John Lennon Northern Lights Festival in Durness
Scotland is an immensely interesting country to visit – not only for its historical heritage, beautiful landscapes and bustling cities – but for its abundance of festivals and events. Virtually every city, town and village in the country is home to at least one large annual event and the small remote village of Durness is no exception.
Durness is located in Sutherland, Scotland, in the Scottish Highlands and it is known for being the most north-westerly village on mainland Britain. This makes it the perfect location for spotting the fantastic dancing Northern Lights, but this is not the main focus of the John Lennon Northern Lights Festival. Instead the festival shifts one’s focus from the natural phenomenon in the area to the dazzling array of top musicians, poets and artists, which gather together here to participate in this massive annual event. The Northern Lights Festival in Scotland is endorsed by the Lennon family and has been given permission to use John Lennon’s name by Yoko Ono Lennon. This decision has been fully supported by other remaining members of Lennon’s family, and his sister, Julie Baird, regularly participates in the festival to show her support of it. She has been quoted as saying that the show is a ‘high quality event which has taste and respect at its core’.
It would seem that The Beatles musician spent many childhood holidays in the village which lead to a life-long appreciation for the place. This in turn led to him bringing his own family here to holiday during his later life. Today, the Northern Lights Festival has the full support of all members of the Lennon family.
The John Lennon Northern Lights Festival will take place from Friday 28th to Sunday 30th of September 2007. Confirmed acts for Friday include Nizlopi, Mr Hudson and The Library, John Cooper Clarke and King Creosote. Saturday’s lineup will feature Eclipse Strings, Julia Baird, Carol Ann Duffy and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, while Donnie Munro, Julie Fowlis, Geoff Baker and Blazin Fiddles will be performing on Sunday. The festival includes live performances from bands and also incorporates poetry readings, talks from members of John Lennon’s family and a massive dance in Britain’s biggest sea cave. There will also be a mobile cinema making its way around the festival grounds screening Beatles films and many other great highlights.
Tickets are currently on sale at £20, but the price will go up to £25 from the 19th of June, so if you want to save money you should book as soon as possible.