We Will Rock You!

Ahh...it is that time of year again; shorts, ice cream, sunglasses and most importantly...        FESTIVAL SEASON

Britain is the home to many of the world's music festivals including names like Glastonbury, O2 Wireless and T in The Park. Our (Scotland's) two festivals which we are oh so proud of are T in the Park and RockNess. Both of them take place during the summer with RockNess in June and T in the Park in July. RockNess is relatively small compared to T in the Park with only around 30000 festival-goers attending over the duration of the weekend.

RockNess is a baby compared to T in The Park as it began on 24th June 2006 as a one-day festival with acts like Fatboy Slim taking to the stage. The following year it already increased to a two-day festival with camping and acts such as Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk gracing the stages. 

Now, in 2012, festival-goers can be excited to hear and (if standing close enough!) see Mumford & Sons, Biffy Clyro and Deadmau5. This years lineup has a good mix between indie, rock and dance music where people will hear a variety of styles throughout the full weekend. You can click here to see the full line up. 

RockNess is also unique in terms of what else they offer to the public except from a brilliant weekend filled with top bands. This year RockNess is offering an exclusive transport system from England to the festival site called The RockNess Express! ''It'll be a journey like no other- bands, DJs, entertainment provided by Festivals favourite Bearded Kitten, Scottish food, cocktails, goodie bags and more surprises along the way. This is one ride you do not want to miss!'' according to the RockNess website. The only downside to the RockNess Express is that it doesn't stop anywhere in Scotland! Hopefully next year they will have a solution to that issue. 

Another benefit about RockNess is that they offer lots of early bird tickets and student discounts where you are able to pay for your ticket in three instalments so for those who find it hard to save lots of money at once can still buy a ticket. Also if you live within a certain area around the festival site then you can get your ticket for free! 

Are you now moving house to live next to Nessie?

Scottish and Proud

Bagpipes.

Often when one thinks of Scottish music they associate it with our one, wonderful, 100% pure Scottish instrument: the bagpipes (known as the doedelzak in Dutch). But this is definately not all our wee country has to offer; especially in the past few decades where we have produced some amazing music talent. From Snow Patrol  to The Proclaimers, we have a long list of Scottish-and-Proud bands and singers emerging on to the music scene. One of the more recent artists which we have seen grow into a some-what international superstar is Emeli Sandé (full name Adele Emeli Sandé).   

Snow Patrol aren't actually Scottish (they're Irish) but the band met and started in the Scottish city of Dundee in 1994, so they do have a strong connection with Scotland. Whereas The Proclaimers consist of identical twin brothers from Leith, Scotland. Both of these bands have been seen performing regularly at music festivals over the past few years like T in The Park and V Festival. In fact, The Proclaimers have recently announce that they will be playing a gig in the O2 Academy Glasgow on the 14th November 2012! You can buy your tickets for this gig here. (I can't wait to get mine!)

Other Scottish acts such as KT Tunstall and Paolo Nutini are both singer-songwriters whose music is influenced by more traditional Scottish folk music. Personally, I think they both use their accent to their advantage in their music making it unique compared to other artists. 

Fact: Paolo Nutini was once the supporting act for KT Tunstall before one of her gigs.

Here is one of The Proclaimers most recognized songs which makes us Scots proud.
P.S. The amount of times this song has been played full blast along with my dad and I singing when we are in the car together is countless!