Donnie Munro delighted as Ironworks saves cancelled park party
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Ross County’s relegation from the Scottish Premiership a few weeks ago was a moment that left people across the region destitute.
The Dingwall team’s departure from the top flight after a six-year stint meant that, for the first time since the 2009 season, there will be no Highland representation in Scottish football’s top tier.
And standing alongside the grieving Highland football fans, Scottish music legend Donnie Munro reflected on a remarkable run in the top flight that saw the club lift the Scottish League Cup in 2016.
“Like most people in the Highlands I was disappointed that Ross County didn’t make it to the playoffs,” the singer-songwriter and former Runrig frontman said. “But I’m sure that they will fight hard to get back up and ensure that Highland football is represented at the highest level.
“It is such a tough call for both Highland teams to sustain success at that level and Ross County can rightly feel very proud of the achievements over these last six years of top flight football.”
Donnie Munro – accompanied by a full band – had been set to play the football club’s end-of-season party, the aptly-titled Party in the Park. However, the event was cancelled following the relegation, club chiefs feeling that a celebration was hardly appropriate for such an event.
However, disappointed fans weren’t left to wait for long to see their hero – with North Highland Events and the Ironworks stepping in to bring Donnie and other acts from the Party in the Park to the Inverness venue this Saturday under the banner Fusion | North.
Donnie will be joined by Torridon and the Dark Horse Ceilidh Band – two bands who are likely to have drawn influence from Donnie’s 45 years of music. “Well of course it is always good to feel that the pioneering work of the band has had a lasting impact on successive generations of musicians from the Highlands and Islands,” he said.
“I think that quite apart from the fantastic strength and depth of the music scene in the Highlands and Islands, with so many amazing young players, perhaps the area that still requires to be strengthened is that of songwriting.
“It would certainly be a very important legacy if that was in some way nurtured by our experiences and success as a band from the Highlands which has enjoyed international recognition and on the basis of, in the main, performing new self-penned material.”
That legacy of Donnie’s time as a musician, particularly in his time with Runrig, is likely to be put under a microscope in the coming months – with the band’s farewell concert at Stirling Castle fast approaching.
It’ll be difficult to imagine the Scottish musical landscape without the trad-rock titans as they bow out after 45 years.
Donnie, who left the band in 1997 to pursue a career in politics, has always remained close with his old friends. “Like all involved in the whole Runrig story it will be a time of reflection, of great celebration and of understandable sadness,” Donnie explained.
“The journey jointly travelled has been a richly rewarding and immensely privileged one.”
Donnie Munro (and band) headlines Fusion | North on Saturday night, along with Torridon and the Dark Horse Ceilidh Band. Doors open at 7pm and tickets cost £20 (£30 balcony). For more information, go to www.donniemunro.co.uk
