Thousands snap-up early Tattoo tickets

MORE than 167,000 tickets for this year’s Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo have already been sold, more than three months before the first performance.

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

The annual event on Edinburgh Castle Esplanade is the biggest of its kind in the world.

More than 1400 performers from around the world will take part in 25 spectacular performances between August 7-29.

Brigadier David Allfrey, the Tattoo’s chief executive and producer, said: “We are now 76% sold for this year - that’s more than 167,000 tickets - and we are only just out of April.

“That demonstrates just how many people want to come and see the show, which is a huge pleasure and privilege for us.”

He added: “The Tattoo is an extraordinary adventure. It has been running for 65 years and amazingly we have sold out the show for the last 16 seasons.

“When you consider that is 220,000 people a year I think that is astonishing.”

Brig Allfrey said the Tattoo’s castle backdrop was “incomparable anywhere in the world”, while the stands “form an amphitheatre” over the performance area.

He added: “Each year we get some extraordinary responses to the performances.

“The sound of the pipes and drums is absolutely unique.

“Although lots of people play the pipes and drums around the world, I don’t think anybody really delivers the mass and the tone of the great instrument in quite the way that we do.

“Some people don’t like the sound of the bagpipes but when you hear 250 of them playing together it has an emotional effect on people.

“It is not unusual to have some quite grown up people getting quite emotionally overcome by that.”