Final preparations were underway last night in the prelude to the 15th Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival.
Festival organisers were working hard behind the scenes, putting the finishing touches to the event’s main stages as this year’s headliners prepare to stage a show-stopping performance in front of a capacity crowd.
The long-awaited festival will run from today until Saturday and features a star – studded array of national and locally acclaimed artists across all genres.
Dozens of acts will showcase their talents across a variety of stages including the Verb garden, the Hot House and XpoNorth Seedlings stage alongside the main arena.
Headlining act Elbow will take to the main stage tonight alongside Tom Odell and Torridon to entertain the crowd, in advance of performances by headliners Chvrches on Friday and Jess Glynne and Lewis Capaldi on Saturday.
Meanwhile, musicians from across the Highlands and Islands will headline this year’s Free Range Folk Stage which will provide audience members with a more acoustic and folk-styled vibe in a quieter corner of the bustling festival.
A number of acts, including Inverness singer songwriters Katie Gregson-MacLeod, 18, and Peter MacPherson will take to the stage alongside Black Isle musicians the Full Tilt Ceilidh Band and Glachbeg Croft.
Inverness-based ukulele group Strumness will also bring their talents to the stage with a lively rendition of their varied musical repertoire.
As thousands of music lovers prepare to flock to Belladrum Estate in Beauly for the festivities, a number of temporary restrictions remain in place to help reduce the level of disruption to motorists during the staging of the event.
Around 26 speed and access restrictions will be in place along several routes throughout the Black Isle at various periods until the proceedings end on Sunday.
Routes including the B9169 Muir of Ord road, the A832 and the A833 will be affected to help accommodate the increased level of traffic from both the staging of Belladrum and the Black Isle Show, which will take place today.
Emergency services’ vehicles and those employed by both the music festival and the Black Isle Show will all be exempt of the restrictions.
