SCOTTISH band Young Fathers have announced plans to headline their own all-day festival in Stirling this summer.
The Mercury Prize winners, who have also won the Scottish Album of the Year three times, will curate the line-up for the all-day event at Stirling’s City Park on June 29.
It will be the biggest headline gig ever staged by the trio, who have become one of Scotland’s most acclaimed live acts.
How to get tickets?
Tickets for the Young Fathers event will go on sale from 9am this Wednesday – find out more HERE.
READ MORE: Scottish distillery set to reopen to public after more than 30 years
The band returned with new album Heavy, Heavy at the start of 2023 after a five-year hiatus since previous release Cocoa Sugar.
Who is organising the festival and how many will attend?
The band have joined forces with promoters DF Concerts to stage the event which is expected to have a capacity of around 15,000.
It comes after DF already confirmed a number of open-air concerts at the same venue after deciding to take their Summer Sessions concerts series to Stirling for the first time.
Shows by Tom Jones, Shania Twain (below), James Arthur and Busted have already been confirmed.
An official announcement from DF Concerts said: “Since the release of their now-legendary mixtapes, Tape One in 2011 and Tape Two in 2013, the latter of which gave Young Fathers their first of three Scottish Album of the Year gongs, the Edinburgh-based band have honed their categorically evasive hybrid sound.
“The latest album Heavy Heavy not only won Scottish Album of the Year but saw the band receive their second Mercury Prize nomination. Known for their electrifying performances, their shows are a blur of ritualistic frenzy, making them one of the most must-see acts in the country.
"This past weekend saw Young Fathers headline the Royal Albert Hall in London in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust.
"They strode onto the stage, flanked by a backing singer, instrument-hopping guitarist and keyboard player, free-standing drummer swinging at his skins like a jackhammer, and the multi-lunged wonder of Manchester’s all-female NIA community choir.
“For 70 minutes, the band didn’t let up, a feast for eyes, ears, brain and feet.
“By only the third song they had the mostly seated Royal Albert Hall entirely up and dancing, with the rushing, powerful Get Up bringing the revolutionary party.
“Young Fathers aren’t like any other live band. Blessed by multiple voices, an eye-popping approach to performance and a four-album-and-two-mixtape-deep catalogue, the radical Afro-Scottish hip-hop group are true game-changers, tearing up the rulebook for what live music can be.
“Teeming with ideas, with influences from every corner of the musical – and actual – world, the most exciting thing is wondering what Young Fathers will do next on stage.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here