Aidan O’Rourke on First Footin’: ‘a gift from the city to the people of Edinburgh’

Featuring a wide variety of artists performing in venues across Edinburgh on 1 January, First Footin’ is as much for local residents as it is for visitors to the city, writes David Pollock

Although Scot:Lands, the former event which filled Edinburgh venues with music and art on New Year’s Day, only ran from 2014-17, that’s long enough to reminisce with Aidan O’Rourke of folk band Lau about a wonderful event which seemed to subtly alter the landscape of the city.

“It was about not having to make decisions on the first day, where you could well be hungover, or in a headspace where you want to start the year afresh and experience new things,” says O’Rourke, remembering the wheel-spin at the central National Museum of Scotland which sent visitors to random venues. “On New Year’s Day, everyone's synapses are open and ready to take on new things. You just go with the flow, which is lovely.”

We’re not here purely for the nostalgia, however. Scot:Lands was based on Lau:Land, a semi-regular micro-festival which O’Rourke and his popular contemporary folk band have taken to various locations over the years. Its theme of artists having their own “land” to programme was borrowed and adapted, with Lau’s collaboration, by Pete Irvine of Unique Events, then-programmers of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay.

Kathryn Joseph PIC: Laura Ward

Then Unique lost the Hogmanay contract and events on 1 January evolved away from the format, before Covid hit and nothing happened at all. But last year Unique returned to Edinburgh’s Hogmanay festival alongside Assembly, and what was once Scot:Lands made a similar and very welcome reappearance as the newly (non-random) First Footin’. This year’s larger event includes O’Rourke as both programmer and performer.

“It plays on the old tradition of ‘first footing’ at New Year,” he says, “where you might end up in a neighbour’s house, or around the corner visiting friends, experiencing new things and new people. This day has a unique headspace in general, but to programme on it is a bit of a gift, because you can guide the hazy first encounters of the year with what you put on.”

This year, 33 individual artists perform across 16 venues, from solo acts in old-fashioned pubs to multi-band bills in some of the city’s grandest rooms. One highlight will be Lau themselves, playing collaborative sets at St Giles’ Cathedral with Kathryn Joseph. “You'll get to hear us individually and in collaboration,” says O’Rourke, who lived nearby on the Canongate until recently. “We've also got Tam Dean Burn as the maître d’, welcoming everyone at the door as if it’s his house party. It's a big epic space, it’ll sound amazing. It looks amazing too, if the day’s at all bright the light changes every ten seconds, it’s quite incredible.”

O’Rourke also explains his own programming elsewhere. “In the Fruitmarket Gallery we've got local guitar hero Sean Shibe, who’s recently Grammy-nominated. He’s an amazing guitarist, who to me is reinventing the way classical music can be presented. I've teamed him up with Mira Benjamin, a Canadian violinist now based in London, who also has incredible technique, while exploring new ways of presenting music.

Sean Shibe

“In the Spiegeltent at St Andrew Square, Graeme Steven and his trio will play newly-composed scores to Buster Keaton shorts – it’s incredible what he does with silent films. Then up in Greyfriars Kirk we've got Juliette Lemoine and Fergus McCreadie, Juliet performing as a duo with guitarist Chris Amer and Fergus with his trio. He’s rocking it just now, he's the most important jazz player to come out of this country in the last decade, I'd say, really getting underneath the music and the roots of his melodic ideas.”

Sara Sutherland is the First Footin’ producer for Unique, whose programming remit covers the day’s pop and alternative side, away from O’Rourke’s folk and jazz. “It’s a priority for me to curate a really diverse programme,” she says. “Not just across musical genres, but also in terms of representation, which is important for the music industry and also for audiences.

“At the Assembly Rooms’ Music Hall, we’re collaborating with the Scottish Album of the Year Award, [putting on] a showcase of four of this year’s shortlisted nominees. Cloth are an alternative rock band, then Becky Sikaza is a real artist to watch, she plays alternative pop with an amazing voice. Bemz is an incredible rapper and No Windows were the Sound of Young Scotland winners at the SAY Award this year, a very raw talent with loads of energy.

“In Greyfriars Hall at Virgin Hotel it’s going to be a daytime club, with Hot Chip DJs headlining. Hayley Zelassi is an amazing DJ from Glasgow who plays all over the world, and DJ Rawzie will be doing more of a disco set.” There are also diverse line-ups at the Eve bar next door, and Cold Town House at the other end of the Grassmarket.

Aidan O'Rourke PIC: Mihaela Bodlovic

“First Footin’ puts a load of new energy into a city that's usually asleep on the first day of the year, apart from the crazy few who might jump into the Forth,” says O’Rourke. “It always felt like a sleepy city on New Year's Day, with a few bars open, but this has injected a whole new energy, and it's for the residents as much as it’s for people visiting.

“I think something like 60 or 70 percent of people who go are locals, so it's like a gift from the city to the people of Edinburgh. It’s a really cool thing to do on the first day of your year, it's free, it's positive and it's beautifully curated. It’s for everyone, regardless of your tastes – you’ll stroll around the city and find something you love.”

First Footin’ is at various venues in Edinburgh on 1 January as part of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, www.edinburghshogmanay.com