Primal Scream and Ocean Colour Scene to headline Midnight Sun Weekender music festival on Isle of Lewis

Headlining acts for a brand new, green music festival on the Isle of Lewis have been announced.

Three days of music at one of the most idyllic locations in the UK, the Midnight Sun Weekender is billed to be “a festival of the kind dreams are made of”.

Set to be the first festival completely powered by green energy sources, Midnight Sun will be hosted in the Lewis Castle Green between May 25 and May 27, 2023.

Opening the festival with a UK headline exclusive will be rock band The Pretenders, treating revellers to classics like Talk Of The Town, Kid, 2000 Miles, and Back On The Chain Gang – alongside upcoming new tunes.

Scottish band Primal Scream will headline the event on day two, storming Lewis Castle with Screamdelica classics, XTRMNTR cuts and unexpected hoedown hits like Country Girl.

Supporting sets will come from longstanding Britpop hits Ocean Colour Scene fresh off some reunion shows, alongside Spiritualized, The Lewis Allstars, Public Service Broadcasting, Edwyn Collins, and plenty more.

Organiser Charlie Clark told STV News: “This is going to be the first rock and pop festival of its kind, given the size of it, on the western isles.

“We wanted to make sure the first year had kind of a wow factor with some of the performers we have coming over for it.”

He said the idea came to him and his business partner, Ian MacArthur, while they were setting up a record label in the Outer Hebrides to showcase “new, alternative talent”.

“We were talking about the cost for locals to go to festivals in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and figured we could bring them to us – book them and they will come,” Charlie said.

Intending to address the gender imbalance in the industry, Midnight Sun has also guaranteed a 45%:55% female to male ratio of performers across the weekend.

Tickets to the three-day event start from £79, and can be purchased here.