BBC TO PROVIDE LIVE COVERAGE OF EVENT

Sold out eight weeks in advance this year, Belladrum tartan Heart Festival (5th/6th August; Beauly, Inverness-shire) is still adding to the line-up. Glasgow rockers The Phantom Band are joined by Edinburgh indie band We Were Promised Jetpacks.Also added are The Sound Of Guns who played a barnstorming set recently at RockNess, Denver singer-songwriter Nathaniel Rateliff and emerging indie artistes Polarsets.

BBC Alba have announced that they will be providing live broadcasts from Belladrum on Friday 5th August and Saturday 6th August (2200 – 0000) with repeats the following weekend. Presenters Niall Iain MacDonald and Fiona Mackenzie will bring viewers headliner coverage plus highlights from the rest of the festival and interviews. Coverage will also be available on BBC iPlayer

“This is great news for those fans who missed out on tickets this year,” said promoter Joe Gibbs. “Meanwhile, those who are coming to Bella will be able to get another chance to see it via BBC iPlayer and the repeats.”

Singer-songwriter Birdy has had to withdraw from the event due to recording commitments in the United States and the band Giant Steps have also withdrawn.

Twin Scots rock legends Texas and Deacon Blue are to headline the eighth staging of the festival. Also announced for the event are: Guillemots; Kassidy; Echo & The Bunnymen; Frank Turner; Newton Faulkner; Ed Sheeran; Anna Calvi; Admiral Fallow; Easy Star All Stars; Eli ‘Paeprboy’ Reed; Teddy Thomson ; Little Comets; Dry The River; MC Xander; Young Rebel Set; Roddy Woomble; 3 Daft Monkeys; Roddy Hart & The Lonesome Fire; Emile Sande; Ben Howard; The Amphetameanies; Lucy Rose; Wooden Box With A Fistful Of Fivers; The Dangleberries; The Staves; The Webb Sisters; Rachel Sermanni; CW Stoneking and His Primitive Horn Orchestra; The Xcerts; Skerryvore; Saint Saviour Benjamin Francis Leftwich; James Mackenzie & The Aquascene; Cousti; King Charles; Suzette & The Neon Angels; Findlay Napier; Diddums; Torridon; Iain MacLaughlin & The Outsiders; He Slept On 57; Tom Odell; Scooty & The Skyhooks; Stetsonhead; Hoodja; Bronto Skylift; The Raghu Dixit Project; The Horndog Brass Band and the Rooty MaToot Big Band.

Belladrum 2011 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 offbeat 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’.