Thousands of music lovers travelled to Stornoway for the 24th annual HebCelt Festival this week, as organisers expect the final count to reveal record numbers.
Scots star KT Tunstall joined band Tide Lines and The Shires to headline the event, with more than 30 folk and rock artists taking to the stage in the scenic grounds of Lews Castle.
“It’s always a real pleasure to be asked to headline a festival,” Tunstall explained. “When you’re headlining, you take it a bit more seriously. You are crafting more of a journey for people to experience.
READ MORE: HebCelt 2019 headline slot proves KT Tunstall will never forget Scottish roots
“With something like HebCelt, it’s a real honour for me to play a festival like this because it’s also including traditional music.
“I’m just really pleased that what I do can find its way into that world – it’s where I’m from. It feels like home, and part of my roots.”
Tunstall took to the stage on Friday night, pulling enormous crowds into its main arena with a stellar set of songs both old and new.
She played with an all-female band and said that it felt ‘so special’ to be playing a festival that has had women making up at least half of its line-up for the last several years.
READ MORE: KT Tunstall wants more women on the bill
The Edinburgh-born singer also helped launch the festival’s partnership with Tighean Innse Gall (TIG), the housing and energy agency for the Outer Hebrides.
Artists were transported to and from the festival site in a Tesla vehicle to help lessen the festival’s impact on the environment.
It comes after the event outlawed single-use plastic last year and introduced a cup-deposit-return scheme, meaning that 80% of waste produced at the 2018 event was recycled.
Festival director Caroline Maclennan said: “It’s been an extremely successful festival. The audiences have been exceptional and the atmosphere has been brilliant from the start.
“A big thank you to all the festival team who make this unique event happen in such a special part of the world.”
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