Edinburgh is the home of Hogmanay and this year, according to Ed and Charlie from Underbelly who produce it, will be the best New Year Party in the World. This year people from all over the world are invited to share the love in Edinburgh.
The Edinburgh’s Hogmanay street party will be headlined by Franz Ferdinand on the main stage in Princes Street Gardens and building on the framework of last year which was their first year in charge, there will be stages all along Princes Street with many varied acts to choose from.
The main sponsor for this year’s Street Party is Johnnie Walker and over 18s can be assured of a free dram to see in the New Year.
Before that on the 30 December the three day festival gets started with the Torchlight Procession winding its way through the old town to Holyrood Park with a stunning ending with torches forming a map of Scotland and then a heart to represent the end of the Year of Young People 2018. #ScotArt is also an event to mark the end of what has been a full year of emphasis on the next generation. This will involved young emerging artists from all over Scotland who have led creative workshops to design 14 symbols to encapsulate each region. These will be formed into giant wicker sculptures with the assistance of artist Ariel Killock. They will be on display between Christmas and 30 December when they will lead off the Torchlight Procession.
Using one of the best ‘new’ venues, the McEwan Hall is an inspired idea as it will give many the opportunity of experiencing both music and dance.
On 30 December, Symphonic Ibiza fuses a live 15 piece orchestra with renowned club DJ Andy Joyce (Cream, Eden, Ministry of Sound, Creamfields) to create a stirring concert of club classics under the amazing dome of McEwan Hall. The show comes off the back of a BBC Radio 1 performance in Ibiza this summer and makes its UK premiere at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay.
Tickets are now on sale at edinburghshogmanay.com or by phone 0131 510 0395.
This year will celebrate Scotland’s connections with Europe, but there is a lot of homegrown talent on offer too with Street Party Hosts the Mac Twins and Capercaillie playing at one of the concerts on 1 January which is a new collaboration between Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and Celtic Connections.
This morning at the programme launch there was an air of established organisation building on what was set as the template last year, with a few new twists.
Ed Bartlam explained to us that the stage in front of The Balmoral has been moved to South St David Street as experience showed last year that this became a bit of a windy location! And with the fresh look at New Year’s Day this is set to become a time for locals.
On New Year’s Day the McEwan Hall will be transformed by Celtic sounds and celebration throughout the day, kicking off in the morning with a free to attend First Footers Family Ceilidh. In an exciting new collaboration between Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow, two fantastic concerts take place in the afternoon and evening. Capercaillie with Special Guests at 4pm brings a traditional Scottish knees up to McEwan Hall. Capercaillie is inviting guest musicians to join them to bring the sounds of the European family of nations together in an afternoon of shared cultural celebration. Then at 8pm, international Galician folk star Carlos Nunez joins special guests from the cream of the Scottish music scene for a very special evening of musical exchange.
There are 10,000 £20 tickets on offer for those with an EH postcode so hurry to snap up yours.
The two Underbelly directors and the Culture Convener Donald Wilson are all entered in the Loony Dook at South Queensferry on New Year’s Day, raising money for two charities the Brain Tumour Charity and the OneCity Trust.
All events as per the programme but with more to be announced!
30 DECEMBER
BABY LOVES DISCO HOGMANAY BASH, 1 – 3pm
£9 (+ £1 booking fee)
0-6 years
20% discount for EH postcode holders
Tickets are per person, babes in arms go free
Bring your tiny dancers and get kilted and booted for 2 hours of Hogmanay dayclubbing! Take a celebratory look back over the music of 2018 and with nostalgic pop floor-fillers from the days before parenthood struck, for all the generations to enjoy together.
Expect a Hogmanay twist with a short family ceilidh and Auld Lang Syne practice run with supplied ‘toddler torches’.
Includes facepainting, dress-up, bubbles, balloons, dancefloor games and giveaways, chill-out play area and crafts zone. With a licensed bar for parents, it won’t just be the little ones going gaga!
TORCHLIGHT PROCESSION, 7pm
£12 with torch, + £1 booking fee / £3 without torch
Born of the Viking tradition, Edinburgh’s Torchlight Procession has become famous around the world as one of the first images of the impending change to a new year and the beginning of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations.
The Procession returns to its new route down the Royal Mile, starting from three different points, High Street, South Bridge and North Bridge, winding between Holyrood Palace and the Scottish Parliament to reach Holyrood Park.
