Travis to play Party at the Palace

Travis frontman Fran Healy. Picture: Jayne Emsley

The two-day festival at Linlithgow Palace will run over the weekend of August 8 and 9 and will feature a variety of chart-topping acts from around the UK and further afield, with event organisers promising a “spectacular” addition to Scotland’s live music calendar.

Saturday’s line-up sees Travis joined by English pop-rock stalwarts The Feeling and Del Amitri founding member Justin Currie, as well as singer-songwriter Horse and rock group Little Eye.

Sunday, meanwhile, will see Chic featuring Nile Rodgers take to the stage as the headline act, with pop-rockers Scouting for Girls and folk singer Julie Fowlis also appearing. The Red Hot Chilli Pipers – famous for their bagpipe covers of hits – have also signed up to play.

The event will mark the first Scottish show from Travis – who have two Brit Awards and more than eight million record sales under their belts – since December 2013. The group released their seventh studio album in 2013 and are best known for their smash-hit singles Why Does It Always Rain On Me? and Sing.

And the event will also see one of the first festival performances of Chic featuring Nile Rodgers’ new single I’ll Be There, on the back of a UK-wide tour this month to promote the disco group’s first studio album for 23 years.

Veteran performer Niles – who has collaborated with a number of high-profile artists including David Bowie, Duran Duran and Madonna – said he was “thrilled to be coming back to Scotland this summer”.

He added: “I’ve played some great venues around the world in my time but performing in such a magnificent setting will be really special. Scottish audiences are always pretty lively too so it’s bound to be a magical night.”

Party at the Palace was launched last year by music promotor PDF Promotions and its debut outing saw Simple Minds and Deacon Blue take to the stage in the parkland surrounding Linlithgow Palace.

But the future of the two-day festival was thrown into question after teething problems saw two-hour queues for drinks and a shortage of bar staff.

Now entering its second year, festival producer John Richardson promised the all-star line-up will ensure Linlithgow “won’t know what’s hit it”.

He said: “It’s incredible that we have managed to attract a truly global megastar like Nile to come to Linlithgow.

“You only have to look at his back catalogue of hits from Chic to David Bowie, Duran Duran to Daft Punk to appreciate just what a show this is going to be.

“We’re also excited for the return of Travis to Scotland. They have a bucketful of anthems and we know that they’ll have our crowd singing along all night.”

Passes for the event are on sale at www.partyatthepalace.co.uk and a small number of early bird tickets can still still be snapped up for just £45 per day or £80 for the weekend.