Every summer, the tiny Hebridean island of Tiree prepares to quintuple its population for one weekend only.
People spill out of ferries at the island’s terminal from all hours of the morning, filing into shuttle busses headed for what was a livestock field just weeks before.
Stalwarts who have been embarking upon this musical pilgrimage for over a decade then march straight for the campsite, ready to secure their pitch. First timers among them move with the crowds, swept up in the current of building excitement.
Humble beginnings
Tiree Music Festival was created by Skerryvore accordionist Daniel Gillespie and island local Stewart MacLennan.
“I grew up in Tiree for about 18 years before going to study in Glasgow,” said Daniel.
“Once we started the band we started touring everywhere, Scotland and abroad. I was seeing communities in other places that had festivals and the impact that was having on a place and I wanted to give something back to Tiree.
“I got free music tuition there, and we played there right when we started the band. The atmosphere was always amazing which helped build momentum for us.”
Back in 2010, the festival started as 500 trad music lovers in a car park at the local town hall.
This year, ticket sales crashed their website within hours of them opening to the public.
Welcoming 2,500 to Tiree Music Festival
So how did the festival grow arms and legs – around 2,000 extra sets of them to be exact?
To put it simply, Daniel isn’t sure.
“I think it’s a mix of things,” he said.
“We started at a time that us as Skerryvore and Skippinish and other bands were gaining momentum, so there were a lot of young people getting into the west coast scene.
“I also think we’ve just exposed people to Tiree and word of mouth spread.”
Using the island as a setting has enabled Daniel and Stewart to create a unique festival experience.
“Tiree is an adventure; you’re not just coming to a music festival,” said Daniel.
“Every year I watch on the Monday morning as 800 people pile up in the ferry terminal hungover and I think ‘why are you doing this to yourself?’. But they come back the next year, and the next.
“It feels like there’s a real community. We’re also very lucky that you can walk two or three minutes from the festival and you’re on a mile-long stretch of white sand.
“No matter how much money other festivals have got, you can’t buy that.”
It’s not just festivalgoers desperate to get to Tiree. Daniel and the team were inundated with applications from around 3,500 bands from all across the world desperate to bring their music to the Inner Hebrides.
“The fact we only announced the line-up a month ago shows the trust the crowd has in us that we’re going to put together a good one,” said Daniel
No dampened spirits at Tiree Music Festival
Though it may look picture perfect, pulling together a music festival on a small island isn’t without its challenges.
Daniel said: “We can’t really get much bigger with the island infrastructure, even though the demand is so high.
“Running a music festival is tricky anyway, but doing it somewhere as isolated as Tiree adds in a fair amount more challenges. At the moment I’m phoning round a lot of the bands and confirming their plans for travel and making sure they fully understand what it’s like.
“The 6am ferry times are the proper ‘welcome to Tiree’. I’m lucky because I grew up with it so I’m used to getting ferries through the night, but if you haven’t done it before it’s a shock.”
One battle Tiree has to fight alongside all other Scottish festivals is the unpredictable weather.
“We had to evacuate everyone from the site one year, that aged me about 10 years in one night,” said Daniel.
“But every challenge, you learn from it. We’ve always got a back-up schedule in case we can’t do anything on the outdoor stage.”
‘It’s always a special gig’
With only four days to go until Tiree welcomes its first festivalgoers, it’s all hands on deck as 100 volunteers and 80 members of staff work tirelessly to make sure the festival site is ready for them.
Daniel said: “The main site is a field usually used for livestock, so the first step is clearing that.
“Then the site starts getting built. In terms of structures, the big-top tent will be one of the first things to arrive, the Sunday before the festival, then the stages.
“On Wednesday we’ll open to our first campers.
“We have stages but also vendors, then the campsites are built around that. We are essentially building a community for a week. It all comes back down a lot quicker than it goes up.”
Daniel will be juggling two hats with his role as festival organiser and as a member of one of the festival’s main headliners next weekend.
But how is he feeling about taking to the stage?
“It’s always a special gig; well, depending on how things have gone,” said Daniel.
“How much I’ve slept always plays a part in it too. For all the guys in the band it’s almost a homecoming gig; even though they’re not all from Tiree, that’s where we started.
“However, I never properly relax until the two Monday ferries have been and gone.”
