Singer Bruce Guthro on life since Runrig and one Last Dance in Glasgow

It’s now a year since Runrig completed their Final Mile tour with The Last Dance gigs in front of 50,000 fans over two days in the shadow of Stirling Castle. The fact he is here, shows just what it still means to him.

“We’re very proud of this, no stone has been left unturned to put this package together as it should be, as a tribute to the fans, and to a degree to our legacy. I don’t think anyone will be disappointed if they are a Runrig fan.

READ MORE: Runrig frontman says film of final concerts will wow fans

“In some ways we’re all fans of each other so it will be fun sit there and watch it. If the film represents the days, which I believe it will, then there’s not a bad memory.”

The grass beneath Stirling Castle was turned into a sea of tartan, Saltires and Runrig t-shirts from through the ages when fans and band members alike shed tears in the rain, for the end of a 45-year legacy – of which he pushed them forward for almost half.

“This my first time back since then,” he said: “I’m excited to see everybody - the band and crew. I was as tight with some of the crew as I was with some of the band, I really liked and admired and respect the work that they did.”

“I probably haven’t had the shock of ‘Oh my God, we’re done’ yet,” he admits, “I’ve been busy with life.

“To a degree the band are the same because they have been busy with this project. But I think it will be harder for some in the band, because it was their life, and for me it was 20 year journey, for some it was a 45 year journey.

“We all agree it was the right time, and as I said in my last notes to the fans and the band, I hope we can do it again somewhere, sometime, in some facet, to make some kind of music together for what I consider to be one of the greatest fan bases on Earth.”

It will be a strange sensation for Guthro and his fellow, now ex-band mates. A room full of fans watching their last show together in a three hour long, high def epic captured by Bafta award-winning digital entertainment company Blazing Griffin from Glasgow.

But he said the memories from the occasion remain just as vivid.

“Magic,” he describes it, “It was a bit surreal as it would be for anybody to know that this would be it, in particular, the Last Dance, that these would be the last shows.

“Even the Final Mile, to know these would be the last time you would play these massive venues in Germany and Denmark, it’s pretty hard to describe that feeling. It’s a little bit unbelievable.”

“I just tried to soak up every moment I could, live it and enjoy it, and focus on the show because that had to go on.

“It’s hard to describe the inner feeling and the feelings of the heart in that situation, it’s just a struggle between the head and the heart to try and pull it together, do a good job and just realise the gravity of the whole occasion.”

Most people will recognise him as the frontman, full of energy, poise. The guy with the microphone who can make tends of thousands of people sing.  But away from the stage, he’s thoughtful, knowledgeable and sincere too, refusing to dwell on the past, but instead celebrate building to the future.

READ MORE: Runrig founding member Calum MacDonald on The Last Dance finale being a tribute to fans

He said: “I know my life is going to go on and I am going to continue in music, and I’m sure other members of the band are going to do the same thing. It’s not like music has been taken away from us.

“But this …. union is being taken away from us. We’ll never do this again as a band to these crowds, and that was always a conscious part in the back of my mind.”

And he is grateful. Grateful to the band, grateful to the fans. Grateful to all who helped make this journey possible – in the same way he hopes he impacted on them too.

He said; “When I first joined the band 20 years ago, I said guys I had a solo career, I don’t need a backing band which is a bit of what it was. Donnie was the presence and the boys were in the back.

“I said we need to step up, all as one, and all be present on stage or there is no sense in me doing this. So if we’re going to do this, let’s do it as a band. And from that day forward I made an absolute point to move around that stage and visit everybody.

“Because you are frontman, most of the eyes follow you around because you are speaking, you are singing and moving.

“It took a little while, but eventually everybody warmed up to that as well. I wanted to make sure everybody was involved so that everybody out there recognises the talent up there.”

“Everybody has a different journey.

“Some will struggle more than others with the end of it. I think it’s probably slightly easier for me than most, just because its’ an ongoing and continuing thing for me.

“I’m as busy now on the side of the pond because people know Runrig have retired in the industry circuit, so the phone is ringing more and more with piece trying to get a piece of you.”

But he says the impact on his life can never probably be measured, explaining: “It’s been my past, present and future to a degree. Cape Breton was once populated by 80 percent Highland Scots years and years ago, so to get over here and meet the guys and to be welcomed into the band and to furthermore to be welcomed by the fanbase, and to rebuild something not in a young man’s heyday but as ageing Celtic rockers, something bigger that what it ever was, is an amazing accomplishment, so it’s something I take and carry with great pride and humility. 

“The guys have been a very big part of my life, and this being the culmination of it all, the Last Dance is everything - it really is the big farewell. 

“I don’t look upon it as sad, I don’t, I refuse to. I’ll leave a piece of my heart here and know it was satisfying and move onto my own career and maybe some projects with the lads in the future .. we’ll see.”