Belladrum technical hitch pulls plug on Highland Ness Factor winner Joanne Ross - but she’ll be back!
A RAPIDLY rising Highland singer who had the plug pulled on her band’s dream gig at Belladrum is being invited to attend next year’s event.
Ironically Joanne Ross, who comes from Dingwall, won the privilege of performing at this year’s Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival as winner of the Ness Factor competition, raising thousands of pounds for Highland Hospice in the process.
Since then, her band John B’s Daughter has been inundated with invitations to perform, with recent gigs including a glitzy high profile performance at the Monaco Grand Prix.
WATCH: Joanne takes Ness Factor by storm
Black Isle Show aims to one of best ever
But the dream gig close to home turned into a nightmare amidst sound problems suffered by organisers of the three-day event.
A sound equipment failure ahead of their Saturday 3.45pm slot on the Bella Bar stage resulted in the plug being pulled on their set.
Joanne said: “Gutting is an understatement. We just couldn’t believe it. We got on the Bella Bar stage and started setting up but there was an issue with the power.
“We were told to carry on setting up and the issue would hopefully be resolved. We were then told 15 minutes later that unfortunately there was no power at all and the desk was broken.
“They said they were getting a replacement desk coming to them. We said we would wait however we were told that we would need to leave the stage and let the next act on as our time slot had now passed!
“Hundreds and hundreds of people came to Bella to support us. We couldn’t believe the crowd. Two supporters actually flew up from London to attend Belladrum for the day as they had seen our video and wanted to hear us live! It was incredible.
“We totally understand these things can happen at events however to just be told we had to leave the stage and our slot was gone we felt was really unfair.
“Belladrum got in touch a while later to say they managed to secure us a slot but not until 11:30pm that night. Some of the band had already left along with some of the supporters so it wasn’t doable. We felt terrible for everyone who came to see us.”
Stalwart supporter Michelle Mackay, who as Tesco Community champion in Dingwall helped spearhead Joanne’s Ness Factor campaign, said: “I think what’s more gutting is the fact this was Joanne’s prize for winning the Ness Factor. She put in a lot of hard work raising nearly £12,000 for the charity.”
Belladrum organisers have already reached out to apologise and offer a slot for next year’s show.
They posted: “We are absolutely devastated for you too and completely understand your frustration.
“Unfortunately sometimes things go wrong at events and this was was no fault of our great stage manager and production suppliers. By time they managed to get everything up and running again the time slot had passed.”
While an alternative 11.30pm slot was ultimately offered, it proved impractical some of the band had gone home by that point as had a proportion of the fans who came especially to see them.
The band is now concentrating on writing more material and preparing for local gigs which include The Black Isle show on Thursday at 5:15pm.
