Belladrum came to an end on Saturday night with some of the biggest bands in the UK taking to the main stage.
But it was the heady mixture of huge names and rising stars which really attracted so many punters through the door.
It takes a willing combination of around 5,000 people, 15,000 music fans and a legion of support volunteers to put on Belladrum – with only a handful of staff working all the year round to create what is now known as the biggest festival show in Scotland.
For those who have never been, Bella, as it is affectionately known, has more than 25 separate music venues from massive arenas to small tents. This means that artists who are starting out, with only small audiences to those who have already hit stardom can perform together on the same ticket at the same venue.
Rob Ellen, who has travelled all over Europe and North America, to find acts to bring to Belladrum on The Potting Shed stage explained why the event excited him so much.
He said: “Coming to Belladrum with some of the acts I have been working with over the year is really something.
“To have the opportunity to be on stage in Belladrum at the Potting Shed means a new audience for bands, from Canada and America who would otherwise not have the opportunity to be performing in the UK, far less at a festival of this size. ”
Mr Ellen, who runs a radio programme, Medicine Music Show, while travelling the globe in a van, and hosting living room gigs, invited one performer, Ruth Purves Smith – who is a “grannie” from Canada and has never been outside her country – to take part.
Mrs Purves Smith said: “It has been an ambition of mine to come to Scotland and play my music for people. I am the head of the clan of my mother’s line of the Baird family and I have always believed that I was coming home to Scotland. I really feel that now.
“Belladrum is the start of a Scottish adventure and we are hoping people will invite us into their homes for a living room gig so we can see more of Scotland.”
The duo were speaking to the P&J as part of a series of talks in the Verb Garden.
