A Scottish DJ who is hosting a dance music festival in her home city next summer has said it is “absolutely wild” that 10,000 tickets were sold in just one hour.
Hannah Laing, 30, has made a name for herself in the electronic music scene with past performances at Creamfields, Terminal V, The Warehouse Project, TRNSMT and Parklife.
She has even appeared as a support act for Hollywood actor and DJ Idris Elba in Ibiza.
The DJ has now unveiled plans to hold her own festival in Dundee’s Camperdown Country Park on 5 July 2025.
Tickets for Doof In The Park went on sale last week, with 10,000 snapped up within 60 minutes.
Laing told Sky News: “It’s really overwhelming that we’ve managed to sell that many tickets without a line-up and just my name. That feels absolutely wild to me.”
The musician has played at Camperdown Park twice before – first in 2017 at Carnival Fifty Six and then last year for Radio 1’s Big Weekend.
Despite the ticket demand and calls to turn it into a weekend-long festival, Laing said the event will be capped at 15,000 and will only take place across one day.
She said: “Because it’s my first festival, I don’t want to go too big, too quick. I just want to put my all into this.
“Even though the demand is there, it would be stupid to go absolutely mental.”
If the event turns out to be a success, then Laing would consider expanding in future years.
Laing has been making music for 12 years, with the festival named after her own record label, Doof.
In 2023, her single Good Love with RoRo spent 26 weeks in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number seven.
Another career highlight was selling out Dundee’s Caird Hall earlier this year on two dates.
It was those shows that have encouraged Laing to take her Dundee gigs outdoors.
Read more from Sky News:
James Blunt will ‘legally change name to fans’ choosing’
Band cancel tour dates due to illness
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Tap here
Unlike Glasgow and Edinburgh, there’s no large-scale dance events in the “City of Discovery”.
Spotting a gap in the market, Laing said it was “important” to hold the festival in Dundee and hopes it will inject some cash into the local economy.
She added: “It’s kind of always been on my radar to do something big. Obviously, I’m from Dundee, so it makes sense for me to do it there.”
Laing has teamed up with colleagues in the industry who have experience in organising larger music events.
She said: “I’m working with such a great team. Because the festival is my festival, it’s my brand. Ultimately, every decision comes back to me.
“So, there is a lot more pressure, but I want to be part of every single decision.
“I was a raver before all of this, so I want it to be as best as possible. It’s much, much more work, but you’ve got to put in the work to get something out of it.”
Laing is yet to unveil the line-up but is promising a bill with household names and up-and-coming artists.
And for those who have never seen Laing in action before, she said: “My sets are all about the high energy. It caters to all ages because my sound is very 90s-inspired.
“My mum and dad are 90s ravers, and that’s really why I’m into that.
“So I get quite a wide age range of people coming to my shows because I do play a lot of that old 90s music, and my own music is influenced by that.”
Source : Sky News
