Ullapool, 22-23 September 2006

Alabama 3

UNFORTUNATELY I didn’t make it to Loopallu on Friday night, but I’m reliably informed that headline acts The Peatbog Faeries and The Stranglers both went down well, the highlight of the later’s set apparently being a cover of the Burt Bacharach classic ‘Walk on By’, along with their ode to demerara sugar, ‘Golden Brown’.

The opening of the event on Saturday was somewhat bittersweet affair, as the first band on stage, The Dysfunktionals, announced that it was to be their final ever performance. A large crowd turned out to see them, and their music, a blend of pipes and fiddles with funk and rock, is very reminiscent of Croft No. 5 and was perfect for kicking off proceedings.

I’ve just learnt that the aforementioned Crofters have also decided to call it a day. If I was one for conspiracy theories, I’d think that something was rotten in the state of Celtic fusion.

There was, understandably, a climatic feeling to the Dysfunktionals set, which meant the band following them faced an uphill struggle. Invernessian outfit The Galipaygos started pretty well with an instrumental that wouldn’t have been out of place on the soundtrack to ‘The Good, The Bad and the Ugly’.

Unfortunately, they didn’t really manage to hold on to this initial momentum, and seemed a little bit out of their depth in front of such a large crowd. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy their set; they certainly seem to have some strong material, particularly the Proclaimers-esque ‘Two Mouths to Feed’.

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What I particularly liked about Loopulla, and what sets it apart from other festivals, is how well it blends into its surroundings

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A lack of confidence isn’t a problem that Stereoglo have. Loopulla is the third time I’ve seen them play this summer, and each time frontman Richard Macintyre has looked a bit more like a rock star in the Richard Ashcroft mode. As they did at Tartan Heart, the Skye-based band won over the festival crowd with their blissed-out rock. On a side note – is it just me, or does the bass player look eerily like Eddie Izzard (sans the makeup)?

Barring the headline acts, the most popular performers of the day seemed to be The Vatersay Boys. I must admit, before the weekend I was only vaguely aware of who they were, but from the moment I arrived in Ullapool their fans could be spotted in T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase “say u luv me”.

In all honesty, I don’t quite see the appeal; they don’t seem to be much more than a very good ceilidh band. But I still really enjoyed watching them and they should be applauded for the energy and vigour with which they play traditional Scottish tunes.

Quick note on the visual displays at Loopulla; footage of the musicians was intercut with variety of other images, and with some bands this worked really well. But The Vatersay Boys had to contend with some tartan being swirled into a kind of kaleidoscope, which looked very naff, and a bit scary, like what Robbie Shepherd might see if someone spiked his tea with LSD.

I recall hearing Misty’s Big Adventure a number of years ago on the late John Peel’s show. Their sound back then was fairly lo-fi, utilising cheap keyboards and childrens toys to create catchy, offbeat pop. Things have been beefed out a little since then, with a saxophonist and trumpeter on board, but they’re still a band who teeter on the edge of novelty.

This is largely due to the presence of a man in a red suit covered in blue hands who dances about on stage. Call me a miserable bugger, but he hampered my enjoyment of Misty’s songs with his prancing about. Dressing up like you’ve massacred all the inhabitants of the Smurf village isn’t big or clever and it only serves to distract from the music.

Dundonian band The View were back in the Highlands for Loopulla. They evidently love playing live and that serves them well with festival audiences. Their brand of indie bears a strong resemblance to the Arctic Monkeys, and is infectious enough to get even those unfamiliar with their material going, with highlight of their set being a performance of recent single ‘Wasted Little DJs’.

I must admit, I found the frontman’s east coast brogue a little hard to understand – was I the only Highlander who felt that something was getting lost in translation in the between-song banter?

What I particularly liked about Loopulla, and what sets it apart from other festivals, is how well it blends into its surroundings. Most festivals situate themselves on farm or estate land and are necessarily self-contained, but Loopulla deliberately spills out into the pubs and cafes of Ullapool.

Away from the main stage, for instance, I caught local blues band Mojo Walk playing on the street. And who could blame them for going outside when the tea-time sun was shining so gloriously?

Back to the main event. I’ll say first off, swearing doesn’t offend me – I’m as guilty of it as much as the next man – but in my opinion getting a child to come out on stage and introduce a band by saying “Ladies and gentleman, this is the Alabama “Motherf£$*ing” 3″ is just a cheap laugh, and frankly, poor craic.

Thankfully, Alabama 3’s actual set was more to my, and everyone else’s, taste. Armed only with acoustic guitar and harmonica, they had to leave the acid house at home and focus on the blues. In a lesser band, this could have exposed cracks in their songwriting, but Alabama 3’s unique brand of acoustic country blues stood up to the test with ease.

Last, but by no means least, came Hayseed Dixie. In case you don’t know the score with them, they’re four guys from East Tennessee who shot to fame for their rockabilly covers of AC/DC (Hayseed Dixie – geddit?) songs. Their repertoire also includes other heavy rock classics like ‘Ace of Spades’, along with original material.

To be honest, I find the joke wears thin fairly quickly, but they put on a brilliant show and the crowd went absolutely wild for it.

All in all, Loopulla is a great wee festival and the organisers deserve a pat on the back for their efforts in creating a festival which fuses good music with a quintessentially Highland atmosphere.

© Bruce Munro, 2006