Exclusive:Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo: How Lizzo's music is helping to reinvent iconic event

Creative director pledges new look and sound for next month’s event

It is the global cultural celebration that has lit up Edinburgh Castle esplanade for more than 70 years.

But the New Zealander tasked with reinventing the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo has promised the event will look and sound very different from its previous incarnations when it returns next month.

Bigger projections beamed onto the iconic landmark than ever before, a new surround-sound system, displays of pyrotechnics and bolder, more colourful costumes for performers are being introduced as part of the makeover led by creative director Michael Braithwaite.

Kick-started last year, when several dramatic new sequences were introduced, the overhaul is set to be “dialed up” as part of a drive to overcome long-standing perceptions about the event and widen its audience demographic.

The American rapper Lizzo’s hit song Juice, 1980s hits by Kool & and the Gang and Yello, and anthems from Celtic rock outfits Runrig and Tide Lines will all be performed during a three-week run.

Demand has been so great that 80 per cent of tickets have already been sold.

Highlights of the production, which will celebrate stories from around the world as its major theme this year, are expected to include a Celtic dream sequence inspired by the unicorn of Scottish mythology, the Swiss folk hero William Tell and the voodoo links of the Caribbean.

Last year's Tattoo, the first to be staged since 2019 due to the impact of the Covid pandemic, marked the biggest series of changes in the production since it was first staged on the esplanade in 1950, with a notable increase in the use of special effects, lasers and projections onto the facade of the castle, as well as the introduction of staging on the esplanade and a new “electropipers” segment.

Mr Braithwaite recalled: “Our ambition last year was to make the show more energetic and more immersive, rather than change it for the sake of change. We wanted to keep the audience engaged and create a real sense of pace. It was about keeping tastes with modern tastes and modern audiences.

“We were really thrilled with how the show looked and sounded last year, and how it was received after a few years away. It really gave us the confidence to move forward.

“There was a very quick uptake of advance ticket sales for this year when we put them on sale early. I think a lot of that was word of mouth about last year’s show.

“It was great to have that recognition and endorsement from the public that what we’re doing is landing well and people are hungry for more.

“We intend to dial it up even further, and very much enhance the storytelling elements and production effects.”

Some of the more dramatic sequences in the show are expected in a Caribbean sequence featuring fire, limbo dancing, and performances from contemporary acts like the Freetown Collective, DJ Private Ryan, Nailah Blackman and Skinny Fabulous alongside the celebrated Trinidad & Tobago Defence Force Steel Orchestra.

Mr Braithwaite said: “We’re greatly expanding the projection surface on the castle this year.

"Far more of it will be lit up and we’ll be creating much bigger visual pictures than the Tattoo has ever had before.

“The castle is part of the show and the show is part of the castle. We very much want to bind them together.

"We’re working with new sound designers this year and we’ll have a much bigger sound system – not to make the show louder, but to increase the quality.

"The Tattoo is a much more modern production now, with electronic instruments being used, so the new sound system is designed to optimise that and create a greater sense of immersion for the audience.

“We’re putting a lot of work into the sound quality this year. We’re installing more speakers so that people will get much sharper sound coming at them from all around.

“We’ve also got a new pyrotechnics designer so that we can make more creative use of them throughout the show, but they will be theatrical effects rather than a massive display.

“We’re trying not to overwhelm people with production effects. It’s all about delicate placement so that when you use an effect it has an effect.”

The great American songbook will be drawn on during a debut Tattoo appearance by the United States Air Force Band expected to feature a few surprises, including Lizzo’s 2019 smash hit Juice.

Mr Braithwaite added: “One of the things we try to do with all our visiting acts is to really bring up the DNA of their country and what makes it unique.

“With our musical programme, it’s all about the medley and blending tunes together.

“You can get some quite odd combinations that, on paper, don’t make a lot of sense, until you hear them.”

The much-loved Tide Lines song Far Side of the World and Runrig’s The Story, from their final studio album of the same name, will be among the Scottish anthems performed in the show’s finale.

Mr Braithwaite added: “The wonderful thing about the Tattoo is that it already has such huge support, domestically and internationally. It’s been on the bucket list of many people who come to the show.

“But we’re always interested in widening the reach of the Tattoo. There are still preconceptions out there about the event.

“One of the things we heard most from people last year was that they had no idea that it was so exciting visually and sonically. People who had a preconceived notion about what the Tattoo was were blown away by where we’re going with it.

“The Tattoo has been around for more than 70 years and has changed hugely over time, as it should have. But we’ve still got what people expect – the massed pipes and drums, the precision displays by the military bands and the lone piper."