Shetland Folk Festival 2025 – a 'superb year'

The foys are finished and the curtain has been drawn on the Shetland Folk Festival for another year. It's been another hugely successful event, with visiting artists from around the world, joined on the stage by an array of talented local musicians, to entertain crowds across Shetland.

Among those watching the festival were hundreds of visitors, attracted to Shetland by the event (and the chance to enjoy Shetland's famous hospitality). Those same people will have experienced how the festival is also a hugely important event for the local community, bringing friends and families together to enjoy the music, dancing and socialising at one of the best events of its kind.

Committee member Louise Jamieson reflects on the 43rd Shetland Folk Festival...

How are you feeling after another fantastic folk festival, and do you have any special memories of the 2025 event?

I'm a mixture of happy, relieved and very tired! The committee are all so delighted with how everything went this year – from excellent tickets and merchandise sales, to all of our visiting artists being so lovely and happy to be here. It's been a superb year!

My special memories include:

• My first goose bumps of the festival, listening to local act Megan & Lauren at the Legion singing I'm a Little Bit Lonesome.
• I was reduced to tears during Gemma Donald and Shetland Swing's a cappella version of Tennessee Waltz at Clickimin.
• Duo Ruut's incredible set. They received a standing ovation at Hymhus on Sunday. It was so moving.
• Spanging*(as best I could with a pulled muscle between my ribs) to Mec Lir in the Festival Club!
• Amazing sessions in the Festival Club at the Final Fling
• A visiting upright bass player popping along the committee room to entertain us and getting a sing-along going.

*For those who don't know what spang means, check the Shetland Dictionary.

How many countries were represented among this year’s visiting artists?

Ten - the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Estonia, France, Norway, Finland, Russia, and France.

Were there any local musicians who performed at the festival for the first time this year?

Megan & Lauren, The Plonkys and Stewart Hutchison plus several musicians who have performed before individually but this year were in new collaborations: Treemandos, 'Megan, Bryden & Amy', ' Arthur and Sarah', 'George Spence and Fraser Jamieson'.

Roughly how many tickets were sold for the various concerts?

We had around 8,000 tickets available, with 95% sold by the time online sales closed. More tickets were sold during the Festival from our shop, with more concerts selling out, although I don't have a final figure yet.

Do you know how many people were visiting Shetland to attend the festival?

We had around 700 visitors at this year's festival, of which around 200 were from outside the UK.

What advice would you give to anyone planning to visit Shetland for the 2026 folk festival?

Book everything early – travel, accommodation, membership and tickets! Make sure you have done your homework about our venues and how you intend to get to any rural concerts if that is in your plans, there are no buses! And don't expect to get any sleep :-)!

Can you sum up the best thing about the Shetland Folk Festival?

The community vibe and the fact that the festival is organised and run by such a big army of volunteers. We are so grateful to the hundreds of locals who help out in such a variety of ways. There could be no festival without them!