The most successful Celtic rock band of all time, Runrig, have announced the release of their farewell concert on record and film on 16th August 2019.

'The Last Dance' will be available in a slew of formats including Blu-ray, 2dvd, 2cd, limited edition 3cd digipak and limited collector’s edition (2dvds, 3cds, numbered print and coffee table book).

The release captures the historic and emotional final show of the long-running Scottish group. Last year fans from all over the world descended on City Park in Stirling to celebrate the group beneath the stunning vista of Stirling Castle. The two concerts sold out in hours, with 50,000 people attending over the two nights.

Watch the trailer for the DVD here: https://youtu.be/cD4ED6YE5kQ 

Produced by Scotland’s premier digital entertainment company Blazing Griffin, and directed by life-long Runrig fan Marcus Viner (David Bowie, Kylie Minogue, Mercury Music Prize), the Highlanders farewell concert was captured by over 30 cameras and state of the art audio recorders to create a fully immersive film that will imprint Runrig in our hearts and minds forever more.

The concert film will have it's world premiere at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Saturday August 17th. Scottish broadcaster Roddy Hart will conduct an informal chat with the band onstage prior to the showing.

The three hour extravaganza contains all the band's best loved songs, from the opening notes of The Years We Shared through to classics like Pride Of The Summer and Book Of Golden Stories. There's also guest performances by Dave Towers, Laura McGhee and Julie Fowlis as well as, most notably, an appearance by the band's original vocalist Donnie Munro who performs the Gaelic Caercal A' Chuain along with the Glasgow Islay Gaelic Choir. Then, of course, everything is wrapped up with a spectacular final run through the group's signature song, Loch Lomond and a touching a cappella version of Heart Of Olden Glory.

This is what Runrig live for, and why they’ve done what they have done so well for so many years; “When we began with Runrig, we performed as a dance band at town halls all along the Scottish west coast”, songwriter and bassist Rory Macdonald recalled, “In many ways, those halls were the training grounds – we learned a lot for our career there. There are two things we’ve held onto over all these years. The first thing is our never-ending appreciation for our fans. And the second thing is: we love seeing you dance.”   

The line-up of the band for the final show including founder members and mainstays Calum and Rory MacDonald (on bass and percussion, respectively), drummer Iain Bayne, guitarist (piper and accordion player) Malcolm Jones, keyboard player Brian Hurren and Canadian singer Bruce Guthro who replaced Munro in 1998.

'The Last Dance' is available for pre-order and includes ‘Alba’ as Instant Grat Track here: https://runrig.lnk.to/FarewellConcert 

 For more info visit: http://www.runrig.co.uk/

 Rock 

Author: Cameron Arndt

Cameron Arndt is a musician and freelance writer from Glasgow, Scotland. He writes for his own music review website (www.rockandrolltraffic.com) and also contributes to Music Talkers.