The Edinburgh Hogmanay Street Party. It’s become the stuff of legend, planted deep in the genes of guidebook folklore and featured on more global bucket lists than sweating a 26-miler.
The best thing about it? As long as you tackle it in just the right way, it’ll never fail to live up to the hype – a large part of which is down to the shared mentality of the 80-odd-thousand revellers who end up attending.
‘Come in and do the right thing. Get up and have a party’. A couple of sentences which will guide you towards a memorable night on Princes Street on 31 December, and also, the opening lines to ‘Get Up’ by Young Fathers, the Mercury Award-winning Edinburgh hip-hop act who opened the Waverley Stage on Hogmanay.
Of course, anyone who knows Young Fathers will know that their lyrics go a lot deeper than your usual low-depth, party-endorsing chart act.
The best thing about it? As long as you tackle it in just the right way, it’ll never fail to live up to the hype – a large part of which is down to the shared mentality of the 80-odd-thousand revellers who end up attending.
‘Come in and do the right thing. Get up and have a party’. A couple of sentences which will guide you towards a memorable night on Princes Street on 31 December, and also, the opening lines to ‘Get Up’ by Young Fathers, the Mercury Award-winning Edinburgh hip-hop act who opened the Waverley Stage on Hogmanay.
Of course, anyone who knows Young Fathers will know that their lyrics go a lot deeper than your usual low-depth, party-endorsing chart act.
Hot Dub Time Machine is the most welcoming, triumphant, irresistible sing-along the world has ever seen... And we can't recommend it highly enough
The trio are bold, confident, original, and most importantly, they know what they’re doing. And they know that they know what they’re doing as well.
The group swaggered around the stage on NYE with the same daring yet expressionless authority that comes across when they talk to the press. Their faces may not give much away, but all the depth you need is planted finely in their lyrics.
Hogmanay partying may not have been the best setting for new listeners to appreciate their craft, but Young Fathers are unquestionably an exceptional act, and they provided an entertaining opening to the night.
The Twilight Sad were up next, but while we are indeed fans of the awesome punk-indie-rock band, we left the Waverley Stage at this point to take on the Hot Dub Time Machine New Year Special a little further up the street. Any event with that many capitalised letters in the name is bound to be exceptional.
The idea is simple: DJ Tom Loud bangs out “instantly recognisable tunes from the 60s to the present day” in chronological order, and the end result is so addictive and accessible that it’s impossible not to get drawn in.
The group swaggered around the stage on NYE with the same daring yet expressionless authority that comes across when they talk to the press. Their faces may not give much away, but all the depth you need is planted finely in their lyrics.
Hogmanay partying may not have been the best setting for new listeners to appreciate their craft, but Young Fathers are unquestionably an exceptional act, and they provided an entertaining opening to the night.
The Twilight Sad were up next, but while we are indeed fans of the awesome punk-indie-rock band, we left the Waverley Stage at this point to take on the Hot Dub Time Machine New Year Special a little further up the street. Any event with that many capitalised letters in the name is bound to be exceptional.
The idea is simple: DJ Tom Loud bangs out “instantly recognisable tunes from the 60s to the present day” in chronological order, and the end result is so addictive and accessible that it’s impossible not to get drawn in.
From the Beatles to Queen to Britney Spears and endless others, this is the most fun the JFC team have had in front of a single DJ. We’re largely into different kinds of music and different genres, but Hot Dub isn’t about music appreciation in the typical sense. Put simply, it’s the most welcoming, triumphant, irresistible sing-along the world has ever seen – and we can’t recommend it highly enough.
Back to the Waverley Stage, though, and Twin Atlantic bringing us into 2015. Sam McTrusty and co. did exactly what you’d expect them to do. They absolutely killed it.
Their newer material may be a bit cheesy, but Twin’s stuff has always translated beautifully to the stage. It’s accessible, the riffs are catchy as hell, the hooks are wonderful and McTrusty’s signature twang is the cherry on top of the rocking cake. They’re just a great live band.
Heart and Soul rang from the speakers at midnight and the traditional Auld Lang Syne madness ensued – complete with a JFC colleague yelling at all the rest of us for crossing our hands too early.
A wonderful night and another welcome edition of this categorically must-not-miss event. Truth be told, the street party is almost always more about the people you meet and the random folk you end up hugging than the live acts on stage... But it certainly didn’t hurt this year that the entertainment was out of this world.
So, thank you again for another great game of the Edinburgh Hogmanay Street Party. It’s always a guaranteed winner.
Stuart Kenny
Back to the Waverley Stage, though, and Twin Atlantic bringing us into 2015. Sam McTrusty and co. did exactly what you’d expect them to do. They absolutely killed it.
Their newer material may be a bit cheesy, but Twin’s stuff has always translated beautifully to the stage. It’s accessible, the riffs are catchy as hell, the hooks are wonderful and McTrusty’s signature twang is the cherry on top of the rocking cake. They’re just a great live band.
Heart and Soul rang from the speakers at midnight and the traditional Auld Lang Syne madness ensued – complete with a JFC colleague yelling at all the rest of us for crossing our hands too early.
A wonderful night and another welcome edition of this categorically must-not-miss event. Truth be told, the street party is almost always more about the people you meet and the random folk you end up hugging than the live acts on stage... But it certainly didn’t hurt this year that the entertainment was out of this world.
So, thank you again for another great game of the Edinburgh Hogmanay Street Party. It’s always a guaranteed winner.
Stuart Kenny
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