The first ever Dougie MacLean Weekend will be held on 28th-30th October 2005 in Dougie's native Perthshire, and advance ticket sales promise that it will be a great success.

‘The Dougie MacLean Weekend’ will be based in Pitlochry Festival Theatre and will feature many musicians and contributors who have been involved with Dougie over the past 25 years. There will be concerts, workshops, displays and various fringe music events.

Dougie comments,

“I’ve long dreamt of organising a ‘festival-type’ event where I could really enjoy performing a wide body of my own work. After many years of accumulating a lot of songs and tunes, it can sometimes be frustrating that concerts can only last for a couple of hours!

The Pitlochry Festival Theatre is a great complex built overlooking the River Tummel, close to where I was born and grew up. It’s a really imaginative place with a 540 seater theatre, large foyer spaces and other outdoor venues that are like mini amphitheatres in the woods, connected by forest paths. I’m really looking forward to stretching out over a whole weekend of performing old and new songs with different musicians in a wonderful setting.”

The weekend will feature three main concerts where Dougie will have the opportunity to explore and present different facets of his repertoire - each with it’s own look and content.

The Friday night concert, with the 11 string players of the Perthshire Ensemble and 5 Celtic musicians, will have an autumnal theme with co-ordinated lighting and visuals and will include a performance of Dougie’s widely appreciated instrumental piece Perthshire Amber, as well as some of his songs with Kevin MacRae’s beautiful string arrangements.

The Saturday evening concert will feature the Dougie MacLean Band who will present songs and tunes with a tribal, Pictish Perthshire theme through a range of electric and Celtic instrumentation.

Songs will include The Gael, from The Last of the Mohicans film soundtrack, and Turning Away, which was used in a Jennifer Lopez film!.

The Sunday night concert will bring together various well-known musical friends - old and new.

Says Dougie,

“We won’t announce who these friends are until much nearer the time …or maybe even on the night. We don’t want to start a stampede for tickets! Let’s just say it will be a great night!”

Another very special concert will on Saturday afternoon in the atmospheric setting of the re-constructed Iron Age crannog on Loch Tay. With an audience of only 30 people, Dougie MacLean with his Band Unplugged at the Crannog will be pretty unique! Beat that MTV!

During the weekend, there will be a series of workshops and discussions with an emphasis on the wonderful musical and cultural heritage of Perthshire. Highlights will include Perthshire Fiddle with Pete Clark, Perthshire Piping with Ross Ainslie, Perthshire Crannogs with Nick Dixon, Scotland’s foremost underwater archaeologist, as well as Perthshire Storytelling, Perthshire Song and Dougie MacLean’s Open Tunings.!

On Saturday and Sunday, there will be afternoon Open Mic sessions in the foyer of Pitlochry Festival Theatre. Ewen Sutherland, Dougie’s school-days musical friend, will encourage other musicians to come along and showcase their material in front of a 100 or so people in a café style atmosphere.

In addition, just to the south of Pitlochry, The Taybank Hotel in Dunkeld - “Scotland’s Musical Meeting Place”, Scottish Music Pub of the Year 2000 and formerly owned by Dougie and Jenny MacLean - will host special late afternoon music sessions to tie in with the Dougie MacLean Weekend. There will also be a range of displays and other fringe events yet to be announced.

'Amber' is a word that evokes golden, rich autumnal colours...something for which Perthshire - a county in the heart of Scotland, abundant with trees, lochs, rivers and mountains - is renowned.

“Perthshire Amber – the Dougie MacLean Weekend” will be an annual event during the last week of October - a great time for autumnal colours.

Dougie MacLean has a large international following who are keen to hear him perform his songs in different styles in his native area. Dougie has always been keen to contribute to the economy of the local environment in any way that he can.

The Dougie MacLean Weekend has a 5 year plan to develop into an internationally recognised week long event that makes the most of Pitlochry Festival Theatre and its wonderful outdoor performance spaces, as well as other venues throughout Perthshire.

Dougie said,

“We would love this Weekend to grow ‘organically’ as a showcase where I can perform old and new songs in different ways to as wide an audience as possible. Myself and my wife Jenny, along with our great team here at Dunkeld Records, just love organising events and it will be fun to focus on one so close to home.”

Tickets for evening concerts can be booked by phoning Pitlochry Festival Theatre on 01796 484 626. The concert at the Crannog can be booked by phoning 01887 830 583. For Information about workshops, Open Mic., and other events go online to www.perthshireamber.com