Singer-songwriter Cammy Barnes has described a weekend that included three gigs and the Glasgow Commonwealth Games closing ceremony as "absolute madness". Between Thursday and Sunday, he played the Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival twice and also performed at the Turriff Show before joining Australian pop star Delta Goodrem on stage at the Hydro in Glasgow for the Games closing ceremony, where he appeared before a global TV audience.
"It was a little bit of whirlwind," said the musician from Methil in Fife.
"We worked it out that I played in front of 46,000 people - I couldn't sell 600 tickets last year."
Cammy Barnes on Belladrum's main stage on Saturday night
Barnes, a Scottish country musician who plays the bagpipes, had already felt things could not get much better when he played to a packed crowd at Belladrum on Thursday night.
"Two years ago when I was at the festival I think there must have been 60-70 people in the crowd. This time there was a sea of people.
I said on stage the next time I came and played I would be the headliner or the act that comes on before the headliner."
Those words would prove prophetic.
Cammy Barnes and Delta Goodrem at Sunday's closing ceremony
After performing on Friday at Turriff Show in Aberdeenshire, one of Scotland's biggest agricultural shows, Barnes was in Glasgow for the closing ceremony rehearsals. At that point, his weekend took another unexpected turn.
"My manager came in and said: 'Cammy you've got to go. You've got to go straight back to Belladrum'."
Headline act James had been forced to pull out after frontman Tim Booth lost his voice. Razorlight, who had been scheduled to play before James, were moved up to the top spot and Barnes was asked to fill Razorlight's slot.
He said: "That was heart-breaking for James. As a musician it is really the worst thing to happen.
A guitarist breaks a string, they put another one on. When a singer loses their voice, you've just not got the tools to do it."
Cammy Barnes, left, with band members and crew at Belladrum at the weekend
Barnes drove for four hours to get to Belladrum, near Beauly in the Highlands, and arrived 10 minutes before he was due to go on stage.
"The security guard at the front of Belladrum wouldn't let me in. I said: 'I'm playing the main stage', but she said my name wasn't on the list.
I drove past her. I felt awful, she was running after the car."
Returning to Glasgow on Sunday, Barnes ended his "mad weekend" in style by performing with Delta Goodrem, who had hits in the early 2000s including Born to Try and Innocent Eyes.
"That was a crazy experience," said Barnes. It was the first time I've worn a suit on stage, which was cool."
He added:
"She was so, so nice. She's an absolute Australian superstar, so it was fun for me to get the opportunity to do that with her."
Barnes said he was living a dream he had held since his first gig when he was 16.
"I'm 36 now. It has taken me 20 years to get to playing the main stage of festivals.
Twenty years of absolute hustle, of not selling gigs.
Most normal people would have quit and done something else."
