Skipinnish to headline Scottish Traditional Boat Festival
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Award-winning Celtic rock band Skipinnish will headline the Big Gig on the Back Green at the 2024 ACE Winches Scottish Traditional Boat Festival.
Skipinnish has spent the last year touring the UK and across Europe, playing to sell-out crowds and appearing at some of Britain’s biggest music festivals.
Friends Andrew Stevenson and Angus McPhail formed Skipinnish in 1999, while they were students on a traditional music course at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.
Starting out as a small ceilidh band, over time the group has grown in size and popularity, with their anthemic, self-penned songs and lively energy, twice earning them the Live Act of the Year Award at the Scots Trad Awards.
Next year, Skipinnish celebrate their 25th anniversary with two major concerts at Bught Park Inverness and Edinburgh Castle.
As well as these flagship shows, the band will perform at a select number of smaller events in 2024 chosen by the band for special reasons.
The maritime theme of the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival made it a very appropriate event for Skipinnish to choose Portsoy as one of these exclusive gigs of their 25th year.
Fans can see Skipinnish perform their hits Alive, Last of the Hunters, Walking on the Waves and The Island, which all hit the top spot in the world download charts, on Friday, June 21, 2024, with tickets on sale now from the festival website www.stbfportsoy.org for £38. This is a licensed event for over 18s only.
The Big Gig on the Back Green is sponsored by Urquhart Joinery Services and will mark the beginning of the annual ACE Winches Scottish Traditional Boat Festival, on Saturday, June 22 and Sunday, June 23, 2024.
The event brings together a flotilla of heritage vessels alongside music and dance, Scottish food and drink and unique handmade crafts and gifts.
Angus MacPhail, co-founder of Skipinnish said: “We are all very much looking forward to our Portsoy appearance.
"With so many of our songs being about boats and the sea and my own background as a fisherman, performing as part of Scottish Traditional Boat Festival it will be such a fitting gig for Skipinnish.”
Chairman of the ACE Winches Scottish Traditional Boat Festival David Urquhart said: “2024 is set to be an exceptional year for Skipinnish, as they celebrate their 25th anniversary, and we are delighted to bring the band to Portsoy, for what will be a highly entertaining evening.
“The band has a strong connection to the sea and Scotland’s coast and waters, with this playing a major influence over their song writing and style.
"As the festival is a celebration of the north-east’s maritime heritage and culture, it couldn’t be more fitting to bring Skipinnish to Portsoy.
“2024 marks the 31st year of the event and planning is well under way.
"We are working hard to bring more boats from across Scotland and the UK to Portsoy, and the musical programme is also taking shape, with renowned artists and bands, local groups and singers, set to perform across our three stages.
"Visitors can browse and buy the finest Scottish food and drink in our food fayre and unique, handmade items and gifts will be showcased in our craft fayre.”
The annual fundraising dinner for the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival will take place on Saturday, March 23, 2024 at the Fife Lodge Hotel in Banff at 7pm for 7.30pm.
It will be a dinner with a difference bringing the Faulty Towers Dining Experience, an immersive show where guests will be served by Basil, Sybil and Manuel. There will also be a raffle and live auction during the evening.
Tickets are £50 per person or £500 for a table of ten. To book contact Sandy Thomson on sandy@portsoy.org
The Scottish Traditional Boat Festival was first held in 1993 as an event to celebrate the tercentenary of Portsoy’s old harbour.
Since then, it has been firmly anchored in the town’s calendar, taking place annually each summer and attracting thousands of visitors from across the region, and further afield.
The festival is set around Portsoy’s 17th century harbour and is run by Portsoy Community Enterprise which also manages Portsoy Links Caravan Park, The Sail Loft Bunkhouse, The Salmon Bothy and The Boatshed.
For more information visit www.stbfportsoy.org or on social media at @STBFPortsoy #ahoyportsoy
