Welcome to Highland 2007

Further details of The Outsider, Scotland’s coolest new festival, are announced today. These include activities to go along with the Merida Outsider Mountain Bike Event and Britain’s Most Beautiful Run which feature in an exciting three day celebration of Scotland’s great outdoors.

The Outsider will take place at Rothiemurchus in the Cairngorms from Friday 22 – Sunday 24 June 2007. The music line up will include main stage headliners KT Tunstall and Crowded House alongside acts King Creosote, Salsa Celtica and DJ Fred Deakin of Lemon Jelly, with many other artists to be announced soon.

Early Bird tickets offering substantial discounts are available until March 31st. Full price tickets go on sale on April 1st.

Alongside the Scottish Executive’s “It’s Our Future” campaign, Classic Malts today announced that they will also be sponsoring the event.

Glenmore Lodge, Scotland’s acclaimed National Outdoor Training Centre will be working with The Outsider to provide a wide range of outdoor activites. Many of the local 75 permanent activity providers will also be closely involved with the event.

WHAT
The Outsider is a unique festival combining music, cool contemporary entertainment and a huge range of activities. The Outsider also has a strong environmental agenda celebrating the landscape and the outdoors to give you what we hope will be your most brilliant weekend this summer.

WHAT’S ON

Main stage bands we can announce today include
Saturday: KT Tunstall - following recording her 2nd album and successful tour of America
Sunday: Crowded House – this will be the first Scottish show since they announced that they were reforming.

As well as the main stage, the event arena will include a massive Party Tent featuring Scottish and Indie bands and DJ’s with bars and dancing. These will include Salsa Celtica and Shooglenifty, Blazin’ Fiddles and Peatbog Faeries.

Craig Hill will be part of strong line-up of well known comedians who will take part each evening in the Outsider Comedy Show in the Theatre Tent.

During the day The Blue Planet Tent, our cool ambient music tent and cocktail bar will host The Outsider Forum. The forum will bring together key environmentalists and climate change experts to discuss pressing environmental issues. On Sunday Lord Steel, (former Leader of Liberal Party and first Presiding Officer of Scottish Parliament), will host the Blue Planet debate assessing whether 'necessity will be the mother of invention' and if new technology be our saviour from climate change. At night In the Blue Planet Tent DJ Fred Deakin will get us into that Lemon Jelly groove.

On Friday night The Outsider will host a Welcome to Scotland Event, which will include appearances by Peatbog Faeries, Blazing Fiddles, Salsa Celtica and King Creosote alongside DJ’s such as Motherfunk. In the film tent there will be a full programme of movies including specialist screenings and a selection of some of the world’s best mountain bike related movies.

Glenmore Lodge and many local activity providers will offer a range of both off-site and festival arena activities from wild life watching and gorge walking to Canadian canoeing on the Spey and rock climbing in locations around the national park. Many activities and shows will be included in the ticket price, some will require pre-booking and some are offered at a special festival rate.

The Merida Outsider will be part of the Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series and takes place on Saturday 23 June 2007. With three different distances – 20km, 45km and 65km – this will be a premier mountain bike event for all abilities who can experience a fantastic course on world-class trails through stunning scenery.

Britain’s Most Beautiful Run is a 12k trail run appealing to runners of all abilities. The route follows world-class trails through stunning scenery along the shores of Loch an Eilean and through the famous Rothiemurchus estate.

Many of the activities are free but there will be a special festival rate for others. Details of how these can be accessed will be announced soon on The Outsider website.

HOW
Early Bird tickets are currently available via outsiderfestival.co.uk. Tickets can be bought for the individual days or for the whole weekend. Weekend tickets (Friday to Sunday) can be bought for the discounted price of £50, Friday night only £15, Saturday only £25 and tickets for Sunday will be £25.

After 31 March 2007, these tickets will rise to £65 for weekend pass, £20 for Friday night tickets, £35 for Saturday only and £35 for Sunday only. Children under 12 go free when accompanied by a ticket-holding adult. Maximum of 3 children per adult.

Those wishing to camp can also purchase camping vouchers. These vouchers cost £10 per person and are valid for the whole weekend, again children go free.

SUPPORT

The Outsider, while core funded by Highland 2007 and with the Scottish Executive’s It’s Our Future campaign and Classic Malts as main sponsors, is also supported by HIE Inverness and East Highland, The Highland Council, the Cairngorms National Park Authority and the Rothiemurchus Arts Community Group. In its use of the festival location The Outsider is advised by Scottish Natural Heritage and Forestry Commission Scotland.

WE SAY
K T Tunstall: in a recent interview was asked what she missed about Scotland: “I miss the landscape which is another very big reason why I am into all the environmental stuff in the first place. Because I grew up in a very beautiful part of the world”. On her personal contribution to combating climate change: “All musicians should use bio-diesel buses – it should be a rule.”
Craig Hill says, “The Outsider is exactly the sort of festival I'd pay to go to, so to be asked to perform is great. I love the Scottish outdoors and, believe it or not, am a very keen cyclist”.

Alison Magee, chair of Highland 2007 says “Highland 2007 is delighted to support this new festival as part of the programme for Scotland’s year of Highland culture. The Outsider promises a weekend packed with opportunities to participate in outdoor activities combined with great music – and all this set against our fantastic Highland scenery! This is a great way for us to draw attention to the Highland and attract a new audience to the area.”

Pete Irvine for Unique Events says “this festival has been a long time in the making; it’s probably the most complex event that we’ve ever done. It’s a completely new concept and we hope that The Outsider experience will be something that people will want to get involved in and hugely enjoy. In this glorious setting, The Outsider will be an experience that will be unique to Scotland. Be among the first people to be part of it.”

Bryan Donaghey, Managing Director of Diageo Scotland, says “As a global business and a major employer in Scotland, we are committed to contributing to the sustainable development of the communities in which we operate. We are delighted to support this exciting and innovative event, and we hope that The Outsider will play a significant part in Scotland's greener future”.

For further information contact:

Fiona Duff/Laura Sutherland
Duff Publicity
0131 558 1199
www.outsiderfestival.co.uk

Notes To Editors:

Highland 2007

Highland 2007, the year Scotland celebrates Highland culture, aims to promote the Highlands as a great place to live and to visit through showcasing the unique and special nature of Highland culture past, present and future. The project is a partnership between three principal funding agencies: The Highland Council, the Scottish Executive and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. The YEar long celebration of Highland culture in 2007 will incorporate an exciting range of major and community events, as well as capital projects and ‘The Highland Promise’ for young people. See www.highland2007.com for full details. Highland 2007 is the first themed year planned by the Scottish Executive to promote Scotland as a great place to live and visit.

How To Get There
On the Rothiemurchus estate in the heart of Cairngorms National Park, 2 miles from the A9 and 20 minutes walk from Aviemore the site is easily accessed from Aviemore train and bus links and is 40 minutes south of Inverness. It is situated directly on the B970 road between Inverdruie and Feshiebridge. No tramping over fields will be necessary to arrive at the centre of the Event Arena. We are very easy to find.