at worst, we really hadnt anticipated the persistant rain but it was the wind in the morning that was the real problem and meant we had to cut back a lot of the stalls, amusements and things we had built round the day to entertain and fundraise.
We didnt go down the road of getting the sideshows in as we thought it would be a distraction to the music but we did speak to them and may consider it another time but it does impinge on the bands playing and thats a bit unfair i think
THe bands played for nothing and did very well. We were not selective in the music or the bands that played as its not for us to be the music police and tell people what they would enjoy or not

There were 10 bands which probably was too many but we had over 20 wanting to play. THe problem is each band change over is about 15 mins so we didnt want to have too much dead air so tried to limit it to 15mins per hour, which i think worked alright.

It was a bit thrown together on the day but more so again because we had to make so many rearrangements on the day because of the weather and that really was a learning curve thing that we would try and anticipate better

A lot of organisation and pre planning did go into it i can assure you all but as i say we really were caught flat footed on the day - -rookie error on my part there but alternative solutions were going to cost so much that i took a gamble that didnt come off - -although the forecast for it was actually quite good!! Never trust a weather forecast!

Howling Gaels were asked, one of only a few i did actually directly ask/invite, In general we advertised for bands and got them. Howling Gaels declined at the time. So David Taz thats why you didnt play.

'Half assed that we should be ashamed of' I dont accept that and think its a ridiculous statement especially from someone who claims to have your wealth of experience, you should know better.

Our objective with this was to get a range of local bands on an outdoor stage playing a range of music to suit a range of musical tastes, free to the public

THis gig was put on for the benefit of local bands and the local people.
We should not be ashamed to put things on for the people who live in our town, if tourists come they come, we're here 365 days a year

Attempts had been made to try and put something like this on before but had not got off the ground. We atleast got ours on and running , it began it ran and it finished as planned. Fair play to Chobbers for that, he was a star man!

However it satisfied our initial objectives.

Granted there were a few hiccups on the day but they were daft things like toilets blocking or drunk teenagers but the music ran as per schedule.

The guys that ran on stage was a problem and a slip by our one of our steward who got involved with another incident.

We would have more stewards another time as that was a real problem as were the barriers collapsing due to rust but these are things its hard to legislate for, we borrowed them in good faith from the police but unfortunately they are old and some of them were breaking and pulling others down - -that could have gone horribly wong!!

Clash 67 the offer of help and experience is welcome and it would be interesting to meet and have a chat so feel free to pm me and have a chat

To coordinate and keep 10 bands happy of varying numbers, say 50 folk approx, is not easy but it happened and went well. You have to keep everyone the same and cant have one getting any more preference than another. THese guys gave up their time and ability free of charge. We could not treat one better than the other
Esterella were treated no differently, they had lights as it was dark and people could see them, the lighting was actually on from about 6 oclock but it was daylight so insignificant until later

The organisation of the event started in February when a number of us joined the TTIA comittee. Because its a voluntary organisation people come and go because of work etc so as much as you can get people involved in organising things work, family etc means it inevitably falls to one or two people to pull it together, This year we have about 6 on the Big Gig organising committee but ineveitably it will come down to 1 or 2 to pull it together .

Assistance from anybody is welcome

Aswell as the Big Gig we have a whole Gala Week to organise this year it was amongst about 8 of a committee which we struggled with so few, hence Clash 67 unhapiness at the Funday, after the amount of work for the gala night some of our people were unable to make the funday.

This year we have 14 people on our committee with the age of it ranging from 17 to 85 and the average about 30-40 years old

The agm was held in October and well advertised anyone could join and reduce our average age, although this is now probably the youngest average in years. However if anyone wants to still join contact me. Anyone over 18 is welcome not just Old Chiels

Price of drink was not extortinate. It was in line with the prices at all these events. If people went to the shops for a carry out thats fair enough, it was there for conveinence if you wanted to pay the prices.

Burnt burgers i wouldnt agree with much either but i dont eat them
As a community organisation we have our "cooks" trained and certificated on food hygiene etc. All attended courses at the college this year.
What one person doesnt like another enjoys so its down to personal taste. We have to cater for the majority and within legislation.

