Line-up unveiled for Inverness Hogmanay Party
The Highland Council has announced details of the programme for the spectacular – and free - five-hour Hogmanay Party that will end the first Inverness Winter Festival.
Indie-Rock Band The Magic Numbers have been signed up to headline the show and anyone who caught their performance at the 2007 Belladrum Festival will know that their music will provide the perfect feelgood act for an audience bidding farewell to the old year and welcoming the new.
Opening the show at a specially-constructed arena built around the Highland Capital’s historic Northern Meeting Park at 8pm will be Inverness instrumental band Shutter who provided the soundtrack for last month’s Civic Fireworks Display.
They will be followed by Inverness-based Lowtide Revelry, who have established themselves as one of the premier bands in the Highlands in 2008 and who look set for bigger and better things in 2009.
Guaranteed to get the crowd dancing on the night will be Single Malt Sound System, a turbo-charged Ceilidh collective featuring some of the finest musicians in Scotland today. The band has already established a huge following thanks to an exciting mix of Scottish tunes on pipes, fiddle and accordion combined with a driving rhythm section. Featuring members of Wolfstone, Box Club and the Treacherous Orchestra as well as Highland piano legend Andy Thorburn, this band pack a musical punch.
Following the set by The Magic Numbers there will be a fireworks display and the sounding of the bells at Inverness Cathedral and other churches in the city to signal the arrival of 2009.
Scottish Pipes and Drums Band, Albannach, will then bring the party to a rousing close with one of their legendary pounding sets.
The Hogmanay Celebrations are being designed as a Family Friendly gathering and children will be welcome to attend the event which will be free to one and all. To cater for the younger audience on the night, a number of additional attractions with a Highland Fun and Games theme will be provided on the night.
The Northern Constabulary Pipes and Drums Band will be performing on the night and Evanton-based Arts and Motion will be projecting films that have not been seen in Inverness for almost three quarters of a century. having gained access to rare footage of Highland Games held in the Northern Meeting Park in the 1920s and 1930s.
The evening will also feature a unique moment in the history of Highland Games with the first live global Highland Games event with heavies representing the Inverness Highland Games competing with Heavies throwing at the famous Waipu Highland Games in New Zealand and Heavies representing the Highland Capital’s Sister Highland Games, the Triad Highland Games in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA in a 56lb Weight Over the Bar match.
Provost Jimmy Gray, Chairman of The Highland Council’s Inverness City Committee, said: “The Inverness Winter Festival Steering Group have secured a wonderful line up for the first Hogmanay celebrations to be held in Inverness since 1999 and I would like to congratulate Councillors Roy Pedersen, Glynis Sinclair, Peter Corbett andFraser Parr and everyone behind the scenes for their efforts in producing such an exciting event for our community to enjoy.”
“Hogmanay is back home where it should be at the heart of the celebrations staged in the Capital of the Highlands and I have no doubt that it will provide a perfect end to a very memorable first Inverness Winter Festival.”
Contact; Gerry Reynolds, Events and Promotions Officer
Tel 01463 724262 (Email:gerry.reynolds@highland.gov.uk)