It was announced last week that the Belladrum music festival will be cancelled for the first time in 16 years.
On Monday, we cast your mind back to the first two events at the Highland estate in 2004 and 2005.
Here we take a look back at how it grew in 2006 and 2007.
A new rival emerges
The growing popularity of Belladrum was proof beyond doubt that there was a serious appetite for outdoor gigs in the Highlands.
Attendance had more than trebled from 2004 and 2005 and the third festival in 2006 saw a further increase to 11,000 fans across two days.
That’s despite the fact anyone travelling to the festival by plane surely missed out as up to 400,000 Britons were hit by flight cancellations because of an anti-terror operation the same weekend.
Six weeks before Bella 2006, history was made a little further south as 20,000 people gathered to watch Fatboy Slim on the shores of Loch Ness during the first-ever RockNess festival.
But while RockNess had a numerical advantage, Belladrum positioned itself as a more family-friendly event where a greater percentage of its revellers were from the local area.
And it wasn’t short of talent in 2006 either.
Embrace and Echo and the Bunnymen were the headliners, but standout performances on other stages from Biffy Clyro and the View kept the masses hungry for more.
Keen to underline the differences between his festival and RockNess, Bella founder Joe Gibbs estimated up to a quarter of the crowd were under the age of 12 and between 50 and 60% were from the Highlands.
He said: “Considering the chaos on the airlines, which caused no end of problems, it is amazing how well it went.
“It has been a fantastic effort in the tradition of ‘the show must go on’ and incredible that most people managed to get here.
“I don’t think we want to get any bigger. I feel it has reached its natural size.”
Free hugs in 2007
A quick search through the P&J picture archive for the fourth Belladrum festival shows several images explaining the difference between it and its neighbouring event RockNess.
While 35,000 gathered in Dores to see Daft Punk, the Chemical Brothers, Groove Armada and the Manic Street Preachers in a much more hectic setting, Bella was sticking firmly to its roots.
Just ask John Judt, the Banchory teenager offering free hugs to every reveller who wanted one.
On the music side of things, James and the Magic Numbers were the festival headliners but there was a huge rush on smaller stages to see up-and-coming stars Kate Nash and Amy MacDonald.
Nash, arguably at the height of her fame, was at number two in the UK singles chart with Foundations at the time of her performance.
There were queues outside the Venus Flytrap Palais tent more than half an hour before the 20-year-old was due to take the stage.
Security guards limited the number of people getting in and, just before Nash went on stage, seven police officers appeared and began pushing the crowd away.
Do you recognise yourself or any of your friends in our pictures? Get in touch and share your Belladrum memories by emailing us at digital@pressandjournal.co.uk.
With the 2020 festival cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, we’re looking back at the previous events.
Keep your eyes peeled on our website for the next one in our series.