Headline acts are fine but expensive and some of them are booked up 2 -3 years in advance.
An example we tried for Deacon Blue who i know and like but might not appeal to all ages that would be attracted to attend , they wanted £35,000
Do you take a gamble and hope you attract enough to cover that, whilst also alienating the local bands that you have set out to work with.
Along with the costs of hiring them comes the added costs of additional security, stage setups, lighting, accomodation, admision ticketing etc. I would be surprised if there was change out of £50k+

The Body Rockers wanted £20k to come but would perform for 30 minutes, throw in the additional costs above and you would be paying about £1000 a minute, its not easy to justify financially, there has to be a trade off and a sense of financial reality. Would people outwith the town attend and finance that kind of costs, its difficult to say.
I had too and declined

THe fundraisng on the day wasnt that great we didnt make a fortune becuase we had to cancel various stalls and entertainments and it is very difficult to charge an admission fee to a public park as there are so many access points and collections on the day werent overly succesful but there is limited ways to fundraise, we are looking at alternatives for next year

The budget for next year i fear will not be that much fore that the but we had this year.

The money our organisation has belongs to the public, they donated it and we have to reinvest it in things that benefit the community long term.
We cant squander or gamble with it, can you imagine the outcry

However organisation is underway for next year and we are trying to put together something that is similar in objective but significantly enough different from this years to improve the event
We have talked to the promoter of the Tartan Heart festival at Belladrum and the clash of our dates may yet benefit us but again its a trade off with upsetting local bands but we shall see how things go.

We have taken into consideration some of the difficulties we had this year plus the feedback we have had and we hope for a bigger and better event

Your comments and criticism have been welcome and appreciated and i will take a lot of the comments into consideration as we organise things

Again I re-iterate if anyone wants to get involved in TTIA or just in organising The Big Gig II email me on info@thurso.org

**The Pepsi Challenge** · 20-Nov-06, 10:26

Googlebox - I've got a contact for Hayseed Dixie for you. If we can set a date, and, if the price is right, I reckon we might be able to get them up for The Big Gig part 2.

**Gogglebox** · 20-Nov-06, 13:58

Originally Posted by The Pepsi Challenge

Googlebox - I've got a contact for Hayseed Dixie for you. If we can set a date, and, if the price is right, I reckon we might be able to get them up for The Big Gig part 2.

Date is Sat 11th & Sunday 12th August

Will pm you

**The Pepsi Challenge** · 21-Nov-06, 00:04

Let me start by saying, Deacon Blue are in a position where they do gigs for a nice little bonus (i.e. when the tax bills come in). However the kind of gigs they're talking about are residencies, such as at the Albert Hall (London, not Stirling) and playing New Year extravaganzas. Obviously Mr Ross's leftist taking-it-to-the-people credentials are as genuine as most of his music. Anyway, for £35K you could put together the kind of line-up that would bring folk flooding to the town. But let's hold off the phone call to Fish just yet.

OK. First thing's first: decide what you want to do, and, who you want to attract. The organisers need to understand PRECISELY what kind of programming policy they're looking to achieve. Most summer festivals - even the big independent ones - cater for a niche market. This Big Gig needs to satisfy the average punter.

So here's a couple of potential names...

Idlewild. You'd certainly get them for a lot less than £35K. Roddy Woomble has done umpteen interviews saying how he likes living in the highlands, and, that it's the best place in the world. If so, am sure he'd like to put his (the Big Gig oraganisers') money where his mouth is. Surely. They've got an album to plug in the new year after all; and Idlewild are probably just on the right side of 'weird' for many, and a name (some) people have heard of.

Another who would make the effort north are Echo & The Bunnymen, they've been here before after all. Popular amongst the kids again, too, is McCulloch and co. Last year they Sold Out every Scottish venue they played.

