MacMoray day 2: Buzzcocks, Nazareth, Sweet and Big Country
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THE second day of MacMoray saw rock legends give Elgin two special mentions.
Bands including the Buzzcocks, Nazareth, Sweet and Big Country smashed out nearly a full day of raucous chart-topping tunes on Sunday.
Throughout the day, the audience was treated to a host of unique moments.
The Buzzcocks switched up their track Manchester Rain to refer to the Elgin drizzle which dogged the Sunday event, although spirits kept shining through the punk legends' set.
Nazareth said they were "feeling the love" from the Moray crowd, despite some of their greatest hits pre-dating the parents of many audience members.
Bringing the glam rock festivities were Sweet, who praised the "remarkable event" and the "pretty damn good" organisers.
The band also switched up a 2000s hip hop classic to include an Elgin reference.
And Big Country set the sprawling Cooper Park festival field on fire with their tried-and-true classic hits and anthemic guitar lines.
But the main stage kicked off just after noon with a set by Elgin accordion player Graeme Mackay, along with his Dramcatchers.
Graeme, originally scheduled for the second stage, was promoted to the main stage last-minute for a set he called "great".
The Buzzcocks followed on from Graeme's set, launching into evergreen 1978 track What Do I Get?
In typical punk style, pauses were short between tracks with original guitarist and current frontman Steve Diggle barely leaving time to announce song titles.
The set balanced recent material, including tracks from 2022 album Sonics in the Soul, with solid-gold classics including Fast Cars, Ever Fallen in Love and Harmony in my Head.
Speaking after the show, Steve said the festival had a "really good spirit" and sang the praises of festival organiser Andy Macdonald.
“It's great to come to this festival in Elgin and it's had a really good spirit," he said.
“I met Andy, the main guy who is putting it on, and he was lovely.
“I think it's great for the people of Elgin and around here generally.
“Thanks a lot to them all, they gave us a great show."
One of the highlights of the rainy set came as Steve, who was backed up by drummer Danny Farrant, bassist Chris Remington and guitarist Mani Perazzola, dedicated a tune to Elgin's weather.
Leading into the song, Steve said: "This is another song from our latest album, called Manchester Rain."
"But I know it rains in Elgin too."
At the end of the first verse, he changed the line "standing on the corner, standing in the Manchester rain" to "standing on the corner, standing in the Elgin rain".
Explaining his choice, he said: “I know its well-known in Manchester, the rain, but I just thought: I can't tell the people of Elgin about rain – they're experts.
“So it was nice, seeing everybody standing in the Elgin rain."
Taking on the mantle next were Scottish hard rockers Nazareth.
Original bassist Pete Agnew was backed up by the band's guitarist of 29 years Jimmy Murrsion, singer Carl Sentance and Pete's son Lee Agnew on drums.
Ripping through tracks including Razamanaz, Hair of the Dog, Love Hurts, Broken Down Angel and This Flight Tonight, the band's long-time supporters were given a great tour of the top hits.
On the heels of calling card track Hair of the Dog, and ahead of final tracks Love Hurts and Broken Down Angel, singer Carl let the crowd know how the band were feeling.
“We're feeling the love today – thank you Elgin!”
Speaking after the show, Pete said he was impressed with the band's reception from the all-ages crowd.
“It always fun, when you look out and see all the youngsters," he said.
“Some of them were singing along with songs which weren't out when their mothers were born.
“And yet they're all out there singing the chorus.
“It was great and it means they must still be playing our records in Elgin."
Despite normally playing evening shows, Pete said the early afternoon set added a positive energy to the "greatest hits" set.
“It's actually good to get that time in the afternoon, because they've all still got energy," he said.
"Everybody's just feeling really good, you know?
“We've played up in this area before and we always do well up here.
“At this kind of thing, people don't want to be watching big, long guitar solos and that kind of nonsense.
“They want to see how many different bands they can see – and that's a good thing."
Glam icons Sweet, led by white-haired guitarist and falsetto star Andy Scott, gave the crowd a good dose of their catchy, soaring hits.
Tracks including Ballroom Blitz, Blockbuster, Teenage Rampage and Hellraiser brought back plenty of memories to those at the Cooper Park set and captured the imagination of fresh listeners.
Andy said the festival had been a "remarkable event" and the organiser must have been "pretty damn good" to pull it off.
He said: "To have this number of bands on two stages makes for a remarkable event.
"To be able to put on something like this, and make it work, you've got to be pretty damn good – and they are.
"It's going straight from one stage to the other without a hitch."
One highlight of Sweet's set took place during 2012 track Back in the New York Groove.
The song combines a cover of ex-Kiss man Ace Frehley's song of the same name and Jay-Z and Aleisha Keys' 2009 track Empire State of Mind.
However, when it came time to sing the familiar hook: "Now you're in New York, these streets will make you feel brand new", singer Paul Manzi gave it an inspiration local twist with: "now you're in Elgin, these streets will make you feel brand new".
Speaking after their set, Welshman Andy was keen to share his opinion about Brexit and Scottish Independence.
Highlighting the difficulties touring bands face due to post-Brexit customs and shipping restrictions, he said he would have applied for a Scottish passport had Scotland left the UK.
"It's just a shame Scotland didn't leave the United Kingdom because I would have probably tried to get a Scottish passport, to stay in Europe," he said.
"As you can imagine, it's messed with us a little bit leaving the EU.
"It might not be in my lifetime because I'm 73 right now.
"But I think you'll leave eventually. I'm sure you will.
"Everywhere else has disassembled, so why not the United Kingdom?"
The last rock act of the night were Scottish stars Big Country.
Featuring two of the original members from 1981, guitarist Bruce Watson and drummer Mark Brzezicki, the band made a near 400 mile road trip to make their MacMoray debut.
Also featuring Bruce's son Jamie on guitar, singer Simon Hough and bassist Gil Allan, Big Country are currently midway through The Crossing 40th anniversary tour, celebrating their iconic album.
On Saturday night the band performed at Leeds Beckett Students' Union before heading north to Elgin.
Their set rolled back the years, with most tracks picked from The Crossing.
After coming off stage, Bruce said: "We have been playing for the past four weekends so we are match fit at the moment.
"We just drove up from Leeds so it took a bit of time to get it together."
And of their first appearance at MacMoray, he added: "That was fantastic. We have played at Elgin before, the town hall, loads of times.
"It's great. I thought it might have been a bit early in the year to start doing festivals. We had all the seasons in one day, it was raining and then the sun came out.
"That's festivals in Scotland for you and what makes them special.
"We are halfway through our tour and have loads of dates up and down the country."
And on 41 years performing with Big Country, Bruce said: "I still love it. My head and my heart love it but my body doesn't."
WATCH: Below - Big Country perform
Following on from Sunday's rock acts, Alice Deejay and the Vengaboys delivered a night of pumping Dutch tunes.
The Saturday saw a host of great moments, including two young girls from Buckie who got to celebrate their birthday on stage with girl band stars B*witched.
Band said they loved the festival, and local audience members were glowing in their praise.
Festival organiser Andy Macdonald said he was "absolutely buzzing" about the festival's success.
The MacMoray Festival is set to return next year.
