Anyone who believes in the curse of 2016, with its apparent fatality for cultural icons and tendency towards political instability, will be glad to see the back of this year. Yet there’s a certain sense of reassuring constancy to Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, an amplified sense of renewal which the arrival of the first day of a new year brings. And if anything, this year’s event is bigger and more packed with welcome distractions than ever.
The highlight, of course, is the Concert in the Gardens. This year’s headliner to take us through the bells and the fireworks at midnight is Paisley’s Paolo Nutini, with a textured and ever more mature set of last-orders blues’n’soul drawn from his three albums. This would have been his only Scottish show of the year, until demand created the first ever Night Afore Concert, er, the night before. Support comes from much-loved Scots alternative rockers Frightened Rabbit at the first date and Liverpudlian indie-pop classicists the Lightning Seeds on Hogmanay, with Nutini’s fellow Paisleyites the Vegan Leather playing both shows.
Enduring, crowd-pleasing and typically joyous, Madchester and Britpop veterans the Charlatans will headline the Waverley Stage at the world-famous Street Party, which lines Princes Street. The band’s lead singer Tim Burgess – who this year published his second memoir, Tim Book Two – appears in conversation with DJ Vic Galloway at the Assembly Hall on the Mound earlier in the day, in an event sponsored by the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
Edinburgh’s Hogmanay has many strong points, and one of them is supporting young Scottish artists on these big stages. This year, the Waverley Stage also welcomes the Kilmarnock-formed Fatherson, who released their second album Open Book through Sony and sold out some iconic Scottish venues, including Glasgow’s Barrowland, in 2016. ‘As a young band from Scotland, playing Hogmanay in Edinburgh’s always been high up on the bucket list,’ says singer Ross Leighton. ‘The scale of the event and the significance of seeing in the bells in the capital city will be quite amazing, I think. We’re going to keep our set pretty light in keeping with the atmosphere of a Scottish Hogmanay.’
Also appearing will be the fast-rising Be Charlotte, fronted by Dundee’s Charlotte Brimner, who released a debut single in May and have played America and Asia since; a European tour follows in January, then hopefully her first tour in Scotland itself. ‘This will be my first time in Edinburgh at Hogmanay, and to be playing at the Street Party is amazing,’ she says. ‘It’s one of the targets we set ourselves years ago, and I’m delighted it’s come so soon in our career. It’ll be the biggest audience we’ve ever played to, and our set will be a celebration of a great year.’
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Those with more traditional music tastes might prefer the Old Town Ceilidh on and around the Royal Mile on either side of midnight, while the brand new Sprogmanay is a series of events aimed at children and families (National Museum of Scotland, Fri 30 Dec–Sun 1 Jan) and the very enjoyable New Year’s Day treasure hunt of arts and music Scot:Lands returns once more.
Edinburgh’s Hogmanay takes place Fri 30 Dec–Sun 1 Jan. Discover the full lineup at edinburghshogmanay.com
More reviews and listings at list.co.uk