Brian Wilson felt the Good Vibrations at Doune the Rabbit Hole Festival

We thought ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice if we sent a Big Issue vendor to Doune the Rabbit Hole Festival?’ – and Brian Wilson certainly agrees.

The Scottish seller, 39, was a big hit at the festival, headlined by The Levellers, This is the Kit and Akala, last weekend, selling more than 100 magazines.

And Brian admitted he was delighted to lap up the atmosphere at the festival alongside revellers.

It’s great that after a lot of hard work Brian was able to enjoy some well-deserved downtime and enjoy some brilliant music

“It was brilliant. There was plenty of different music because there was no one I knew apart from The Levellers but there were stages for reggae, jazz and pop before the rock bands came on in the evening,” he said.

“I had a brilliant response at the festival. There can be some negativity sometimes when you sell the magazine but I was given a very welcoming reception from everyone and I got lots of comments about how it was such a good idea to have a Big Issue vendor at the festival.

“It was quite an intimate festival with only around 2,500 people there so I was able to walk around freely selling the magazine and I was shouting ‘Big Issue’ while walking around the crowd from around 10 in the morning. I had kids running up to me saying that their parents had given them the money to buy the magazine. The atmosphere was great.”

The move off his former pitch outside M&S in Perth allowed Brian to freshen up his selling tactics as he brought his sparkling sense of humour to Doune the Rabbit Hole.

And he also revealed that it didn’t take long for festivalgoers to uncover his Beach Boys link.

Brian said: “I was telling jokes, like the Ferrari is in the shop, or the Lamborghini needed a valet or I needed to sell magazines so I can make the flight back, and it went down really well, I could hear people laughing at the jokes in the caravans as I walked past.

“I was certainly in the right place for people to pick up on my name! I had people telling me that they bet that I wish I had his money!”

Big Issue Scotland team leader Rhys Morgan said: “Everyone at TBI Scotland is over the moon that Brian represented himself and The Big Issue so professionally of the course of Doune the Rabbit Hole.

“It’s also great that after a lot of hard work Brian was able to enjoy some well-deserved downtime and enjoy some brilliant music.”

Away from his pitch, Brian’s plans to start his own boiler repairing business are heating up – and true to his more-famous namesake, he is even planning to call the company Good Vibrations.

“I’m quite excited about it because I have got lot of things in place,” he said. “I have finished my college course and got my level three diploma and my gas safe certificate so now I’m saving up to get myself some tools and a van. It’s really coming together and that is testament to The Big Issue because it has been instrumental in that.”

Image: Zul Bhatia/Doune the Rabbit Hole