Our Scottish sister festival Solas returns to Perth between the 17th and 19th of June this year. Just a few miles outside of town, they’re filling their field, tents and barn with the best music Scotland has to offer, whether you fancy the finely honed folk of Karine Polwart, the ceilidh rock of Skerryvore, or the electro-pop and hip hop of Stanly Odd and Bdy-Prts, there’s something for you at Solas Festival this year. But Solas doesn’t just have the best music and the most exciting spoken word artists going, they’re also a festival of film, performing arts, and ideas, with events ranging from circus skills to political discussions, poetry slams to electro-pop, there’s nothing quite like Solas. On top of that, they’ve regularly been called the most family friendly festival out there.
The festival this year will have poetry from star of the scene Hollie McNish, and former World Slam Champion Harry Baker, both of whom will be doing special slam poetry sessions for kids. There’ll also be BBC folk award winner Sam Lee not only playing on the main stage with his band, but also in conversation with carriers of the Scottish Traveller tradition, Essie Stewart and Tony Robertson. There will be literature from A.L Kennedy, Alan Bissett and Kirstin Innes, politics from Cat Boyd, Andy Wightman, Common Weal, and the Big EU Debate, and at the heart of the festival are activities for the whole family, from puppet shows to nature walks, wide games to woodwork, hip hop to yoga, there are activities for kids of all ages at Solas Festival. With Under 12’s going for free!
Solas Festival is also all about blurring the lines between audience and artist and letting you get involved, so from visual art, to dance and singing they’ve got workshops galore with the likes of Karine Polwart and Louie Bhoy from Hector Bizerk running them. As The Herald said, Solas has ‘the most laidback vibe of all Scotland’s Summer festivals.’ So get a ticket and find out what all the fuss is about.
Tickets from: http://www.solasfestival.co.uk
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Pictured: Stanley Odd