In Holyrood Park, torchbearers will form the distinctive outline of Scotland and at its heart, and marking the end of Scotland’s Year of Young People 2018, 14 wicker sculptures created as part of the #ScotArt youth engagement project, will come together to form a heart-shape symbolically representing a collective national youth voice.
50p from every ticket bought goes to One City Trust, fighting inequality and exclusion in the City of Edinburgh.
SYMPHONIC IBIZA, 8pm (doors at 7pm)
£50 / £40 /£30 (+ £3 booking fee)
Symphonic Ibiza fuses a live 15 piece orchestra with renowned club DJ Andy Joyce (Cream, Eden, Ministry of Sound, Creamfields) to create stirring concert of club classics under the amazing dome of McEwan Hall.
The show comes off the back of a BBC Radio 1 performance in Ibiza this summer and makes its UK premiere at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay.
31 DECEMBER
BABY LOVES DISCO HOGMANAY BASH, 1 – 3pm
£9 (+ £1 booking fee)
0-6 years
20% discount for EH postcode holders
Tickets are per person, babes in arms go free
Bring your tiny dancers and get kilted and booted for 2 hours of Hogmanay dayclubbing! Take a celebratory look back over the music of 2018 and with nostalgic pop floor-fillers from the days before parenthood struck, for all the generations to enjoy together.
Expect a Hogmanay twist with a short family ceilidh and celebrate ‘the bells’ with the Australians as we countdown to actual midnight in Queensland!
Includes facepainting, dress-up, bubbles, balloons, dancefloor games and giveaways, chill-out play area and crafts zone. With a licensed bar for parents, it won’t just be the little ones going gaga!
BAIRNS AFORE, 5pm (doors at 4pm)
£20 / £12 /£9 /£7.50 (+ £1 booking fee)
On 31st December, families and young people can celebrate their Hogmanay well before the bells in Princes Street Gardens at Bairns Afore.
Massaoke, the live band and singalong sensation that is sweeping the UK from Glastonbury to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe present a family friendly version which will have everyone dancing and singing their hearts out before a stunning ‘midnight’ fireworks moment at 6pm giving the Bairns their midnight moment with plenty of time to get them home for bed!
CANDLELIT CONCERT, 6pm (doors at 5pm)
£18.50 (+ £1 booking fee)
This year’s concert captures the splendour of the court of Versailles with Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Te Deum, famous for its iconic opening fanfare. The Baroque theme continues with J.S.Bach’s cantata for the last Sunday of the year, Gottlob! Nun geht das jahr zu Ende BWV 28, and the concert concludes with festive exuberance in Bach’s Magnificat.
St Giles’ Cathedral Choir, directed by Michael Harris, with the St Giles’ Camerata, leader Angus Ramsay, are joined by a stunning array of talented young soloists.
STREET PARTY HOSTED BY JOHNNIE WALKER, 7:30pm – 1:00am
£30 (10,000 at £20 for Edinburgh residents) (+ £1 booking fee)
The world’s best New Year street party.
From 7:30pm, Edinburgh will throw open its doors to the world. Join us as live bands, DJs, street performers, acrobats, choirs and more all combine across multiple stages and on the streets to make it the party of a lifetime, hosted by Love Island’s Aftersun DJs The Mac Twins.
The music line-up includes appearances from home-grown phenomenon Gerry Cinnamon and superstar DJ Judge Jules, as well as Meute, Vistas, Elephant Sessions, Miracle Glass Company, Trendy Wendy and hosts The Mac Twins.
At midnight, German sensation Meute will be providing the soundtrack to the ultimate fireworks display from Edinburgh Castle.
MUSIC STAGE LINE UP
Waverly Stage
Vistas
Gerry Cinnamon
Snap!
Castle Street Stage
Trendy Wendy
Judge Jules
The Mac Twins
South St David Street Stage
Miracle Glass Company
Meute
Elephant Sessions
Street Activation Artists include:
Compagnie Transe Express
Compagnie Des Quidams
All Or Nothing Aerial Dance Theatre
An Act Above
Diva and Districts Pipes and Drums
Got Soul! Choir
PyroCeltica
Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is proud to be fundraising for Brain Tumour Charity. At checkout, a donation can be added to and help us raise money to fund vital research.
SILENT DISCO AT THE STREET PARTY, 7:30pm – 1:00am
£5 (+ 50p booking fee) in advance or £10 (cash only) on the door
New for this year, visit the Silent Disco arena in the Street Party and have a silent adventure of your own. Whether your taste is indie or Europop, Silent Disco has a playlist for you. Don your headphones on Market Street, choose your channel and get ready to learn some groovy new moves this Hogmanay.
