Recovery Connects, a unique event bringing together people recovering from addictions to drugs and alcohol, will be held at Queens Park Arena in Glasgow on Sunday, July 6.
This year’s festival is being headlined by Leeroy Thornhill, formerly of The Prodigy, and will also feature an acoustic set from Britpop indie band The Bluetones.
Also appearing on stage will be DJ Snoopy, who made his name at the famous Metro nightclub in Saltcoats, as well as tribute band Ocean Colour Scheme.
Comedian Darren Connell will introduce each act at the event, which aims to challenge the stigma around addiction and celebrate the fact that people who struggle with substance use issues can and do recover.
It also connects people in recovery with their communities and is open and welcoming to all, including music fans who would like to experience a festival without alcohol.
The event is sponsored by Abbeycare, which runs drug and alcohol rehabilitation clinics in Scotland and England, and the charity We Are With You, with funding from the Corra Foundation.
It will be the sixth time that Recovery Connects has been staged, with the festival getting bigger each year. Around 2,900 people attended the 2024 event.
Entry is free and no tickets are required. The festival is family-friendly and welcoming to all, with doors opening at 12pm and the event concluding at 6.30pm.
As well as the musical entertainment on the main stage, there will be a variety of other family-friendly activities on offer as well as food and non-alcoholic drinks.
Stalls operated by recovery, mental health and homelessness services and local social enterprises will also be running throughout the day.
The event was created by three friends who are all in recovery themselves – Eddie Clarke, Derek Watt and Shaun Kenny – who together form The Recovery Collective.
The trio can be heard discussing the remarkable success of the festival on the third episode of Listen UP, a new recovery-themed podcast produced by Abbeycare.
During the interview, Kenny describes Recovery Connects as a “safe place” for people to enjoy music without the alcohol-related “carnage” associated with other festivals.
Speaking about attending other events, Watt says: “It’s a long day when you’re not drinking. I always feel at an event like that, as the day progresses, I feel myself getting more and more drained, and my tolerance towards people, alcohol, and the situation I’m in becomes more of a challenge.
“So you can see why that stuff is really dangerous for people, and I think that’s the beauty of our event.”
Last year’s event featured performances from John Power, the former frontman of Britpop band Cast, and a DJ set from Alan McGee, the founder of Creation Records.
Power said at the time: “The crowd were great, it was a bit of party atmosphere. Music will always get people dancing.
“I always play sober, just because I get a different energy. I feel brighter and more buoyant if I’m clear-headed when I’m playing. That’s something that I’ve realised as life has gone on.
“You can enjoy music and things without being trashed.”
Bez of the Happy Mondays, who played the festival in 2023, described the people he met as an “inspiration”, adding: “It’s the first gig I’ve ever done in my life without a drink [or drugs].
“In this day and age, everyone needs some sort of escape. But do you know what the greatest escape is? Music.”
Eddie Clarke, outreach manager at Abbeycare and one of the festival organisers, said: “Recovery Connects keeps getting bigger every year, and we can’t wait to hear the roar of the crowd in Queens Park Arena this summer as they sing along to some 90s classics.
“We’ve come a long way over the past six years, starting off with just a few hundred people and growing into an event attracting thousands of music fans from Glasgow and beyond.
“The festival started with the simple idea of bringing people in recovery together to celebrate what they’ve achieved, rather than hiding it away.
“There is a community, family-friendly feel to it that you just don’t get at other festivals, with people able to enjoy the music without being surrounded by alcohol.”