GLASTONBURY and T in the Park may not be on this year but other music festivals appear to be stepping up to fill in the gaps.

A brand new event in Glasgow’s West End will boast names such as Nile Rodgers & Chic, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Pointer Sisters, while other festivals that are still fairly new on the scene will feature headline acts including Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, James and Leftfield.

Meanwhile, both Glasgow and Edinburgh are attracting attention for first-class electronic music events such as the Riverside Festival and FLY Open Air festival.

The newest is Fiesta x FOLD, created in collaboration with Nile Rodgers & Chic. It has developed from the West End Fiesta series of shows at Kelvingrove Bandstand into a fully-grown boutique festival in Kelvingrove Park for nearly 10,000 revellers. Playing at the event alongside with Earth, Wind & Fire will be Goldfrapp, Emile Sande, Ana Matronic and De La Soul to name but a few.

Organisers Ricky Scoular and Brian Traynor admit it’s an incredible line-up for a new festival but believe Scotland has always punched above its weight when it comes to attracting acts in all different styles of music, from pop and rock to electronic.

“Glasgow in particular has always been a music hub and is globally recognised as such,” Scoular says.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF THAT?

THE pair, who have been involved in the music scene in Glasgow for a good many years, now find that agents come to them so they don’t need to hunt for artists.

“They like the individuality of our events,” Scoular says. “We like to think they appreciate the effort we put into the production and our relationship with the artists.

The acts have a good experience and are usually keen to come back and work here.”

Evidence of that can be seen from some of the global icons that the pair have brought to Kelvingrove Bandstand.

Kool & The Gang and Nile Rodgers & Chic have both performed there, with the latter a headline act last year.

Afterwards, Rodgers, who has his own festival brand called Fold – named after his two biggest hits Freak Out and Let’s Dance – joined forces with Scoular and Traynor to set up the new Fiesta which will be the first Fold festival in Glasgow.

“We are very lucky as he has helped curate and select a lot of the artists he has worked with such as Earth, Wind and Fire, who he recently toured with across the US. The festival has been carefully curated by him and is full of people he admires,” says Scoular.

WHEN IS IT?

FIESTA x FOLD takes place on June 30 and July 1. It is the same time as the first weekend of TRNSMT but Scoular and Traynor are hopeful the clash won’t make a difference.

“Scotland has a really diverse and engaged community of music fans,” Scoular says. “They have eclectic and varied tastes, which makes it possible for so many festivals to co-exist and attract audiences.

“We see it as a huge positive for Scotland, and especially Glasgow, that two music festivals with such diverse line-ups will be taking place over the same weekend. It firmly cements Glasgow’s position

as a music city and we are really proud to be part of that story.”

Weather could also be a problem for an open-air event but the pair are sanguine.

“If you were going to worry about the weather here you would never get out of bed in the morning,” Scoular says. “In any case Brian is a keen weatherman and he says it will be a heatwave so I am buying into that!”

IT’S ALL PLAIN SAILING THEN?

THE new festival is a major undertaking for the pair, who are also behind BAaD (Barras Art

and Design) in the east end, which won Most Stylish Venue at the Scottish Style Awards.

Scoular and Traynor have transformed the building into a food hub for the entire Calton area with the centrepiece being the new restaurant A’Challtainn, Gaelic for Calton, meaning “the hazel wood”.

Traynor will be especially busy as he is also co-organiser of the Riverside Festival in Glasgow on May 26-27 which features Leftfield, Daxj, Dixon, Lady Starlight, Marcus Worgull, Nastia, Paula Temple, Quail, Fatima Yamaha, Joy Orbison and many more. “It’s Scotland’s biggest electronic music festival and attracts globally-recognised acts such as Leftfield,” Scoular said. “Brian is doing that then the following month it is Fiesta x FOLD, which we are hoping will be Scotland’s biggest boutique festival. We are also doing the Scottish Street Food Festival in May at Riverside so we’ve got our work cut out.”

AND THE OTHER FESTIVALS?

RIVERSIDE and Fiesta x FOLD are just two of the music festivals in Scotland this summer along with the aforementioned TRNSMT, which this year features The Killers, Arctic Monkeys Stereophonics, The Script, James Bay, Jessie J and Queen + Adam Lambert.

Elsewhere, the Electric Fields Festival at Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfries and Galloway on the weekend of August 30 to September 1 will be headlined by James, Leftfield and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.

The event is in its fourth year and looks like becoming a fixture on Scotland’s music scene.

As does the Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival near Beauly in Invernes-shire. Running from August 2 to August 4, its line-up includes Paloma Faith, Primal Scream, Amy MacDonald, Frightened Rabbit, The Charlatans and Professor Green.

HebCelt in Stornoway (July 18 to July 21 features Deacon Blue and The Fratellis along with Eddi Reader, Skippinish, Blazin’ Fiddles and Roddy Woomble.

Edinburgh’s debut ScotFest on July 6 and 7 boasts The Jacksons, Boyzone, B*Witched and Liberty X while FLY takes place at historic Hopetoun House on May 19 with Glaswegian DJ Denis Sulta curating top electronic acts such as Or:la, Cromby, San Proper and Seth Troxler.