The second year of Elgin’s MacMoray’s festival will feature a stellar line-up of retro superstars from the 90s, with more already desperate to join the fun next year.
Among those due to perform at the Cooper Park festival, which has been expanded to two days and two stages this year, are Bay City Rollers, B*Witched, Cascada, Five, Buzzcocks, Big Country and Sweet.
Meanwhile, the Vengaboys are also due to bring their party bus back to Elgin after pulling in the crowds at last year’s event, which also featured Bob Geldof.
About 20,000 people are expected to pack the park over the two days in April, expanded from last year’s capacity of 7,500 for just one day.
And MacMoray Festival organiser Andy Macdonald has revealed acts have been extremely keen to take part, with some even having to wait until next year due to demand.
He said: “We’ve got that many artists who want to perform, we’re already looking at our 2024 lineup because we’ve only got limited space.
“For next year, we’ve already signed up a few big names to perform because they either couldn’t do this year or we didn’t have the space for them.”
‘Buzzing to confirm big acts’
MacMoray was created with the intention of creating a line-up to entertain all the generations, from 90s pop classics to idols from the 70s.
Mr Macdonald has been able to entice groups to make the trip to Elgin after years of building contacts in the industry organising events in England.
However, he now feels more excited at getting the opportunity to bring big musical acts to his home region in Moray.
He explained: “I moved away from Lossiemouth when I was 15 and went to Northern Ireland for three years, then I went to university in England.
“I always did all my business down south, then I thought ‘Right, it’s time to bring it up to where I’m from’ and that’s why I started doing MacMoray.
“It’s really exciting, I’ve got a good team of agents and band managers who I’ve built a really good reputation and relationship over the years.
“So that makes life a lot easier when it comes to attracting artists to my festival, when we confirm the big bands and acts, we’re absolutely buzzing.”
MacMoray heading for a sell-out
In addition to bringing 500 jobs to the area, Mr Macdonald also feels the festival will significantly benefit Moray’s economy.
“As it’s a two-day festival and we don’t have a campsite, it means there’s tourism coming in, almost all the hotels and AirBNBs are sold out now.
“Restaurants will benefit from it, it’s really good for the town. We get about 25% of ticket sales from Elgin and the rest come from outside.
“We have people travelling from the islands, from England, Ireland, we’ve got so many people travelling up, so it’s a really good opportunity to show off Moray,” he said.
Mr Macdonald admitted he’s been blown away by the reaction to this year’s lineup as the festival has almost completely sold out.
“The response has been absolutely overwhelming, I can’t believe we’ve nearly sold out, we’re at 95% and only 2% of VIP tickets are left.
“It is going to sell out, it’s just (a question of) when. We sold so many tickets straight away and we’re selling every day,” he added.
From April 1, those in Moray who purchase tickets for the festival will be able to collect them in advance to receive quicker access when it takes place.
Collection points include IT Central in Elgin and the Carlton Hotel in Forres. MacMoray festival will take place on April 29 and 30 at Cooper Park in Elgin.
The last tickets for the festival can be bought on MacMoray’s website.
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