Advance purchase can only be made when purchasing either a Street Party hosted by Johnnie Walker or a Concert in the Gardens ticket.
HOGMANAY HQ, 7.30pm – 1:00am
£200 (+ £5 booking fee) Hog HQ /
£220 (+ £5 booking fee) Hog HQ + Street Party
Enjoy Edinburgh’s Hogmanay from the comfort and splendor of Hogmanay HQ at The Hub on Castlehill. Fizz, dinner and music combined with a prime spot to view the midnight fireworks from make this a hot ticket.
Hogmanay HQ + Street Party ticket gives full access to the Street Party hosted by Johnnie Walker.
CEILIDH UNDER THE CASTLE 8:30pm (doors at 7:30pm)
£140 /£55.00 (+ £5 booking fee)
Experience the best of Scotland at the Ceilidh under the Castle. Whirl or jig, fling or be flung under Edinburgh Castle. Join hands with old friends and new to dance in the New Year with Scotland’s top ceilidh bands – The Jimmy Shandrix Experience, Hugh MacDairmid’s Haircut and Ceilidhdonia – and plenty of local food and drink to keep you spinning all night.
At midnight, welcome in 2019 with a breath-taking fireworks display, amidst the historic setting of the majestic Edinburgh Castle.
CONCERT IN THE GARDENS, 9:00pm (doors at 8:00pm)
£160 / £70 / £60 (+ £5 booking fee)
Celebrate Hogmanay in spectacular style at the Concert in the Gardens. This year Franz Ferdinand headlines Edinburgh’s Hogmanay with support from Metronomy and Free Love supporting.
At midnight, say goodbye to 2018 and welcome in 2019 with the best views of the fireworks over Edinburgh Castle.
A ticket for Concert in the Gardens will include a wristband for access to the Street Party.
1 JANUARY
LOONY DOOK, 12:30pm, registration from 10:30am
£10 (+ £2 booking fee)
The Loony Dook continues its New Year’s Day tradition at South Queensferry. In the shadow of the Forth Bridges, the dippers in fancy dress, scantily clad or even fully clothed from the night before will brave the chill to raise money for charities while shaking off their Hogmanay hangover.
Ticket includes £1.00 donation to RNLI.
FIRST FOOTERS FAMILY CEILIDH, 12:30pm (doors open 12:00pm)
Free ticketed
Welcome, first footers, to the first ceilidh of 2019! A family-friendly affair that’s free to attend (with a ticket booked in advance) in the magnificent McEwan Hall, blow away the Hogmanay cobwebs with your nearest and dearest, old and young and start the year off the right way with a wee dance.
EDINBURGH’S HOGMANAY IN ASSOCIATION WITH CELTIC CONNECTIONS PRESENTS: Capercaillie and Special Guests, 4:30pm (doors open 4pm)
£35 / £30 / £25 (+ £3 booking fee)
In an exciting new collaboration between Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and Glasgow’s Celtic Connections festival, Capercaillie brings a traditional Scottish knees-up to McEwan Hall. Capercaillie is inviting guest musicians to join them to bring the sounds of the European family of nations together in an afternoon of shared cultural celebration.
EDINBURGH’S HOGMANAY IN ASSOCIATION WITH CELTIC CONNECTIONS PRESENTS: Carlos Nunez and Special Guests, 8pm (doors open 7:30pm)
£35 / £30 / £25 (+ £3 booking fee)
In an exciting new collaboration between Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and Glasgow’s Celtic Connections festival, international Galician folk star Carlos Nunez joins special guests from the cream of the Scottish music scene for a very special evening of musical exchange.
MESSAGE FROM THE SKIES (dusk to 10.00pm, unticketed, no fixed capacity)
Message from the Skies returns to Edinburgh’s Hogmanay on Tuesday 1 January with a celebration of Scotland’s literature and asks six Scottish writers to each write a love letter to Europe marking Scotland’s shared cultural, historic and social connections with this family of nations. The letters will be projected onto iconic buildings and landmarks around Edinburgh animated by a range of different composers and projection artists.
The writers are Billy Letford, Chitra Ramaswamy, Kapka Kassabova, Louise Welsh, Stef Smith and William Dalrymple from the worlds of poetry, journalism, fiction, travel, history and theatre.
Message from the Skies runs until Friday 25 January 2018 and is developed in partnership with Edinburgh City of Literature and supported by Creative Scotland through the Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Festivals EXPO fund.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