Biffy Clyro also do this kind of thing, but are perhaps on the other side of the line. Teenage Fanclub, as well as Julian Cope are acts that would love - if everything was organised properly (you'll have to demonstrate that before they'll even talk back) - to come up to the Far North.

The ideal festival to pick tips from, however, is Big In Falkirk. Have a look at their line-ups from the past few years. And then scale them down. They've generally worked well with the odd big name; but sunny weather, dancing and loads of booze are critical factors in something like this working on a budget.

I wish thee the best of luck...

**zebedy** · 21-Nov-06, 12:41

Originally Posted by The Pepsi Challenge

Let me start by saying, Deacon Blue are in a position where they do gigs for a nice little bonus (i.e. when the tax bills come in). However the kind of gigs they're talking about are residencies, such as at the Albert Hall (London, not Stirling) and playing New Year extravaganzas. Obviously Mr Ross's leftist taking-it-to-the-people credentials are as genuine as most of his music. Anyway, for £35K you could put together the kind of line-up that would bring folk flooding to the town. But let's hold off the phone call to Fish just yet.

OK. First thing's first: decide what you want to do, and, who you want to attract. The organisers need to understand PRECISELY what kind of programming policy they're looking to achieve. Most summer festivals - even the big independent ones - cater for a niche market. This Big Gig needs to satisfy the average punter.

So here's a couple of potential names...

Idlewild. You'd certainly get them for a lot less than £35K. Roddy Woomble has done umpteen interviews saying how he likes living in the highlands, and, that it's the best place in the world. If so, am sure he'd like to put his (the Big Gig oraganisers') money where his mouth is. Surely. They've got an album to plug in the new year after all; and Idlewild are probably just on the right side of 'weird' for many, and a name (some) people have heard of.

Another who would make the effort north are Echo & The Bunnymen, they've been here before after all. Popular amongst the kids again, too, is McCulloch and co. Last year they Sold Out every Scottish venue they played.

Biffy Clyro also do this kind of thing, but are perhaps on the other side of the line. Teenage Fanclub, as well as Julian Cope are acts that would love - if everything was organised properly (you'll have to demonstrate that before they'll even talk back) - to come up to the Far North.
The ideal festival to pick tips from, however, is Big In Falkirk. Have a look at their line-ups from the past few years. And then scale them down. They've generally worked well with the odd big name; but sunny weather, dancing and loads of booze are critical factors in something like this working on a budget.

I wish thee the best of luck...

Mon the Biffy

**clash67** · 21-Nov-06, 13:57

I agree with The Pepsi Challange.
Take a look at some of the bands that have been passing through Thurso to go and play in Orkney Ocean Couler Scene, The Proclaimers, Nazareth, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band and so many more so why are one of these acts not asked to play Thurso while they are up here, may even get them cheaper seeing as how they are up here anyway, I suggest that someone should get in touch with who ever is booking these acts in Orkney and work with them towards adding Thurso and Wick to the circuit and this would also make it more worthwhile for big acts to travel up this far.
As for booking Deacon Blue well not only not worth the money imho, but there are many acts that are out there that are big names in the industry that are around the £3000 mark.
As for the weather well I can only sympathize with you GoggleBox, Caithness weather can be unpredictable but I seem to remember a thread way back when someone said that the Scouts or Girl Guides or some local organizastion like that had a marque tent that they sometimes hire out, might be worth checking out. anyway ,just some suggestions.

**The Pepsi Challenge** · 21-Nov-06, 14:36

This might prove a handy guideline...

Note: these are last year's dollar prices for bands to play in the US, presumably when they are already there (so not as if they're one-off trips in private jets). I've taken out all the dull ones (Franz are "call for details", sadly) and in fact removed most of the Scots ones as someone'll get annoyed.

