Well it’s been a long time coming but it’s finally time for another super roundup of all the great gigs we’ve had recently. The blog’s been a bit neglected as we haven’t had time to get near to a computer, but with some much needed time off, we’ve a chance to reflect on some of our biggest and best gigs, so lets not wait any longer and get right into it!
Way back at the end of July, we performed at The Gathering in Edinburgh, one of the main events to mark Scotland’s Year of Homecoming, and with just under 50,000 people from 40 countries attending, certainly one of the biggest! It was billed as the largest clan gathering in recent times and there were highland games, heavyweight events, pipe bands and much more, but it was the music stage that seemed to draw the biggest crowd and, as we took the stage on the Saturday it was to one of our biggest ever audiences, a thrilling experience! Even as we opened the day’s events the following day a good few thousand people braved the typical Scottish weather to help us go down a ‘storm!’



At the start of August we had the privilege of launching Glasgow’s Piping Live festival. This also gave us the chance to return to the Old Fruitmarket, where just under a year prior to this gig we had recorded our live DVD, “BLAST” which, thanks to all of you, has since gone triple platinum! It brought back many memories to be back there and once again the Fruitmarket provided a great setting and atmosphere to kick off the week long festival of piping.

After having played at one of the biggest Scottish Gatherings earlier, we then travelled a bit further afield in mid August, to one of the biggest Irish festivals in the world, the Milwaukee Irish Fest. Held in Milwaukee’s custom built and permanent festival site, this was another new and fantastic adventure for us. For four nights in a row we unleashed Bagrock to a whole new audience and judging by the reaction we were getting, they definitely enjoyed it. They do say that everything is bigger in America and this was definitely true of the Irish Fest and we certainly look forward to our return there in 2010; if you missed it this year, make sure you’re there next time!

A couple of busy travel weekends followed this as we travelled to Spain for Festival Internacional Plasencia. The Spanish love their late night festivals and, as we headlined the Friday night, we didn’t come offstage until 2am on the Saturday morning. We got a great response from the lively crowd but unfortunately there was no time to soak it up. As soon as we finished, we packed everything up and went straight to the airport, as we had to get back to Scotland for a gig in Campbeltown that night! For once luck was on our side and all flights went on time so we arrived for the Mull of Kintyre Music Festival in plenty of time. There’s always a great crowd in Campbeltown and this night was no exception. We were pleased to be joined again by the fantastic Kintyre Schools Pipe Band, who had also accompanied us onstage just over a year ago at the filming of our live DVD.

The following week was another busy one, starting with a gig for the Edge Festival, part of the Edinburgh Festival, at the HMV Picture House in Edinburgh in the middle of the week, and we were on the road again that weekend. We started up in Turriff on the Friday for the Wizard Festival. The notorious winds of the north east of Scotland almost put a stop to this whole event with tents flying everywhere, but once everything was secured and the winds died down a little, it went ahead, if not quite to schedule. The patient crowd had not lost any of their enthusiasm in the wait and there was a great atmosphere in the tent as we played.

We left from Turriff and travelled to the other side of the country for a triumphant return to the Cowal Games in Dunoon on the Saturday. When we played there last year we were overwhelmed at the response and crowd that we got so we

We’ve another new country under our belts as a couple of weeks ago we took Bagrock to the people of Kiev, in the Ukraine. It was a rather cold but unique experience for us to be in this part of the world and strangely enough, we were there to play at another Burns Supper! This year we’ve played more Burns suppers outside Scotland than ever before, with Calcutta and now Kiev being the most exotic!

This particular dinner was being held on Valentines Day so it was cause for double celebrations. The Kiev Lions Club, part of a fantastic organization that helps so many people in many ways worldwide, organized the event. We are always pleased to be involved in great causes such as this.

Now in its 14th year, there was a great turnout for the dinner and lots of money was raised for the good causes. We’re not sure if the people of Kiev have heard much of the bagpipes before but they certainly hadn’t heard anything like us and judging by the reaction it’s not something that they’re likely to forget in a hurry!

We were taken to Ukraine by two Scots now living in Kiev, Stuart and Robert who, along with Ozi, made sure we were well looked after in our time there and we had a great time at the party afterwards, especially the performance by Boney M and some well known Ukrainian acts! The guys even made sure the football fans in the band got to see the ‘Glasgow Derby’ on the Sunday!

If you’re ever in Kiev, we recommend you check out one of their other business interests, Shooters bar, where we were wined and dined and also gave an impromptu late night performance after the Burns Night!

Our thanks to Stuart, Robert and Ozi, to Iryna our translator, and everyone that made the night such a success.

This week, we’re returning to a couple of gigs that we’ve enjoyed in the past. Our first stop is Ljubljana, in Slovenia, where we are performing at an event for the Chivas Whisky group. We first played at this event about 4 years ago and it was then that the band really became what it is now with drumkit and guitar being added to give us a bigger sound. This obviously has fond memories for us and we’re looking forward to it, although last time it was very cold! From there we travel to Luxembourg and the Zeltik festival, where we performed last year. We got such a great response there last year that we cant wait to go back.

It promises to be yet another great week for us, we’ll see you here again soon!

Chillipiper x x

The Red Hot Chilli Pipers will be at Murray Park, Rangers training ground for a photocall on Thursday 29th January and then wil lstay to watch the training and myabe get involved with the team.....