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No electricity but plenty sparks at festival Words by iain Ramage

Not even power cuts managed to spoil the electric atmosphere of the Loopallu music festival at Ullapool at the weekend.

Half the village was without power – some for as long as four hours on Saturday afternoon and again during the evening, but the event went ahead without a hitch.

The failure provoked rumours that the festival was to blame, but event promoter Robert Hicks was quick to deny the suggestion.

“We didn’t trip the village,” he said. “It was pure coincidence that the streets around us went down. Fortunately for us, we were completely self-sufficient thanks to our own generators.”

The festival, compered by Radio 2 DJ Janice Long, attracted hundreds of music lovers from around the world. Some reportedly travelled from as far as Canada specifically for the event.

Cult band Hayseed Dixie headlined Saturday’s line-up.

Others who took the village by storm included punk rockers The Undertones, Cosmic Rough Riders, Shooglenifty and Inverness band The Rites.

Mr Hicks said more than 1,500 tickets were sold for the two-day event and there is a strong likelihood it could become an annual fixture.

“So many locals came to it – young and old, from month-old babies to 80-year-olds – and every hotel, B&B, restaurant, bar and shop, so far as I know, was booming,” he said.

The success came after only one advert was posted for this event. The rest of the tickets were sold on the strength of posters, word of mouth and press coverage.

“People were talking about it everywhere and it already seemed to have created a cult-like image,” said Mr Hicks.

A spokeswoman for Scottish and Southern Energy said engineers were trying to establish the exact cause of the power cut which involved a broken underground cable at the village.

Customers have been connected to another source as engineers continue with the repair.

On Saturday night, while the village was crammed with festival-goers, the company sent generators to Ullapool to power the fish market, fish shop and campsite.

SSE said all 39 homes and businesses affected had an interim supply by 4pm on Saturday and no one was without power for more than seven hours.

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