The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Hogmanay hails Euro ties
Edinburgh: Celebration of links planned as Britain prepares to leave EU
Edinburgh’s Hogmanay events will celebrate the ties between Scotland and the continent as the UK prepares to leave the EU, organisers have announced.
Franz Ferdinand and Capercaillie will be among the Scottish bands to perform, while the street party will feature acts such as French performance artists Compagnie Transe Express.
Youngsters will play a part in the festivities to mark Scotland’s Year of Young People 2018 drawing to a close.
The three-day festival will open on December 30 with the traditional torchlight procession, which sees a river of light weave its way through the heart of the city before culminating in a “stunning” visual moment in Holyrood Park where the procession will form the outline of Scotland lit by torches.
Young pipe and drum bands will lead the procession and giant wicker sculptures created by young people through the #ScotArt project will form a heart at the centre of it.
On December 31, bands, DJs, street performers, dancers, acrobats, disco divas and fire-eaters from Scotland and mainland Europe will perform at the street party, which starts at 7.30pm.
On New Year’s Day more than 1,000 people are expected to take place in the Loony Dook in the Firth of Forth to raise money for their chosen charities.
Martin Green, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay executive producer, said: “It’s an honour to have another opportunity to lead the creative team on the world’s greatest street party. It’s appropriate that this year we have chosen to say loudly and proudly to our European friends – ‘we love you!”’