Highland Favourites Torridon Celebrate 20 Years with Electrifying Cask Strength Tour Kickoff in Inverness
Words and pictures by Alan Cruickshank
Everyone knows who Torridon are and it seems everyone turned up to Inverness Leisure Centre (by Ironworks)on a very cold Saturday night to help them celebrate 20 years as a firm local favourite in the music scene.
First supporting act of the evening were Folkd Up – last time I saw them play they did not have the 3 backing singers who I must say compliment their sound perfectly. Unusually for a first up band Folkd Up had a really decent size audience to play for, they did not waste this opportunity and played a superb set of their own music to an appreciative up for it crowd, looking forward to catching them again soon.
Second support act of the night was well known and loved Trail West hailing from Tiree, the band were in Glasgow on Saturday and had a 7-hour road trip through storm “Bert” to get to Inverness but they made it much to the delight of the crowd. Several islanders were in the crowd and sang back word for word Trail West’s lyrics with real gusto, they really were the perfect band to get the crowd properly warmed up on a cold evening for the main event.
20 years ago, an idea to create a band was formed after a Ross County football match, that idea blossomed into a legacy of music and shows that have spanned 2 decades and continuing on today with Torridon’s “Cask Strength tour”.
Torridon genuinely have gone from strength to strength over the past two decades gathering followers with their infectious shows on prestigious stages such as Belladrum, The Gathering and Aden festival, also bringing the music and fun to Italy, France and across Europe, but it’s here in the Highlands they are best loved and what a fitting place to celebrate their 20th birthday at a sold-out Inverness leisure centre. The crowd were expectant of a high energy fun filled show and Torridon happily obliged in spades. Disappointed not to see Kenny in his sparkly jacket during the show but loved his sparkly cowboy boots, however the band did a tremendous job of giving the Inverness crowd the sparkly, vibrant high energy performance they were waiting for, all songs were well known and sung along to and the roof was lifted with the bands best known song “Highland Girl”. Several hundreds of followers left in to the cold night very warm and happy after a vintage performance from Highland favourites Torridon, the tour continues in Aberdeen at The Tunnels on Nov 20th then on to Galashiels, Edinburgh then Dundee on December, get tickets on their website.
