The Sun Amphitheatre at Dumfriesshire’s spectacular 55-acre land art Crawick Multiverse saw audiences from across Southern Scotland gather for a weekend of live music.
Funded by landowner, the Duke of Buccleuch, and created by the late Charles Jencks on the site of a former open cast coal mine near Sanquhar with themes of space, astronomy and cosmology, Crawick showed that it is one of the country’s most spectacular outdoor venues with the weekend’s Music at the Multiverse festival hailed a success.
Chairman of Crawick Multiverse Trust, Gill Khosla, said: “It’s been brilliant – a real success. For many of the performers it was their first gig of this kind since the start of the pandemic. And for audiences it was a chance to get out, meet family and friends, and revel in some excellent entertainment.
“It was wonderful for everyone to be able to gather in a superb, safe, outdoor setting like this. It was perfect for two days of amazing music including rock, folk, trad, harp and even opera.
“This was very much a pilot event, but the feedback has been excellent and I thinks it’s really shown the potential for Crawick Multiverse to become a major outdoor venue, giving people the opportunity to enjoy performing arts and activities of all kinds in an astonishingly beautiful setting.”
The event was part of the Sanquhar Arts Festival and helped to explore Crawick’s potential as an outdoor venue in easy reach of central and southern Scotland and Cumbria.
The line-up on sunny Saturday included music from ONR with Robert Shields, Lucky Doves, Pedro and the Pirates, Archie Irving, Fathers Medicine. And on Sunday audiences enjoyed folk duo Smith & McClennan, opera singer, Claudia Wood with pianist Katharine Durran, Flew the Arrow from Ayr, and international harpist, Wendy Stewart.
Visitors also got the chnace to see Kelton – the spectacular one-tonne wicker Beltie bull – who, at three metres tall provided an impressive welcome to audiences as they arrive at Crawick Multiverse.
Named after the parish of Kelton, the huge sculpture, created by Trevor Leat, became an international celebrity when he represented Dumfries and Galloway at the recent Royal Highland Showcase at the Royal Highland Showground in Edinburgh – featuring in newspapers, magazines, TV and being live streamed worldwide.
He was serenaded onto the site by opera singer Claudia Wood and harp player Wendy Stewart.
Pictures: Colin Hattersley and Mike Bolam.
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