Whisky Kiss left Broughton early on Sunday 10 July to play T in the Park, recalls band member Iain MacPhail, dimly.
The band didn't leave Edinburgh with a whimper though. Accompanied by our hottie Highland dancers from Assemble & Leap, the band put the Rauc in Raucous, and departed Broughton in Scotland’s biggest limo. It stretched from the very edge of New Town Deli on Barony Street right down to Shamoon’s. We have of course contacted the UN to suggest this should become the international standard measurement of a big limo.
There was Moet for breakfast, kindly supplied by one of our VIP guests, and we crossed the Forth Road Bridge at a swaggering 50 mph. We estimate it took only 3 revolutions of the wheels to cross from the capital into Fife.
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When we arrived at the Artists’ Entrance at Balado, ours was the vehicle that drew most glances and gasps. Then we heard what must be the Fact of the Festival …
We were reliably informed by the artist liaison people that Beyonce – the Queen of Bling, and very much America’s answer to Whisky Kiss – had turned up at the festival in a Parks of Hamilton bus. Whisky Kiss, on the other hand, had Scotland’s biggest limo. Uh-oh Uh-oh Uh-oh Uh-oh etc.
You suspect the Bootylicious star can’t be entirely happy about that. It was our Fact of the Festival, by a mile. If I was Parks of Hamilton, I’d have that fact on the front page of my website, and a bus seat up on ebay, pronto.
[img_assist|nid=1941|title=Pic courtesy of Elemental Photography, Dundas St, Edinburgh|desc=|link=node|align=right|width=200|height=200]Once the gig began for real, we were champing at the bit. A spot of rain didn’t do us any harm, as it fairly filled the tent even during the changeover and soundcheck. By the time we got to the second track on our setlist, the place was rammed and Tent Full signs were required … so we did something silly!
We got everyone to do a 'Poznan' (well, everyone except one guy right down the front who didn’t understand what was going on). A Poznan is basically where the whole crowd turns away from the main event (whether it’s a band or a sports field etc.) and then, with their backs to the band, bounce up and down facing in entirely the wrong direction. It worked a treat and was one of the funniest things I have seen. Here is some footage.
I would love to have been outside the tent at that moment, looking to get in, only to be confronted by a couple of thousand people facing out at me (not the stage) and jumping up and down. The looks on people’s faces as they came in was one for the memory bank!
[img_assist|nid=1938|title=|desc=|link=node|align=right|width=200|height=150]We had our great dancers there with us, but this gig proved to be a tricky one to police. Our gals from Assemble & Leap did manage one dance-off set, after we cleared a space on the dancefloor, but the tent was so rammed, and the crowd were so hyper, that it all ended in the girls being engulfed by a crowd sway! Three of the four made their way back to the stage within a minute or two. Poor Lauren, though, was missing in action for a full ten minutes, before emerging, like Captain Oates, from the blizzard of revellers.
The band took the strain for most of the rest of the set after that – I’m delighted to say no-one was hurt and everyone had a great time.
[img_assist|nid=1942|title=|desc=|link=node|align=right|width=200|height=150]Our fabulous fiddler, Siobhan Anderson, graduated with a First in Music on Monday, so it really was a red letter weekend for her. We're enormously proud to call her one of our own, here at Whisky Kiss, and the band had asked Broughton Street designer Joey-D to design a jacket for her. It was an amazing piece, half brown leather and half elegant weave. Shiv is delighted and we’re really grateful to Joey.
Joey also designs the band’s jackets, and our young piper, Ewan Duncan, has a particularly daring white cotton (front) and black rubber (back) mix of a jacket. It’s classic Joey-D, and it goes particularly well with our new set – where we mashup a great Scottish reel in f# minor with the Bee Gees 'Stayin Alive'. It went down a treat and you can see some of it here.
And so, finally, Whisky Kiss brought down the curtain on another fabulous festival at T in the Park(s of Hamilton).
You can keep up with all things Whisky Kiss at www.whiskykiss.com, and do follow us on Facebook too, where there are lots more photos and videos for your entertainment!
Many thanks Broughton. Stay classy!
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