Tickets to Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival have sold out for a fourth year running weeks before the event is due to take place at Beauly, Inverness-shire on 3rd and 4th August. Other than upgrades, no further tickets to the ninth edition of the festival of any type are available, including child 12 & under tickets. Upgrade tickets from Saturday to Weekend (£30*) and from Campervan/Caravan to Campervan/Caravan Electrical Hook-up (£80*) are still available from www.skiddle.com.

“We are really delighted that, in what has been a tough year for live music sales across the UK against a background of astringent economic recession, Belladrum has sold out in advance yet again,” said festival promoter Joe Gibbs. “That we have is a tribute to the loyal audience who have supported us in gradually increasing numbers over the years, to the very talented artists that have provided music and performing arts to the event throughout its history, and to the amazing team of people who work on the festival and make it all happen each August. Bonnets off to you, one and all.” 

Bella fans wanting to buy or sell printed tickets to Belladrum on the secondary market this year are being urged to avoid scammers on social networking and e-commerce sites by using an honest broker exchange set up by the Association of Independent Festivals, of which Bella is a member. Tickets may be sold at face value and bought with a 10% booking fee and postage costs from The Ticket Trust http://www.thetickettrust.com/ This is the only method of dealing in secondary tickets that the festival endorses. E-tickets should only be bought and sold via www.skiddle.com.

This year’s theme at the festival is ‘royalty’ and as usual, thousands of audience members are expected to come in fancy dress. The 15000 capacity event takes place in the beautiful Highland surroundings of Belladrum Estate, near Beauly in Inverness-shire. The independent festival has built a reputation for its eclectic line-ups, its off beat non-musical entertainments and its all-ages approach. The festival won a VisitScotland Thistle Award in 2009 and is a past winner of the Grassroots Festival Award at the UK Festival Awards, the festival industry’s ‘oscars’. 

Bella’s line up includes headliners and Scots indie stars Travis and Liverpool rockers The Wombats plus numerous other acts including: Legendary punk heroes The Buzzcocks; celebrated 80s band The South (formerly The Beautiful South); UK award-winning queen of soul Beverley Knight; Glasgow-based indie rockers Frightened Rabbit in an exclusive Scottish festival appearance; up tempo US songsmiths We Are Scientists; Aztec Camera’s Roddy Frame; soul/rock band Vintage Trouble; Welsh alternative rock-pop bruisers The Blackout introspective pioneers of indie folk Slow Club and crafters of beautiful folk rock Fink; Pink Floyd tribute band Macfloyd play the whole of ‘Dark Side Of The Moon;’ New York singer-songwriter Willy Mason; northern soul exponents The Milk; Mercury nominated artrockers Sweet Billy Pilgrim; Celtic tune’n’groove folk artists Treacherous Orchestra; Northern Irish singer-songwriter Foy Vance; Newcastle sextet Lanterns On the Lake; Carrbridge artist Rachel Sermanni; singer/songwriter hot tips Juan Zelada and Ryan Keen; new indie tyro’s Bastille and To Kill A King; Nottingham five piece Dog Is Dead; Jiggery-folkery band Mad Dog McRea; Edinburgh gypsy punksters Bobok; Glasgow extreme funk aficionados Federation Of The Disco Pimp; alt country Red Sky July; Edinburgh singer/songwriter Nina Nesbitt; The Magnetic North, a band with Orcadian connections and Scots indie rising stars Bwani Junction & The Draymin; Willie Campbell & The Open Day Rotation from the Western Isles; Blackpool singer-songwriters Rae Morris and Karima Francis; Glasgow ska band Bombskare; young Irish singer-songwriter Marc O’Reilly; Aberdeen blues band Gerry Jablonksi & The Electric Band; ska/grime exponents Man Like Me and acoustic popsters Ellen & The Escapades; Edinburgh hip hop duo Stanley Odd; Highlands bluegrass men The Ballachulish Hellhounds; Glasgow bands Fatherson, Make Sparks and Zombie Militia; Borders Celtic rockers, The Dangleberries; Highland artistes Niteworks, Grousebeater Soundsystem, James Mackenzie, Iain McLaughlin & The Outsiders, Whisky River Band, Little Mill of Happiness, KOBI, The Rogues, Torridon, Hoodja, Feis Rois, TMC Youth Fiddlers, Davy & the Hosebeast, and The Red Kites whose front-man Moteh Parrott hails from Inverness. 

A Mystery Special Guest has been added to the main stage line up on the Friday evening “The identity of this artist will not be revealed until they appear on the Garden Stage at 1830 on Friday 3rd August,” said Joe Gibbs. “But – and here’s a hint – judging by their previous receptions at Bella, they’re going to be a popular choice.”