The theme for this year’s Edinburgh’s Hogmanay events is Be Together. Be surrounded by people from all over the world who have made Edinburgh their New Year destination this year. There will be events from tomorrow 30 December onwards starting with a programme at the McEwan Hall.
The torchlight procession will process towards Holyrood Park where the torchbearers will create a symbol to share with the world – two figures holding hands.
With stages set both in Princes Street Gardens and on the side streets, there is music galore to listen to at the street party which is hosted by Johnnie Walker. Marc Almond, DJ Mark Ronson who headlines the concert in the gardens, Glasgow’s Arielle Free from BBC Radio 1 and Scottish Indie band Idlewild will entertain those with a ticket – and there are still some tickets left.
On the streets you will see giant puppets, jugglers, hip hop dancers, fire artists and drummers.
The weather is set fair and it is looking mild for Hogmanay itself.
The preparations for the Midnight Moment are well underway with Titanium Fireworks setting up all around Edinburgh Castle already.
At the press conference this morning the directors of Underbelly were keen to set the facts straight on the matter of local residents needing passes. This is the same arrangement as it has been before, and in fact this year the only change will be that the pass will be in the form of a wristband.
Ed Bartlam Director of Underbelly made this clear. He said : “I want to talk about access business and residents’ access.
“It’s obviously been talked about in the last few days. This event has never prevented residents or businesses from accessing their properties. And we will, again not be preventing anybody from going into their residences or their properties. We’ve never done so.
“The previous event producers never did so and that’s how it will be.
“We do acknowledge and accept that events like this have an impact on residents and businesses within the city centre. And we’re very grateful to everybody for their understanding in this, but the system is in place to create a safe and secure event arena and that has to be of primary importance to all of us. This has been a system that’s been successfully managed in previous years. It’s been a system has been in place for many, many years. Indeed it predates Underbelly’s delivery of the Hogmanay contract.
“In previous years residents have been given a ticket to access the street party arena and their properties. And this year we have made one change, which is to swap the tickets with wristbands. And we’ve done this to make the process of accessing residences within the arena through the stewards at arena gates that much easier for everyone involved.”
Councillor Donald Wilson also told us there is nothing new in the process for local residents to gain access.
He said : “The the confusion relating to access – I’m not sure where that’s come from because over 6000 residents were written to.
“The new process – well it’s not a new process – the same old process that we’ve used for 40 years is the one that’s been used to guarantee residents access on the night.”
Tickets available now at edinburghshogmanay.com
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
