‘Fantastic’ crowd wowed by ’90s rockers GUN at B-Fest in Wick

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"We love Wick.”

That was the shout on the main stage on Saturday night from GUN front man Dante Gizzi as the ’90s rockers brought B-Fest to an end.

The festival returned to the Riverside for the second year on Saturday and was brought to a close by the rock four-piece.

Speaking to the Caithness Courier after the gig, Gizzi said he would love to come back to the county in the future.

“It was a fantastic crowd,” he said. “We used to come up here a lot to perform. We’ve always loved coming up north and I mentioned that on stage tonight and I meant it.

“There were a few boos when I mentioned Thurso. I thought that only happened when you mentioned Celtic and Rangers in Glasgow, but it’s good banter all the same.”

The band wowed the crowd at the Riverside with an hour-long, hard-hitting run through of its hits, including their cover of Cameo’s “Word Up”.

Gracing the stage earlier, Cumbernauld-based indie outfit the Dykeenies also gave a superb performance, and caught the perfect time to show off the stage’s lighting rig.

Singer and synth player Andrew Henderson said he thought the local crowd was great and gave B-Fest a big thumbs up.

“We’ve played a lot of festivals of the same size that have been running for longer but I’d recommend this one,” he said. “We’d come back again.”

Earlier in the day the Monster Music Tent was jam-packed for unsigned Scottish rap rockers La Fontaines with the crowd going wild for new single “Paper Chase”. Vocalist Kerr Okan was thoroughly impressed with the festival and praised the organisers and the crowd.

“B-Fest for me has been fantastic. We’ve had a great day. It was really well organised and we’ve been treated very nicely,” he said.

“The crowd were fantastic. Our wee tent got quite full and they seemed to enjoy it, so hopefully they did. We did anyway.”

One of the largest crowds in the Monster Music Tent was for Wick’s own Sid Davidson who charmed the audience with his acoustic set.

Davidson played at last year’s B-Fest and won himself the afternoon slot after impressing the judges at the Battle for B-Fest earlier this year.

“I was delighted with the crowd. I really wasn’t expecting as many people as that to turn up,” he said afterwards. “I was just delighted to be here again.”

Another local act proving itself to be at the top of its game was Wick-based cover band Jude, who brought along a brass section to pack out the main stage – reprising their role from last year as the festival opening act.

Singer Gary Davidson said that playing on the big stage was a bit different for them but they had a good time.

“It was good again. It’s different from what we’re used to as normally we’re in pubs where it’s late at night and people are dancing on the tables,” he said. “We enjoyed it and that’s the main thing.”

The festival was busier than ever this year, with hundreds of people flocking to see the 18 different acts on the bill.

Other crowd-pullers included Fab Four tribute band Them Beatles and local acts Always the Sixth and rappers Crazy Cottage.

Inverness indie band the Side also gave a final farewell to their fans when they headlined the Monster Music Tent after announcing their decision to split last week.

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