Belladrum organiser gives 'dream' guest Paolo Nutini open invite to perform at festival
Dougie organises and oversees the three-day event on Belladrum Estate, which will be enjoyed by around 24,500.
This year, acts including Natasha Bedingfield, Paul Heaton and Texas are performing on the main stage.
Dougie wants to make sure as many of those in attendance are having 'the best possible time'.
This is the 20th Belladrum which Dougie is working at, producing the festival since 2018.
Dougie said Belladrum is very conscious of its budget and he knows some acts are too far out of reach.
He revealed in order to go for some of the big guns in the music industry, ticket prices would need to increase by 50%.
Dougie said: 'We know we aren't a Reading or a Leeds festival. We're not trying to be them.
'We also have 14 stages to fill, so our budget is stretched further than some other festivals.'
But, when talking about his dream of who could appear on the main stage, a couple of names came to mind.
He added: 'In an ideal world, I would love to see Paolo Nutini here. We have an open offer to him. As he's such a big Scottish act, that would be a real dream for me.
'We'd also have Lewis Capaldi back in a heartbeat. We have been really fortunate over the years with who has performed here.
'Up-and-coming artists here could be the next Sam Fender or Ed Sheeran – if you're here you could stumble across the superstar of the future.'
Dougie said a lot of work goes into making the festival as perfect as it can be, with efforts for next year's Belladrum already under way.
He knows there is always room for improvement, but feels it is already the best festival in Scotland.
He said: 'We work on it non-stop, but it's not necessarily about making Bella better because we already have an incredible event.
'For it to be in the Highlands as well is really special. It won't get any bigger in terms of capacity, we're aware of the impact it has on the wider community and so it has to have a balance.
'Sometimes people can't quite grasp just how different what we have here is to any other festival.
'You can come to Belladrum and see some superb acts, or you can not see a single stage and still have an unbelievable time.'
Dougie said the team has spent a lot of time addressing traffic issues following big problems in previous years.
He added: 'We had some serious issues which we had to address. We had major traffic issues due to a number of factors.
'So, we started again from scrap. We redrew our whole plan and put new companies in place. If something goes badly wrong, you have to go back to the drawing board, that's the only way to make it work.'
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