Organisers of Edinburgh's Hogmanay today invited revellers to join the planet's "hottest" party when they announced the programme of events for this year. Edinburgh's Hogmanay will run from Tuesday 30 December to Thursday 1 January 2015, and is expected to attract tens of thousands of visitors from around the world.
The three day Edinburgh's Hogmanay Festival, produced on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council, will kick off with the hugely popular Torchlight Procession on Tuesday 30 December.
A complete sell-out for the last few years, this event is expected to attract over 30,000 participants and 8,000 torchbearers in the procession which winds through the city centre from George IV Bridge to the finale which can be viewed from Calton Hill as well as Waterloo Place where there will be additional entertainment.
This year access to Calton Hill will be exclusively available for torchbearers and their accompanying friends and family. In this centenary year of the start of World War I, a contribution from the sale of torches will be donated to Erskine.
The flagship Concert in the Gardens on Wednesday 31 December will return to West Princes Street Gardens with Bjorn Again, the world renowned Australian ABBA Show kicking off the evening, followed by Grammy award winning dance/R&B superstars Soul II Soul closing their worldwide 25th anniversary tour and headliner Lily Allen who, on the last date of her international tour, will take the party through the bells at midnight. Enclosure tickets have already sold out.
Edinburgh's Hogmanay presents the biggest ever Hot Dub Time Machine at the Hogmanay Street Party. The time-travelling dance party which usually sees in New Year in Sydney, returns to Edinburgh to celebrate New Year for the first time in the Home of Hogmanay.
75,000 revellers across the arena will travel back to 1954 and then Moonwalk, Mashed Potato and Macarena their way through the bells and into 2015 with a banging song from each year relayed from the Rewinder Stage on the Mound across screens the length of Princes Street. This is a full-on alternative interactive experience, the crowd enjoying a mass sing-and-dance along.
This year the Scottish line-up at the Street Party includes a headline performance on the Waverley Stage from UK festival-favourites Twin Atlantic, as well as the winners of this year's Mercury Prize, Edinburgh's own alternative hip hop group Young Fathers, and Indie champions The Twilight Sad.
The Scottish Stage will also host performances from Scotland's chanteuse extraordinaire singer songwriter Eddi Reader with special guests Radio 2 Folk Award nominated Breabach and the band led by Scottish piping phenomenon Ross Ainslie & Jarlath Henderson.
At the Keilidh on the Mound revellers will be birling through the bells to The Smashers (featuring members of Rura), Hugh MacDiarmid's Haircut and The Sensational Jimi Shandrix Experience.
Revellers will enjoy countdown firework displays at 9.00pm, 10.00pm and 11.00pm rising to the crescendo of the spectacular "Midnight Moment" with the fireworks display lift from the ramparts of Edinburgh Castle and Calton Hill. Followed by the world's largest rendition of Auld Lang Syne as old friends and new join hands across the arena to sing Burn's anthem.
All stages are live from 9.00pm to 1.00am but the party starts from 7.00pm throughout the Street Party arena with bars, rides and attractions.
Free NightBus services will run throughout Edinburgh and the Lothians for revellers at the Street Party and throughout the City Centre, supported by Lothian Buses and Johnnie Walker. These safe rides home are part of the Join the Pact global responsible drinking initiative from Johnnie Walker which has secured over one million personal commitments from people across the world to never to drink and drive.
Edinburgh's Hogmanay 3-day festival concludes on the 1st January with Scot:Lands a free, culture crawl through 11 venues in Edinburgh's Old Town.
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