Tunes By the Dunes festival 'a great way of promoting this part of the world'
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Organisers of Tunes By the Dunes have described the Dunnet music festival as a great showcase for what Caithness has to offer.
The 2023 event takes place on September 8 and 9 with a mix of returning bands and high-profile newcomers in a 1200-capacity marquee at the village's Ham Park football ground.
Singer/songwriter Callum Beattie will be appearing for the first time, as will the bands Skipinnish, Torridon and the Tumbling Souls. Also on the bill are Whisky, Trail West, The Chair, Mànran, Brandon McPhee and Beinn Lee.
Run by North Coast Entertainments, this will be the third Tunes By the Dunes. The inaugural one was in 2019, then the pandemic ruled out the following two years before it returned in 2022 to great acclaim.
Many visitors take the opportunity to tour the area as well as enjoying the two days of music.
Michael Gray, chairman of North Coast Entertainments, said: “It's fantastic for food outlets, hoteliers and shops in the local area. It does bring an influx of people and they're spending money in the community, which is great.
"People make a holiday around it, they'll stay on a bit longer, they'll do a little touring about, they'll take in the sights. It's a great way of promoting this part of the world.
“I've said it before, we're sometimes a little bit shy in coming forward about what we've got here. There is absolutely no need for that – we should be very proud of it.”
Mr Gray gave credit to the event coordinator, Iain Mackay, for bringing in so many renowned acts.
“Skipinnish are I think scaling back their festival commitments, so it was a real coup for Iain to manage to persuade them to come to Dunnet," Mr Gray said.
“To get them on board was great, and obviously Callum Beattie is a huge talent, so that was another fantastic coup for Iain.
“Having said that, we're really excited to have all the groups there. Some of them are returning but for Torridon and the Tumbling Souls it's their first time, and Skipinnish as well.
“Iain does an awful lot of research on this. He goes to a huge amount of gigs, he listens to a lot of music, in order to identify bands that he feels would fit in with what we're trying to do up here.
"He has surpassed even his own expectations this year and he deserves a huge amount of credit.
“When it comes to the bands, Iain is front and centre and he puts a power of work into it. He has always been a huge fan of live music.”
The music will be spread across the Friday evening and the whole of the Saturday, with a bar, food, toilets and first-aid facilities in place. Bus services will be laid on from Thurso and Wick, with details on the event website.
“It's a great venue and it's all very professionally done in terms of the staging, the lighting and sound systems," Mr Gray said.
“Looking at ticket sales and where people are purchasing from, they are very much fifty-fifty from outwith the county and from within the county. A lot of people are repeat customers who thoroughly enjoyed themselves and thoroughly enjoyed this part of the world last year and are coming back.
“And because of the bands and acts that we've got, that pulls in people as well – the opportunity to see all these groups in one event is quite unique."
Tickets are still available but the event is again likely to be a sell-out. These can be booked through the Tunes By the Dunes website.
Mr Gray said: “I would encourage people to try to get them quickly because we did see a last-minute rush last year and there were some turned away, which we never want to do, but obviously there is a capacity that we can't go beyond from a licensing point of view and from a health-and-safety point of view as well."
He added: "For too long we've been kind of starved of live music. Iain Mackay and Martin Nicolson are the heartbeat of it but we all certainly enjoy it and it's nice to see people enjoying themselves and enjoying the area.
"It's that combination of putting something on for the local area but also trying to bring more people up to showcase what we've got here."
