Festival return excites Madison Violet

Having waited “five long years” to return to Shetland, Madison Violet are back for this year’s Shetland Folk Festival.

Singer-songwriter Lisa MacIsaac said she and her fellow band mates loved every second of their time in Shetland “from the moment we got off the ferry with our woozy heads, to the late night jams in the festival club, to the chicken pot pies we managed to score around 1am each night, to the final wave goodbye to the festival organisers from the water as we departed on our long journey back home.”

“We’re really happy to be coming back,” she told The Shetland Times.

“But the one thing we will miss dearly is spending time with our friend Davie Henderson. He made our time in Shetland most special, and I am sure he will be in everyone’s hearts and songs.”

Since their last visit, Madison Violet released the album The Good in Goodbye, as well as a live album and DVD recorded in Cologne.

This time they will be performing as a four-piece with drummer/lap steel player Christine Bougie and bass player Adrian Lawryshyn.

The sound, says MacIsaac is a “a little bigger and a little louder and a little more modern”.

But picking a standout gig from their last visit “would be like choosing your favourite child,” said MacIsaac.

“Because the festival runs so smoothly, the artists treated so well, and the seats all full, the gigs all felt like successes,” she said.

“Well, maybe the day that we played at several venues in one night stands out. I had no idea how the festival organisers would be able to pull it off.

“The seamless transitions of artists from one venue to another really blew us away. I don’t think we thought it possible.”

In a busy weekend the group will be returning to Fetlar, where last time they played on the island, MacIsaac said they left the stage “feeling exceptionally warm and welcomed”.

“The audience was so responsive to our music and gave back to us 110 per cent what we gave them,” she said.

“I recall a long bus ride as well, which makes for a school trip-like feel full of giddy musicians, all taking in the scenery.”

At their Fetlar gig on Friday, Madison Violet will be sharing the stage with Nordic Fiddlers Bloc, a group MacIsaac says she is particularly looking forward to seeing.

“I’m a sucker for melodic harmonised fiddle ballads and after some YouTube viewings, they seem to specialise in exactly that.”

Madison Violet will be performing their first evening concert in Scalloway on Thursday at 7.30pm.