Linlithgow Folk Festival is back live and in-person next month.
First held in 1999, the local annual celebration of traditional music, dance, and song in the Royal Burgh brings in tourists and folk fans from across the country.
Pre-pandemic the festival was bringing in some big names on the Scottish trad scene and giving a platform to emerging talent in Linlithgow
The festival was put on hold from 2020, with online events taking place, including the ‘Linlithgow Folk Festival in miniature’, which used wooden figures, toys, and recordings to capture the spirit of the event.
In 2021 a ‘mini-festival’ was held in the Burgh Halls Garden. This year’s event hopes to build on that success and re-introduce the live concerts and trad sessions.
The festival gets underway on Thursday, September 15, with a Stramash at the Black Bitch Tavern, with sessions taking place in the pub throughout the weekend.
Concert events will be back this year, and these will take place at Linlithgow Rose Social Club on Friday, September 16.
The folk festival will see a welcome return to the town with The Sorries, fresh from another record-breaking run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
On Saturday, September 17, there will be a performance by popular Falkirk group The Tonkerers, who are an experienced six-piece band, playing a wide range of music, including their own energetic arrangements of folk and country songs.
Director of the Linlithgow Folk Festival, Murdoch Kennedy, said: “Most of the sessions will take place inside the Black Bitch Tavern and, weather permitting, outside in the impressive beer garden.
“The pub has always been the spiritual home of the festival and the organisers are delighted that, once again, Linlithgow’s most famous watering hole – and its iconic name –will be centre stage during this year’s proceedings.
“Twice-monthly sessions are organised in the pub throughout the year.”
This year will also see the re-establishment of the Nora Devine Stage at the festival.
Traditionally held at The Cross on the Saturday and Sunday, the stage will take place in the Burgh Halls Garden in 2022 and the organisers are promising a wide array of music from performers of all ages.
Other events in the programme include a ceilidh in the Burgh Halls and a Singaround in the Masonic Hall.
Full details, start times, and line-ups are available on Facebook by searching for Linlithgow Folk Festival.
Don't miss the latest news from the West Lothian Courier. Sign up to our free newsletter here