Andrew WK 10-12.5K
Audioslave 100K+
Bad Religion 25K
Badly Drawn Boy 10-15K
Barenaked Ladies 150K
Basement Jaxx 10K
Beach Boys 75K++
Beck 75K
Ben Folds 35K (plus piano rental)
Billy Corgan 15-20K (theatres only)
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club 10-12.5K
Bloodhound Gang 17.5-25K
Blur * 35-40K
Cardigans, The 7-10K
Counting Crows 50-80K
Green Day 100K+
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion 20K
Keane 35-50K
Kings of Leon 15-20K
Lenny Kravitz 150-200K
Moby 40-50K
Polyphonic Spree 15-20K
Queens of the Stone Age 75-100K
Rancid 20-25K
Weezer 125-150K

I must admit I find this list a tad suspicious. I know all the major promoters in Scotland and I'd be surprised if they were paying this amount. A year last April I supported the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and no way were they on approx. £10K for that show. Still, interesting enough...

**midi2304** · 21-Nov-06, 16:34

Originally Posted by The Pepsi Challenge

Idlewild. You'd certainly get them for a lot less than £35K. Roddy Woomble has done umpteen interviews saying how he likes living in the highlands, and, that it's the best place in the world. If so, am sure he'd like to put his (the Big Gig oraganisers') money where his mouth is. Surely. They've got an album to plug in the new year after all; and Idlewild are probably just on the right side of 'weird' for many, and a name (some) people have heard of.

Another who would make the effort north are Echo & The Bunnymen, they've been here before after all. Popular amongst the kids again, too, is McCulloch and co. Last year they Sold Out every Scottish venue they played.

Biffy Clyro also do this kind of thing, but are perhaps on the other side of the line. Teenage Fanclub, as well as Julian Cope are acts that would love - if everything was organised properly (you'll have to demonstrate that before they'll even talk back) - to come up to the Far North.

I think it's fantastic that people are organising this kind of thing. I wish I was still up north to help in any way I could but difficult to offer any assistance in Aberdeen. I will be north for Big Gig II though.

What I would say is that Idlewild were at the Isle of Skye Music festival last year and I think Woomble and the boys would be seriously tempted by a gig in Thurso.

Biffy Clyro have played just about everywhere in Scotland. And Teenage Fanclub... did they not play in Wick many many moons ago? I'm think 10 years back or so but I'm sure they've played in Caithness.

Other possibilities;

Mylo - He's a Skye lad and might not be so expensive. I think it's also good that the Big Gig attracts younger people and I think Mylo would get a lot of the youngsters in. He also set up the Isle of Skye Festival which is going into it's 4th year next year.

KT Tunstall - She also played Isle of Skye Festival so might make the journey. No idea how much she would cost.

Pepsi, is there anyway through your media circles that you could promote the festival before the line up was finalised to attract some big bands if the TITA wished? I can't see it doing any harm.

At the end of the day, Orkney are getting big names (Embrace, etc), we have Belladrum, Isle of Skye Festival, Loopulla... There is the market for a big festival in Thurso. I do agree with other posters that it is very important that this is a local gig and we don't allienate local bands but these other festivals in the Highlands seem to be able to keep the balance.

Anyway, best of luck with the organisation.

**The Pepsi Challenge** · 21-Nov-06, 18:17

Papers love quirky out-of-the-way festivals. I've already lined up two (feature) possibilities re: coverage should the organisers get it together, and I'm quietly confident they will. I just wonder if the gurnin' swines on the General board will accuse me of selling out my county after that. No doubt they'll decree me for something or other.

**henry20** · 21-Nov-06, 18:18

I would say that depends on the content of the article!

**The Pepsi Challenge** · 21-Nov-06, 18:20

..........Eh?

**henry20** · 21-Nov-06, 18:23

Well, if its a well written, honest piece of writing that takes into account the limited resources available for the event, then nobody should have a problem with it.

**The Pepsi Challenge** · 21-Nov-06, 18:25

You really think I'd take a pop at it, huh? And I'm trying to help already. Sheesh! Goodnight...

**henry20** · 21-Nov-06, 18:30

No, you made a statement, I merely pointed out, that a supportive piece of writing would gather no criticism!

**Camra** · 22-Nov-06, 21:55

If anyone out there has £12,000 to spare ( which is about what it costs to stage a professional event with) and can guarantee the weather i'd like to see your offer on this website.