It was billed as the "grown up" music festival attracting big names such as the Beastie Boys, Bjork, Primal Scream aned Manic Street Preachers.

The Connect Music Festival which took place in the grounds of Inveraray Castle next to Loch Fyne in Argyll was first conceived in 2007.

But despite winning a Best New Event award in 2008 and attracting 15,000 festival goers in each of its three days it made initial losses and  disappeared in 2009. 

Organisers blamed high running costs and the effects of the financial crisis of 2007–2010.

Now the organisers of T in the Park and TRNSMT festivals have revealed plans to resurrect the event 2022.

DF Concerts have promised some of "the biggest names in the world" will be performing when Connect is revived next summer.

The promoters are keeping the location and line-up of the event close to their chests for now.

DF said it will have “many of the qualities of its namesake” when it is staged next year.

The organisers said: “Connect 2022 is an entirely new festival experience but retains many of the qualities of its namesake from 2007 & 2008.

The Herald:

“Connect will feature the best in leftfield talent from grassroots through to the biggest names in the world.

"In addition to amazing music there will be a wealth of unique, remarkable, alternative and truly entertaining experiences to immerse yourself in.

“There will be a plethora of bands, DJs, artists, performers, comedians, jesters, visual arts and installations that will be keeping you amused throughout the weekend as well as culinary delights and crafted drinks from local artisans.

“More exciting news is to follow soon.”

Concerns that audience numbers and sponsorship would decline, and the cost of covering policing and the diesel to transport equipment to the Connect site at Inveraray Castle, led DF Concerts to put the festival on ice, and a planned relaunch in 2010 failed to materialise.

Although they would have received some £80,000 in public funding, the organisers said the subsidy would not have been enough to cover the losses of a seven-figure event hit not only by the credit crunch but also hampered by a remote location and the demographics of its audience.

The site was originally picked for its unrivalled beauty. However, Argyll's small population meant organisers had the task of attracting a brand new audience to the area, with about half the core clientele during the previous two years travelling from England.

High infrastructure and servicing costs, combined with an older audience more likely to have been affected by expensive mortgages and redundancies than the typical 18- to 25-year-old festival-goer, prompted the organisers to intitially temporarily pull the plug rather than "compromise the festival's high standards and disappoint fans".

Connect creator Geoff Ellis said in 2009 that he was taking a "pragmatic and positive approach".

He said: "We still want to do the event in future years, but our business plan was always to build on the audience year-on-year, and last year we didn't really see any increase on the year before.

"It would be foolish for us to expect the growth necessary to help Connect thrive in 2009. To go into something knowing you're going to lose a great deal of money, and therefore risk people's jobs, just isn't worth it."

The loss of the award-winning and critically acclaimed event, sponsored by SSE and named Hydro Connect,  came as a blow for the local tourist industry.

During the two years it ran, the eclectic mix of acts ranged from the Jesus And Mary Chain and Bloc Party to Franz Ferdinand and Glasvegas, adding a unique flavour to the festival scene.

In 2008 alone, Connect contributed almost £1.5 million to the local economy in Argyll, particularly as people drawn to the beauty spot for the music often stayed on afterwards to do some sightseeing.

Mr Ellis added at the time: "We've been taking a look at things - including bringing the costs down, which is not really possible to do while maintaining the quality.

"In a rural location, it costs a lot more to do the event because it's smaller than something like T in the Park. Although it doesn't cost as much as T, the equipment costs are higher on a like-for-like comparison.

"And policing, transport and relocation costs are also high."