A stellar line-up featuring some of the hottest names in dance, electronic and rock, including the mighty Chemical Brothers and the awesome Daft Punk, is set to play at this year’s hugely-anticipated Rock Ness music festival.

The festival which is being staged on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 June, will take place once again on the banks of historic Loch Ness, outside the village of Dores, four miles south-west of Inverness.

Organisers have confirmed Rock Ness will be staged over two days in 2007, with daily capacity increased to 35,000, and number of stages expanded to four.

The festival will be broadcast live and exclusive across radio partner Xfm’s UK network to an audience of 1.6 million listeners.

Rock Ness 2007 follows the monster sell-out success of last year’s inaugural one-day event which saw 25,000 music fans descend on The Highlands for the Midsummer’s Day celebration headlined by Fatboy Slim.  Special guests included Mylo and Carl Cox.  Officials and locals hailed the first year a huge success, with an independent audit estimating the local economy was boosted by over £7 million.

The Chemical Brothers who will headline the outdoor ‘Xfm Stage’ this year on the Saturday, are one of the biggest acts in dance music today with a Grammy to their name and over 8 million albums sales worldwide.

Daft Punk, who headline the 10,000-capacity indoor arena on the Sunday, are one of the most influential dance acts of the nineties.  This is their first performance in Scotland in over ten years and is certain to be huge.

Groove Armada will play a full live set on the Saturday which is sure to include many of their electro-rock anthems.  Their appearance at Rock Ness is hot on the heels of the May release of their much-anticipated new album Soundboy Rock.

Rock Ness is fast gaining critical acclaim for its inspired leftfield music policy, further endorsed over the weekend by a raft of special guests.  These include The Automatic whose massive Fatboy Slim-remixed hit ‘Monster' was one of the highlights of Rock Ness 2006, The Feeling (Scottish festival exclusive), Cuban Brothers and Dub Pistols.

Two smaller boutique stages will add to this year’s musical diversity.  The finest unsigned breakthrough music talent will be showcased across the weekend via the GoNORTH Xposure stage.  Over 60 unsigned bands and artists will perform at GoNORTH, which this year is being held in Inverness two days prior to Rock Ness.  The most promising acts will be given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform across two days at the festival.  The stars of today playing with the stars of tomorrow!

Radio Soulwax will host a boutique stage on Saturday featuring 2manydj’s.  And as a further exciting development, Rob da Bank the legendary DJ and curator of the award-winning Bestival will be bringing, for the first time ever to Scotland, his inimitable Sunday Best extravaganza.

Organisers also confirmed a string of top rock acts are to be announced very soon, including further Saturday and Sunday headline acts.

TICKETS GO ON SALE at 9.00am on SATURDAY 3 MARCH costing £45.00 per day or £85.00 for the weekend (subject to booking fee) and are available from www.ticketline.co.uk or 0871 424 4444.  An exclusive ticket pre-sale for Xfm+ users will run from Wednesday 28 February until Saturday 3 March.  Log on to xfm.co.uk for details.

A dedicated campsite for 25,000 fans will be in place.  Situated adjacent to the main site, festival goers can soak up the beauty of the ancient surrounding forests as well as enjoying panoramic views of mystical Loch Ness.  Camping tickets cost £15.00 (subject to booking fee).  The campsite will host a wide range of food concessions and a round-the-clock café.

Also hot news is the Rock Ness luxury campsite-with-a-difference.  The more discerning camper can this year take advantage of the comfort of their own luxury beach hut or 10-person double decker bus hotel complete with hospitality marquee!  Further information can be found at www.boutiquecamping.net

A dedicated pan-Scotland coach service will be operated by Citylink with shuttle buses from Inverness to Dores.  Car parking will also be available adjacent to the site.

Further information on the above can be found at www.rockness.co.uk from Wednesday 28 February.

Rock Ness is presented by Loudsound, producers of Creamfields and the award-winning Isle of Wight boutique festival Bestival, and co promoters of Knowsley music festival, and Slingshot, the Highland-based promoters behind the Belladrum, Loopallu and GoNORTH music festivals.  Xfm is the official broadcast radio partner.

QUOTES:
Jim King, Joe Gibbs and Robert Hicks – Loudsound and Slingshot: “Rock Ness promises to be one of the festival highlights of 2007. Set in the heart of Scotland on the banks of Loch Ness, in terms of beauty it has no equal anywhere in the World.

We are so fortunate to be able to host the event at this location and even after attending and working at festivals for more than 15 years I am still stunned every time we go there. Last year sold out in three days and shows how close to Scot's hearts Loch Ness is.

With some of the best festival performers already confirmed, and with even more great acts still to be announced we are confident this year's event will be even better.”

Stuart Duncan – Marketing and Operations Controller, Xfm Scotland: “We’re delighted to be the official radio partner for Rockness 2007. The event has a fantastic line up and promises to be an amazing two days. Putting all of this magnificent music in such a beautiful setting in Scotland can only add to the appeal of the event and we're happy to be bringing the sound and atmosphere to life across the country to all of our listeners and those without a ticket.

Last year's Rockness became the very first 'network broadcast' for Xfm reaching over a million listeners in Scotland, Manchester and London. The demand for access to the recordings streamed online afterwards was unprecedented. This appetite for new music amongst the Xfm listeners confirms the station is providing unrivalled content and the best 'new' and 'live' music on the radio.”

The Chemical Brothers: “We’re ready to Rock the Ness!  We can’t wait to play such a special Scottish scene.”

The Automatic: "We're really looking forward to playing Rock Ness 2007. Scottish crowds are some of the best around and we heard stories about 25,000 fans going absolutely mental when Fatboy Slim dropped ‘Monster’ at Rock Ness last year. It's going to be a lot of fun playing live there!"

Cuban Brothers: “The homecoming is upon us!  The scuban collective {scottish\cuban get it!} is returning to the soil of their fathers to rise up through the heather with thistle-shaped belters and a fourteen-man show of joy!  Release the kracken from the native bracken!!”

FOR ALL MEDIA ENQUIRIES PLEASE CONTACT:
Mary McGowne, The Vine
Tel:  07786 231 066 / 0141 810 5110
E-mail:  mary@thevineprcompany.co.uk

SUMMARY BIOGRAPHIES

The Chemical Brothers are one of the biggest acts in dance music today having sold over 8 million albums worldwide.  The inimitable duo are responsible for a string of anthems including Hey Boy Hey Girl, Block Rockin’ Beats, Let Forever Be and Setting Sun (both with Noel Gallagher), Galvanise (with US rapper Q-Tip), Out of Control (with ex-New Order frontman Bernard Summer) and The Golden Path (with the Flaming Lips).

Daft Punk who headline the 10,000-capacity indoor arena on the Sunday, exploded on to the music scene in 1995 with their groundbreaking electro-funk debut Homework.  The album is now widely acknowledged as one of the most influential recordings of the nineties.  Daft Punk’s live sets are as legendary as they are rare, and the charismatic French duo’s forthcoming appearance at Rock Ness, the first in Scotland in over ten years, is certain to be huge.