News

Wizard Festival

• 22nd Jun 2010

Organisers of this year’s Wizard Festival, held at New Deer, Aberdeenshire, have announced a clutch of top class acts have been added to the bill.

Sandi Thom, Proud Mary, The Dykeenies, Kid British and The Dangleberries have all been added to the main stage line up.

Hip Parade, The Draymin and Root System have all been confirmed to play the festival’s second stage, the Banshee stage.

The festival, now in its fourth year, is held on August 27 & 28, over the bank holiday weekend.

Local lass Sandi Thom will be performing on Wizard’s main stage. Thom, born and raised less than 20 miles from where the festival is held, will be showcasing her new blues album ‘Merchants and Thieves’ to local fans for the first time at Wizard.

Kid British will be making a first ever appearance in the North-East of Scotland when they play Wizard’s main stage. Described as a ‘21st century punky reggae party’ Kid British are guaranteed to get the party started with their raucous live show certain to set Wizard’s main stage on fire.

Proud Mary are one of the festival’s favourite acts, with fans demanding that the band return year after year. Showcasing their eagerly anticipated yet to be named third album, festival fans will be treated to an exclusive preview of new songs from this talented group of musicians some of whom will be flying in from Los Angeles especially for this show.

Following a storming set at Wizard in 2008, The Dykeenies will make a welcome return to the North-East’s only two day music festival this August. The Glasgow based four piece are sure to get festival goers grooving with their punchy pop melodies.

These acts join an already impressive line up including Happy Mondays, James, Alabama 3, Pearl and the Puppets, Complete Stone Roses and the Peatbog Faeries. Top Glasgow DJ’s SLAM have also been confirmed to headline the festival’s dance tent on Saturday August 28th. More headline DJ acts will be announced in the coming weeks.

Hip Parade will be playing at Wizard following a summer of storming main stage sets at festivals across the UK. Root System will be bringing their unique mix of ska, techno and punk to Wizard’s main stage.

The Draymin, who hail from Fife, make their Wizard festival and indie fans are sure to enjoy this appearance by a band that have been tipped for greatness in 2010.

Bringing a touch of bagpipe rock to Wizard will be Scottish festival favourites The Dangleberries. This is a first ever appearance by the renowned 12 piece that uses bagpipes, guitars, drums and a tambourine to get fans dancing with a mix of Celtic cover versions and original material.

Roy Thain, Wizard festival director said:

“We have added loads more top quality acts to the programme and many of them will be performing at Wizard for the first time so that is always very exciting. We think that we have put out our strongest line up ever this year and we are delighted that so many great bands are really keen to perform to festival fans in the North-East. One of the things that we are really passionate about is supporting up and coming acts from north of the border and so we have made a real effort to book as many young breaking Scottish acts as possible. Making the bill varied with lots of different genres of music opens the event up to as many fans as possible and we are convinced that this year’s line-up will attract music fans from across the UK and beyond.”

The organisers have also announced an online competition where festival fans have the chance to win a pair of weekend tickets.

Check the website for more details. link

Wizard festival is two day music, arts and cultural event that takes place each year just outside the ancient village of New Deer, Aberdeenshire. A family friendly event, the festival also runs a full two day programme of activities for children and young people. A full weekend ticket that includes parking and camping costs only £70. Saturday only passes are also available priced at £45.

Last year the festival attracted more than 4000 fans from across the UK and has trebled in size since its first ever outing in 2007.