Edinburgh's Hogmanay always starts with a bang, and this year the opening night has a Scottish indie name attached to it. The Fratellis are set to headline the Night Afore Party, the first event of the 2026/27 Hogmanay celebrations, on Wednesday 30 December. It's a first for the band to play Edinburgh's Hogmanay, and the occasion comes with a bit of history behind it: they're marking 20 years of Costello Music, the debut album that put them on the map.
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The gig is at West Princes Street Gardens, right beneath Edinburgh Castle, and it kicks off at 6pm. For a band that's spent two decades touring, playing the 'Home of Hogmanay' is a bit of a milestone. The Fratellis themselves have been open about it, calling it an honour and a privilege to perform at this year's celebrations in a city they hold close to their hearts. If you've followed them since the beginning, the setlist is shaping up to be a trip down memory lane, with Costello Music front and centre.
For anyone who hasn't caught them live, it's worth a quick refresher on who they are. Formed in Glasgow in 2005, the line-up is Jon Fratelli (John Lawler), Baz Fratelli (Barry Wallace), and Mince Fratelli (Gordon McRory). Costello Music came out in 2006 and went straight to number two on the UK Albums Chart, staying in the Top 100 for 83 weeks and selling over a million copies in the UK. It earned them the BRIT Award for Best British Breakthrough Act in 2007, and it's the record that gave us 'Chelsea Dagger', 'Whistle for the Choir' and 'Henrietta' – the kind of songs that tend to go down well in a crowd of thousands.
On the practical side, the Night Afore Party is free to get into, which is the best news of the lot. There are a few rules, though: it's for over 12s only, under 16s need to be with an adult over 18, and there's a cap of eight tickets per person or household. Tickets went on sale at 10am on Friday 11 September through Ticketmaster, so if you haven't sorted yours yet, it's worth checking the official Hogmanay channels for any remaining allocation. There's also a competition running to win four enclosure tickets, which closes at 11:59pm on Sunday 15 November, so that's worth a look if you'd rather chance it than queue.
The Night Afore is only the start, though. The wider Hogmanay programme is a proper four-day run. It opens with the Torchlight Procession on 29 December at 6:30pm at The Meadows, with 15,000 torch bearers lighting up the south of the city. Then, on 31 December, the Hogmanay in the Gardens event hands the reins to Underworld, the Cardiff dance legends who formed in 1987, for a 8pm set. They'll be providing the soundtrack to the Midnight Moment fireworks beneath the castle for the first time in the event's history, and the whole thing rounds off on New Year's Day with First Footin'. Between the Fratellis, Underworld, the procession and the fireworks, it's a lot to take in over four days, but the Night Afore is the obvious place to start.
Published Date
18 October 2026
