SCOTLAND’S music scene received a new blow as it emerged one of the country's longest-running music festivals is to end after this year.
Organisers have confirmed that the 2019 Loopallu music festival in the Highlands will be the last.
It comes after a string of festivals have bitten the dust over recent years, including T in the Park, Wickerman and more recently Electric Fields.
READ MORE: The day the music died: Concern as another Scots festival bites the dust
Loopallu had indicated in 2017 that it would be marking its 13th year but it would be scrapped after that.
But the festival continued in 2018 with a raft of names heading to Ullapool Pier including Alabama 3, the band behind the soundtrack for iconic TV show The Sopranos, The Bluetones and punk poet John Cooper Clarke.
At the time they had thought an increased demand for visitor accommodation in Ullapool had made it harder for festival-goers to attend the event.
But the organisers decided to continue after regular festival-goers called for the event to continue on.
Now organisers say that the two-day event now in its 15th year will be the last citing again increasing demand from tourists for accommodation making it harder for festival-goers to find somewhere to stay.
Organiser Robert Hicks says this year's is "definitely the last".
"When we started the village was near deserted in September," he said.
"Fast forward 15 years, many more people are visiting the north west Highlands which is a wonderful thing, but it's made accommodating the Loopallu faithful even harder as there's such a demand for beds."
He told the BBC: "So better to bow out than fade away. We're having a bit of a retrospective of the years where the line up is concerned."
The decision will be greeted disappointment by fans, bands and music industry executives following the disappearance of some of Scotland's best loved music festivals.
READ MORE: Organisers cancel Electric Fields festival after relocation to Glasgow
Liquidators have been appointed at the company which ran the Electric Fields music festival.
The cancellation of the event was announced last week less than two months after it was relocated from Drumlanrig Castle to Glasgow.
Liquidators Johnston Carmichael said ticket sales anticipated from the move had not materialised.
They advised any remaining ticketholders to contact their booking agent directly to arrange a refund.
T in the Park took a break in 2017, and so far there is no news of a return.
Organisers DF Concerts have been staging the TRNSMT festival in Glasgow, which is seen as T in the Park's replacement.
The Wickerman, once described as Scotland's mini Glastonbury was scrapped three years ago after the 66-year-old co-founder and site landowner Jamie Gilroy died in 2014 - amidst concerns about policing costs.
The 2011 Loopallu suffered from flooding
Four years ago the three-day RockNess festival that attracted 30,000 to see the likes of Kasabian, Fatboy Slim, The Prodigy and Biffy Clyro was cancelled for a second time and never returned. But a new scaled-down one-day dance music festival Groove Loch Ness took place on the same site.
READ MORE: The Wickerman Festival is scrapped |
Concerns for the Loopallu, which has previously attracted the likes of Mumford & Sons, Franz Ferdinand, Paolo Nutini and Echo & the Bunnymen, surfaced two years ago when organisers were told they could not longer use their long-time home at Broomfield Holiday Park in Ullapool, on the banks of the Loch Broom, and had to relocate to the port pier.
But they had to restrict numbers, with the 2,500 capacity cut to 1500 and festival-goers would be unable to camp on site.
However in November, 2017 organisers said Loopallu will be held so long as there was an audience.
The last Loopallu in 2019 is set to feature Idlewild and Gun doing acoustic set.
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