Bit of a delay with posting this for which I offer my humble apologies. However, to steal the catchphrase of a famous Irish alcoholic beverage, good things comes to those who wait. And that corny cliché was also true of Doune The Rabbit Hole, with some of the best bits of the weekend cropping up on Sunday.
There was some more scheduling problems, this time Olympic Swimmers who were scheduled to appear late morning / early afternoon on The Jaberwocky stage, didn't appear until much later on in the afternoon in The Baino stage. Not entirely sure what the reason for this was, however it meant that I missed the band, as they were playing whilst I was escorting the tired and weary wife and kids home.
Before the drive back down the M80 though the four of us enjoyed The Second Hand Marching Band who crammed as much fun and instrumentation into their set as they did people onto the stage. It was my first time seeing the band, and I wasn't disappointed in the slightest.
After a drive from Carron Forest Valley to Neilston and back, in what must be record time, I arrived back on site to catch the utterly brilliant Kid Canaveral who were playing the Tenement TV stage. Again this is a first for me, having criminally never caught the cheeky Edinburgh gang before. 'You Only Went Out To Get Drunk Last Night' packs a powerful indie-pop punch, 'And Another Thing' finished off the set with a loud volley of drums and guitars, and littered throughout the set are new tracks. From the sound of the new material their second album will be along a similar vein as 'Shouting At Wildlife', which is only a good thing in my opinion.
Afterwards I swing down to The Jaberwocky stage for bluesy-rock quartet Three Blind Wolves who were already doing their thing by the time I got there. The band represented Scotland this year over in Austin, Texas for SXSW and as they sound much like a Scottish Black Keys, I can only imagine the locals took very well to them indeed! They manage to keep a country feel going throughout their incredibly heavy set, sounding well honed and very loud!
The night, and the weekend was close to ending, but before the curtain fell on my Doune experience for another year, there was time to catch the other half of the late Arab Strap. Having enjoyed Mr Moffat on Friday night, it was the turn of Malcolm Middleton to take to the Baino stage in his current guise of Human Don't Be Angry. After what seems like an age, the band headed up by Middleton take the stage kicking things off with two instrument tracks, the second of which was the sublime 'HDBA Theme', which was a four minute electro treat. Middleton, with help from the HDBA band, which includes De Rosa frontman Martin John Henry, brought to life the '80's electro influenced sounds of the album, which still remains one of my favourite releases of 2012. the set was up there as a highlight of the festival, with the emphatically rousing 'Monologue: River', which builds momentum throughout as my pick of the set. My only quibble? The band were not on stage for nearly long enough.
And with that, my Doune The Rabbit Hole ended for another year. Overall I enjoyed the festival, which is now in it's third year. The scenery was breathtaking, the kids enjoyed themselves, there was a feel good vibe about the place, and much of the music was worth the price of a day ticket alone. Musical highlights for me were The Phantom Band, TeenCanteen and Human Don't Be Angry, all of whom were outstanding. There were, as I've mentioned already in Friday and Saturday's reviews, some down points, namely the lack of published set times, but with the passion that organiser Jamie Murray and his team display, hopefully the festival can pick up on this when it returns next year and continue to offer a quirky alternative to the mass marketed festivals.
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