Scotland's longest running greenfield music festival faces 'uncertain' future

Daily Record

19-05-2025

Organisers of Knockengorroch in Galloway have launched a campaign to raise £25,000 to help it continue.
Scotland's longest running greenfield music festival faces an 'uncertain' future.
Knockengorroch has been held in the Galloway hills for more than 25 years, with the 2025 version getting under way later this week.
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But rising costs have led to organisers launching a campaign to raise £25,000 to help it continue.
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In a statement, they said: 'Through Covid-19 and foot and mouth we have continued, despite the challenges. However in the last couple of years we are facing the most severe threat yet.
'The cost of living is affecting us all and the live music scene and festivals are suffering.
The cost of putting on Knockengorroch averages £320,000 and over the last few years has increased all round, from supplies to artist fees to the costs of visa for artists from Europe. Funds are low, costs are high. If we cannot get through 2025 with some funds left to put towards next year then next year is uncertain.
'We've launched a fundraiser to help meet the costs of this year's event. If we can reach our goal of £25,000 – or even exceed it – it will help us get through this year with hopefully something to begin planning for 2026.
'Don't worry - we will be able to pay everybody this year - we wouldn't promise a festival if we could not, but we cannot go forward on zero, or less than zero.
'It feels strange to ask for money when usually we just ask you to buy tickets, but we find ourselves in a position where we feel it is our only option.
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'We are asking all of you who care about Knockengorroch Festival, who have experienced seminal moments on the land, to give whatever you can to ensure we can make it through this year so that we can look towards next year and the future. Every contribution – no matter the size – will help.'
Knockengorroch first took place in the hills above Carsphairn in 1998.
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It is Dumfries and Galloway's longest running music festival with an all-star cast of international acts set to perform between Thursday and Friday.
They include Rokia Koné from Mali, African Head Charge and Formidable Vegetable from Australia.
Also appearing will be Mungo's Hi-Fi, Omega Nebula, Kinnaris Quintet, General Levy, The Fontanas, Moxie, Euphonique and Serial Killaz.
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This year's festival will have a theme of survival – particularly the survival of live music festivals, community, language, culture, and biodiversity.
The organisers added: 'We are working hard towards the festival this weekend, with as much passion and excitement as ever. We can't wait to see these fields come alive as they have done for so many years now.
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'Since 1998, we've brought people together in the hills to celebrate music, community and the land. Completely independent and without compromise, with no funding towards festival running costs, we've grown organically from just a few hundred people in a field to thousands.
'We have introduced countless festival goers to music you rarely get to see in Scotland, let alone in a field in the hills. We have given many live bands their first taste of a stage and seen artists grow from teenage start-ups to successful, established acts, playing across festivals and stages across the UK and internationally. As the first eclectic music festival of our kind in Scotland we believe we're inspired many which followed.
'We have created countless numbers of unforgettable and life changing moments. Lovers have found each other, people married, children conceived, and even ashes scattered here. Often three generations of the same family attend together in our multi-generational celebration of life, music and planet.'