Hoolie in the Hydro: Celebrating 50 years of Runrig

After a successful event last year, Hoolie in the Hydro is back again to celebrate traditional Scottish music.

With a packed lineup and around 10,000 tickets sold, people from across the country and indeed the world will be coming together tomorrow at the OVO Hydro to mark 50 years since the creation of the band Runrig, most famous for their song Loch Lomond which has become synonymous with Scotland.

Runrig officially disbanded in 2018, and former lead singer Bruce Guthro sadly passed away in September of this year, but fellow band members Iain Bayne and Brian Hurren will be performing tomorrow and will hold the thought of Guthro in their heads and hearts as they take the stage.

Heading the lineup will be Manran, with one of its founding members Gary Innes being the man who has put this event together both this year and last.

Innes has been a friend of Runrig for many years, joining them on stage at various events when he wasn’t playing professional shinty or hosting BBC Radio Scotland’s Take the Floor.

He even features on a Runrig album cover, seen playing shinty on the front of their 2007 record Everything You See.

The Standard was able to catch up with Gary Innes and Iain Bayne while they – alongside Brian Hurren and fellow performer Julie Fowlis – did some promoting for the event at the venue and gave media representatives a lovely rendition of Runrig’s In Search of Angels, a snippet of which you can hear below.

https://x.com/GlasgowStand/status/1733146665643561252?s=20

Innes said that it is “just remarkable” and that his “heart is bursting” that so many people would come from all over to join him in celebrating the history and culture surrounding traditional Scottish music.

Iain Bayne added that it is a testament to all the hard work that Gary Innes and his team had carried out to get this event together two years in a row.

Regarding traditional Scottish and ceilidh music, Bayne called it “something very precious” that we have in this country, as well as being “great fun” and “such an important part of people’s lives.”

“Thank you to each and every single person that bought a ticket,” beamed Innes – a sentiment shared by Bayne who described the shared sense of pride amongst all musicians in this genre to see how popular the event has become.

He then included fans in that shared community, calling it a “they are us and we are them” situation, where all enjoyers of traditional music could leave feeling like family.

Bayne – who has been around the block with Runrig – said that this gig at the OVO Hydro “compares extremely well” to the best gigs he enjoyed with the famous band.

“Over the moon,” was a sentiment repeated by both of the musicians, with Bayne joking that “it can only get bigger.”