Thousands of festival-goers will have their own stand-out memories from MacMoray – but what about the man behind it all?
Andy MacDonald organised his first MacMoray festival in 2022 and each year has promised the next will be “bigger and better” than ever.
It is a promise he has worked hard to keep.
And this year will be no different as the dedicated organiser is promising a mighty weekend for the “final” festival.
Andy said his decision to end MacMoray stems from wanting to spend more time with his family after recently welcoming a baby girl into the world with his partner, Angela.
I asked Andy about the future of MacMoray, as well as his most memorable MacMoray moments from over the years.
Last year it was reported he was “inundated” with calls from groups interested in taking over the Elgin event.
Now speaking again to the P&J, Andy said that the ‘hardest thing to do’ would be to sell MacMoray.
Is this the final MacMoray?
“All I can say is that I was overwhelmed with the interest and support,” he said.
“I was rundown last year because we did so many events.
“I couldn’t shake off the noise complaints either.
“There are too many unanswered questions and too many things to think about.
“I’ve taken on serious measures where we’ve brought in a professional team from Glasgow for noise reduction.
“The hardest thing to do would be to sell MacMoray. I’m just trying to get through this weekend.”
MacMoray fans are now preparing to head to the final festival this weekend.
With this being Andy’s last year at the helm of MacMoray, and the future of the festival remaining uncertain, we look back on his top five “stand-out moments”.
1. Feeling ‘nervous’ at the gates before the first MacMoray
Many people had no idea what to expect from the first MacMoray festival.
Andy felt the exact same, and was nervous as he waited at the gates before they opened to let thousands of festival-goers in.
“The very, very, very first MacMoray before the gates opened stands out to me,” he said.
“I didn’t know what to expect at all and I was nervous.
“Then swarms of people turned up in thousands.
“All I thought was ‘oh my god, this is real. It’s mental!'”
2. People told Andy that festival ‘didn’t even feel like Elgin’ after Vengaboys performance
When the first MacMoray happened in 2022, festival-goers were especially looking forward to the headline act from the Vengaboys.
Andy was “very excited” for the performance and his expectations were exceeded.
“When the Vengaboys performed for the very first time, it was such a magical moment,” he said.
“People were coming up to me saying that it didn’t even feel like Elgin.”
3. Andy’s childhood dreams came true with Status Quo’s performance
Growing up, Andy was a big fan of the group Status Quo.
So, for the group to then perform at the MacMoray Summer festival was a “dream come true” for the organiser.
He said: “I absolutely loved Status Quo.
“They were my favourite band growing up. I would always listen to them.
“For them to then perform at my event was amazing.”
4. A ‘stressful’ three hours as festival card machines stopped working
Club legend Cascada took to the stage twice, in 2023 and again in 2024, which delighted thousands of MacMoray attendees.
However, on one performance, festival boss Andy had no time to enjoy the singer as he was dealing with card machine issues.
“Everyone was enjoying Cascada but I didn’t have the time,” he said.
“As soon as they went on, all the card machines went down.
“They were down for three hours.”
Since then, Andy says, there hasn’t been a major problem like that as they have “learned from mistakes”.
5. A cancelled flight that led to DJ Sammy’s ‘electric’ MacMoray closing performance
Last year, in May, DJ Sammy was set to perform at the Easter MacMoray at 6.10pm.
His flight was cancelled, however, leaving Andy and his team stressed the Spanish DJ wouldn’t make it for MacMoray at all.
“The phone call from DJ Sammy saying his flight was cancelled was definitely a stand-out memory for me,” Andy told the P&J.
“The only way for him to perform was to change the times so he could take to the stage in the evening.
“We quickly found another flight and flew him to Glasgow and got him.”
They switched the times for DJ Sammy’s performance with Drew Dixon.
Andy added: “It was such an electric performance.”
It was “so amazing” that DJ Sammy was invited to the Summer festival later that year.
DJ Sammy’s set still manages to cement itself as a ‘stand-out’ memory for many MacMoray fans.
Our photographer Jason Hedges headed over to Cooper Park on Friday morning to snap some pictures before the big weekend.
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