Edinburgh’s New Year celebrations to go online with a virtual Hogmanay

Three spectacular films involving choreographed LED drones will be streamed on 29, 30 and 31 December to replace the usual fun and fireworks

Torchlit processions, fireworks, lasers, concerts, cannons and ceilidhs … Edinburgh’s annual new year celebrations are some of the biggest in the world. They span several crowded, fun-packed days and nights and draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city’s streets for a series of giant parties. This year, however, Hogmanay is going online for the first time and a new virtual programme will feature one of the UK’s largest-ever drone shows.

Charlie Wood and Ed Bartlam are directors of the entertainment company Underbelly, which has produced Edinburgh’s Hogmanay since 2017, along with parts of the fringe and other major UK festivals. They described their plans for this year’s “proudly Scottish” celebration: “With 2020 being the year it has been, we want to ring out the old year and hurry in the new year, with a message of hope at a world-class event.”