BBC Highlands and Islands reporter
BBC ALBAThe 21st Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival opened on Thursday with main stage performances by Natasha Bedingfield and Paul Heaton.
About 20,000 people are expected to attend the Highlands’ biggest music event over its three days.
Pop and R&B act Bedingfield brought her own twist, covering two songs from the 1990s – Portishead’s Glory Box and The Cranberries’ Zombie – during her set before finishing with her 2004 hit Unwritten.
Later, Heaton was joined by Lanarkshire singer Rianne Downey – one of this year’s TRNSMT stars – for his performance in front of a packed Hot House stage crowd.
Bella’s second day acts include Supergrass and CMAT – who were at Glastonbury earlier this summer – as well as Skippinish, Karine Polwart and a DJ set by Gok Wan.
Football-mad Heaton, a Sheffield United fan, visited the grounds of Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Highland League club Clachnacuddin before pitching up at Bella, near Beauly.
The former The Beautiful South and The Housemartins frontman is also known for his strong views on politics and social issues.
He sang his protest song Heatongrad, and alongside Downey performed some of The Beautiful South’s greatest hits, including Song for Whoever and Don’t Marry Her.
BBC ALBA
Bella is usually blessed by fine weather, but Thursday was mostly a day of drizzly showers before clearing up in the evening – avoiding a repeat of 2017’s “mud fest”.
Other acts across the festival site on Friday will to include Inverness’ Katie Gregson-MacLeod.
In 2022, when she was a student and working in a coffee shop, the singer-songwriter became a sensation after posting a 45-second clip to TikTok.
Overnight, the chorus of her song Complex amassed 100,000 views and comments from musicians Gracie Abrams, Lennon Stella and Maisie Peters.
Another of Friday’s performers is Ullapool musician RuMac, who appears in a scene in the new Danny Boyle film 28 Years Later and was a semi-finalist in the latest Britain’s Got Talent Show.
BBC Alba is providing live coverage and iPlayer broadcasts across the weekend.
The shows can be watched live or on demand from Thursday on Belladrum on BBC Alba.