Glasgow puts on opening party for Games that almost never were
After near disaster, Games return to Scotland’s biggest city in ‘love letter’ to Glasgow
With warmth, wit, and a liberal sprinkling of tea towel tropes, Glasgow ushered in what has been billed as a “new era” for the Commonwealth Games thanks to a curtain raiser that defied both its doubters and its bare-bones budget.
In a pared-down show that hit most of its marks while eschewing the temptation to emulate the stadium-sized spectacles of its predecessors, the opening ceremony of Glasgow 2026 focused on a feel-good show underpinned by the theme of reinvention.
It was a fitting choice, both for a city that has pivoted away from a post-industrial malaise, and a multi-sport event that faced an existential crisis just three years ago when the original host, the Australian state of Victoria, pulled out at short notice.
Back then, many sounded the death knell for a sporting gathering borne from the embers of empire, and even now, many still do. Even already, everything feels smaller and more modest this time around. But if this is to be the one of the Games’ final acts, what better place for a knees up than the land of the Weeg?
The ceremony, held in the city’s waterfront Hydro arena, began with a video on a huge curved 50 metre LED screen, featuring one of Scotland’s most celebrated sporting figures, Sir Chris Hoy, alongside Greg McHugh, the star of ‘Gary: Tank Commander’.
In a playful nod to the surviving police boxes in Glasgow and the Scots architect, Gilbert Mackenzie Trench, the duo could be seen hijacking Sylvester McCoy’s Tardis, traversing Edinburgh Castle, The Kelpies, and Glenfinnan Viaduct, before materialising first at Balmoral, and then the Hydro stage.
When the Tardis door eventually opened, the Games delivered its first big panto-style surprise, with Sir Chris leading out King Charles and Queen Camilla. The couple walked to take their place in the Royal Box, buttressed by Prime Minister Andy Burnham and First Minister John Swinney.
But the next surprise was arguably even more unexpected, as a show that had barely begun bucked tradition to segue into the athletes’ parade. In spite of the reduced scale of the Games, there were still around 3,000 competitors who made their way into the arena, and an evocative, shifting soundtrack was provided throughout by Valtos, the electronic Celtic fusion duo from Skye, and other musicians from across the Commonwealth.
Perhaps the idea was to fend off the expected torpor of a procession that lasted around 45 minutes. In truth, they need not have bothered. The sight of so many ecstatic athletes was a heartening reminder of the Games’ power to provide a platform for so many non-sovereign states. In a city that loves an underdog, the loudest cheers were reserved for the likes of Kiribati, a Pacific island nation whose contingent could fit in a Peugeot 205 with room for the shopping.
The only misstep was the concept of each team bringing a baton to be planted into a garden of thistles, ornamental grasses, and perennials in the centre of the Celtic knot shaped stage. The idea was to evoke memories of the 1988 Glasgow Garden Festival, while symbolising common ground and a shared celebration of the natural world. In reality, such a convoluted message worked better on a whiteboard.
Shortly after 9pm, Team Scotland became the final nation to enter the arena to deafening cheers, paving the way for the ceremony to begin in earnest, before Outlander star, Sam Heughan, took part in a skit with Nessie.
Didn’t I tell you there were tea towel tropes? It was one of many repeated throughout the event, with traffic cones aplenty and a particularly explosive pyrotechnic episode starring a giant Tunnock’s Tea Cake.
Though the reliance on cliched and commercialised iconography felt a mite cloying, such moments were brief, and in any case, nothing could have been quite as cringe-inducing as the sight of John Barrowman bestriding a tartan pick-up truck during the Glasgow 2014 opening ceremony.
The shadow of that event loomed large over the current iteration of the Games, not least because it packed considerably more star power, with Rod Stewart, Billy Connolly and James McAvoy among those taking part 12 years ago. Yet the highlights of that ceremony, staged at Celtic Park, were the smaller, considered phases, such as the performance of Hamish Henderson’s Freedom Come All Ye by Pumeza Matshikiza, a soprano who had grown up in apartheid era South Africa.
It proved that imagination is the most priceless of resources, and that constraints could always be overcome, or at least obscured. The 2026 organisers did not quite strike upon any creative solutions as ingenious as that, but they came close; an inventive segment in which a group of neighbours and dancers appeared to fill a street smartly echoed the Kenmure Street immigration protests in 2021. Louisa Mahon, Glasgow 2026’s chief marketing and ceremonies officer, had described the ceremony as a “love letter” to the city, and in such moments, that ambition was realised.
The ceremony truly excelled when it threw caution to the wind and embraced excess. A celebration of the city’s vibrant nightlife scene was a wonderfully over the top fever dream, with Callum Beattie performing ‘Yes Sir, I Can Boogie’ - what else - amidst a parade of sparkly unicorns and disco lights.
It felt almost cruel to transition from that into the lumpen protocol of the Commonwealth flag’s entry, followed by the oaths and speeches, akin to a DJ cutting the music on New Year’s Eve to read out fire safety regulations. What should have been the beginning of a final crescendo was robbed of its pace, although credit to George Black, the chair of Glasgow 2026, for nailing the city’s spirit in a single line of his address. “When the future of these Games was uncertain, Glasgow didn’t ask, ‘Can we?’,” he told the crowd. “We asked, ‘When do we get started?’”
As the ceremony entered its closing stages, Nina Nesbitt and singers from Madrigirls performed an acoustic version of I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) as Hannah Miley and Neil Fachie paraded the baton around the arena. Eventually, it was passed to basketball player, Kieron Achara MBE, who finally handed it to King Charles to declare the Games open.
In a short speech, the monarch touched on the theme of gathering and connecting for a common future. With that, a bracing ten minute musical sequence brought back the party atmosphere, with Tom Walker singing ‘Leave the Light On’ and KT Tunstall performing ‘Black Horse & the Cherry Tree’ and ‘Suddenly I See’. Nathan Evans and Saint PHNX then returned to the stage, followed by the rest of the near 500-strong cast.
Those expecting an elegantly choreographed climax to the ceremony might have felt like it was just a big party. And why not have a big party? The fact it went ahead at all is a triumph.
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