Edinburgh's Hogmanay festival expansion revealed with bigger 45k street party and Texas return to headline

Edinburgh's Hogmanay festival has been running since 1993. Picture: Chris Watt

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay festival is to expand outwith the city centre, run for an extra day and raise the capacity of its main street party – with Scottish rock and pop favourites Texas confirmed as headliners.

The Scotsman can reveal both free and ticketed events will be staged in several new out-of-town locations on New Year’s Day as part of the latest overhaul of the 31-year-old event.

Texas, led by frontwoman Sharleen Spiteri, will be playing a headline show at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations for the fourth time. | Getty Images

Organisers have pledged to stage live music gigs, family ceilidh dances and DJ events in outlying communities for the first time as part of an expansion of the First Footin’ and Sprogmanay programmes on January 1.

Glasgow act Cloth were one of the acts to appear in the First Footin' programme in Edinburgh on New Year’s Day this year.

The Scotsman can also reveal the festival will open on December 28, with the launch of a four-day programme of events at the Assembly Rooms on George Street. Other changes this year include an increase in the capacity of the main street party, as well as the addition of a new live music stage inside the arena.

The five-hour long street party, which sold out last year, will now be able to accommodate up to 45,000 revellers, up from 40,000 last year, with plans for further increases in future years depending on demand.

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay festival has staged First Footin' events in venues in the Old and New Towns, including the Assembly Roxy, on New Year’s Day in recent years.

Texas, who will be playing the 10,000-capacity Concert in the Gardens, will headline the festival for the fourth time. Organisers are launching a pre-sale to anyone registered with the official website on Wednesday. 

Texas announced their Hogmanay appearance at the end of the second of two sold-out shows this weekend at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, which rounded off a 35th-anniversary tour of UK arenas.

Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri | AFP via Getty Images

Organisers Unique Events and Assembly Festival, which will be running the new year festival for up to five more years after securing a new contract earlier this year, have revealed a Night Afore Disco Party will be held in Princes Street Gardens on December 30 for the third year in a row.

Scottish Government funding for the Hogmanay festival’s torchlight procession is still to be confirmed. However, it is hoped the event will still be able to go ahead through the city centre on December 29.

Texas will be headlining Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations this year. | Supplied .

Edinburgh’s Christmas festival, which will run for seven weeks from mid-November, is already expected to expand out of the city centre under the new contract awarded to Unique and Assembly.

The new out-of-town venues will expand the First Footin' programme, which will also be returning to venues in the Old and New Towns, including Greyfriars Kirk, St Giles' Cathedral and the Fruitmarket Gallery.

Free ceilidh dances have been held on New Year's Day as part of Edinburgh's Hogmanay festival in recent years.

Unique director Al Thomson told The Scotsman: “We have confirmed funding from the Scottish Government's Festivals Expo Fund, which goes specifically towards our First Footin' and Sprogmanay programmes on New Year's Day to make them happen.

"We are looking to expand the First Footin' programme outwith the city centre for the first time to take the festival into several new locations.

Callum Beattie will be appearing at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations this year.

"We will be embracing at least three new venues for community events, which will allow more people to get involved in our New Year's Day activities. There will be free events in the afternoon and ticketed events in the afternoon."

The full programme for the Hogmanay festival is expected to be announced at the end of October. However, Mr Thomson said the full funding needed to stage the torchlight procession was not yet in place.

Sharleen Spiteri’s band Texas played a headline gig at Edinburgh Castle esplanade at the Millennium Hogmanay celebrations.

“We do, of course, want the torchlight procession to happen this year and we are speaking to funders at the moment to make sure that it does happen,” he said. “We are looking at a redesign of the street party this year, to increase the capacity by 5,000 and bring in an additional stage.

“We have gradually been rebuilding the street party post-Covid. Increasing the capacity helps us to put on more entertainment, so we will have three stages this year. The more people we can have at the event year-on-year, the more entertainment we can add in and develop the programme over the next few years.”

Texas, who are celebrating the 35th anniversary of the release of debut album Southside and first hit I Don’t Want a Lover, made their first appearance in Princes Street Gardens at the fifth festival in 1997 and returned two years later for a Millennium Hogmanay show at Edinburgh Castle esplanade.

The Glasgow outfit’s last Hogmanay appearance was in 2005 when they co-headlined with singer-songwriter KT Tunstall, who supported the band in Glasgow this weekend.

Mr Thomson said: “The sold-out Hydro shows in Glasgow were planned to be the end of Texas’s UK tour. However, we are thrilled they will be coming back to headline Edinburgh’s Hogmanay.

"You only have to look at the back catalogue of hits Texas have had over the last 35 years. They have been the soundtrack to the lives of so many people growing up.

“We’ve been very lucky over the last few years to attract acts like Pet Shop Boys, Pulp and now Texas, who have been around for decades. Their endurance and the affection people have for these bands only grows.”

Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri said: “Get on your glad rags and let’s party for the new year.”

Supporting Texas at the Concert in the Gardens, which will be hosted by stand-up comic Susie McCabe, will be Edinburgh-born singer-songwriter Callum Beattie, two years after he played a free show in a bar in the Grassmarket as part of the Hogmanay festival’s First Footin’ line-up.

Mr Thomson said Beattie’s fanbase had “rocketed” in the two years since he last appeared at the festival, which he will return to in December days after a sold-out run at the Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow.

Mr Thomson said: “Callum has been around for a few years, but his credibility and status is growing more and more. He’s selling out big venues now. He used to busk outside the Usher Hall and sold out two concerts there in the summer.

"I think the big thing with him has been perseverance. He has such a strong, loyal fanbase that he has built up over the years, which has allowed him to go up to the next level. He has rocketed in terms of popularity, so we’re really excited to have him on our main stage, especially as he was part of the festival in a much smaller capacity two years ago.”

The singer-songwriter said: “In just a few years I’ve gone from selling 30 tickets, to sold-out shows, including three sold-out Barrowland gigs and two sold-out Usher Hall shows.

“Being asked to play the Concert in the Gardens at Hogmanay is without a doubt the greatest highlight of my career so far. To be doing it with Sharleen and the guys just makes it even sweeter. I can’t believe it.”

Val Walker, culture convener at Edinburgh City Council, said: "The capital’s Hogmanay celebration is not only an Edinburgh tradition, it’s world renowned. It will be wonderful to welcome back the iconic Texas performing a career-spanning set.

“With Edinburgh’s own Callum Beattie joining them as a special guest, I’m delighted that this year's Concert in the Gardens has such a strong Scottish line up.

“It promises to be a fantastic party to welcome 2025, where gig-goers will have unequalled views of the midnight fireworks over Edinburgh Castle. Edinburgh will continue to be the place to welcome in the new year.

“I look forward to the full Hogmanay programme being unveiled.”