Heather on the Hill, Edinburgh review: 'wildly successful'
A family-friendly event which drew a crowd of 30,000 people, the inaugural Heather on the Hill festival was a big hit, writes David Pollock
Heather on the Hill, Royal Highland Showground, Edinburgh ★★★★
What an unusual but clearly wildly successful day out the first Heather on the Hill festival was. Presented as part of the Summer Sessions series of mega-gigs out by Edinburgh Airport, it evoked memories of recent attempts to revive the boutique-style Connect festival on the same site. Yet where Connect’s line-up was aimed at the heart of the older, BBC Radio 6 Music-listening demographic, Heather on the Hill’s motto was “for you and all the family”.
Among the 30,000-strong crowd there was a large number of young children and their families, with activities during the afternoon and even a chilled separate tent where the main stage could be watched live via video feed. Yet the line-up still felt like it was for the adults. Across three stages a powerful roster of up-and-coming mainstream singer-songwriter talent from Scotland included main stagers Cammy Barnes, Brooke Combe, the plaintive Cian Ducrot and Skerryvore. And of course Nathan Evans and the Saint PHNX Band, whose song named the festival and around whom it revolved.
Evans is the Airdrie postie who went to number one in the UK amid 2021’s TikTok sea shanty craze with Wellerman (played here), while Saint PHNX are Wishaw brothers Alan and Stevie Jukes, credited jointly with Evans on his last album Angels’ Share. Blending modern pop gloss with Evans’ folk influences, much of that album was played here, including the title track, the clubby Perthshire hoedown Arabella, Milarrochy Bay’s lively barn dance and the stomping Balkan beat of The Wedding.
It was easy to see why Evans in particular strikes a chord with audiences, reminiscing about childhood family drives listening to the Corries before playing Dougie Maclean’s Caledonia and talking of his own hard times by way of introducing Paper Planes (both songs played on a small stage behind the sound desk).
They covered Rednex’ Cotton Eye Joe – a horrific idea on paper – in the style of a wistful Appalachian folk song, and the band’s own Home set the right tone as a Scottish football anthem. If Heather on the Hill was a footballer it would be John McGinn, the Scottish schoolkid’s favourite joker but also delivering on the field. It will, revealed Evans, return next year.
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