Piping Live!
Piping Live!, Glasgow's International Piping Festival, will return for its 21st edition this summer with an eclectic calendar of events from Saturday 10th - Sunday 18th August!
About Piping Live!
The world’s biggest piping festival, Piping Live! attracts over 30,000 attendees to Glasgow each year, with an eclectic programme of events for pipers and music lovers alike to be held at venues across the city.
Run by the National Piping Centre and now in its 21st year, the festival will have lively concerts, captivating recitals, hard-fought competitions, engaging workshops and energetic sessions involving 700 musicians on the musical menu across its nine days, including a swathe of free and ticketed events.
The spectacular sonic week will get formally underway on Monday 12th August with the iconic Piping Live! Big Band welcoming pipers and drummers of all ages and abilities to join the festival’s mass participation event, filling the city centre streets with music as they march from Mansfield Park in Partick to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.
That evening, Sauchiehall Street venue Nice N Sleazy will host Ceol Nua, Piping Live!’s progressive avant garde piping night, showcasing boundary pushing performances in the heart of the city and featuring The Sólàs Collective and Bede Patterson.
Buchanan Street will be awash with the sound of pipes from Monday 12th - Thursday 15th August, with free, open air performances by pipe bands from across the globe taking place each day. Including sets from the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Pipes and Drums, the City of Angels Pipe Band from LA, and Old Scotch Pipes and Drums from Australia, these performances offer a fantastic chance to experience world-class piping in the bustling heart of the city centre.
In Glasgow’s West End, the iconic Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum will host a recital by an amazing international artist each day of the festival at 2pm, showcasing bagpiping traditions from around the world in the breathtaking Centre Hall.
On Tuesday 13th August, the International Quartet Competition, sponsored by R.T Shepherd and Son, will see top pipe bands send four of their best pipers to compete for the esteemed title at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall’s Strathclyde Suite. Meanwhile over in Edinburgh, the Scots Guards Club will host a night of International Piping with the Eagle Pipers Society.
The Gordon Duncan Memorial Piping Competition will move into a new midweek slot for 2024, taking place at The National Piping Centre Auditorium in the afternoon of Wednesday 14th August. Supported by the Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust, the prestigious competition sees four pipers compete by playing Scottish, Irish and Breton music in celebration of the life of piping legend Gordon Duncan.
The Pipe Major Alasdair Gillies Memorial Recital Challenge returns on Thursday 15th August, when five top pipers each perform a recital of their favourite tunes. Going head to head at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall’s Strathclyde Suite will be Callum Beaumont, Alex Gandy, Matt MacIsaac, Angus MacColl and 2023 champion Stuart Liddell.
Iconic folk fusion band Croft No. Five will get the weekend started in spectacular style on Friday 16th August when they perform a specially created set with celebrated piper Ailis Sutherland. John Mulhearn’s The Pipe Factory will open the night with a performance that will explore the sonic possibilities of the pipes. This unique night of entertainment will take place at Saint Luke’s – a new venue for the festival this year.
The popular Street Cafe returns for 2024, running from midday each day at the National Piping Centre, McPhater Street with an array of emerging talent, international styles of bagpipes, live podcasts, pipe band practices and showcases, all free to attend.
The week will come to a fitting crescendo with The World Pipe Band Championships at the iconic Glasgow Green on Friday 16th and Saturday 17th August.
This year’s ‘Worlds’ promises another fiercely-fought competition involving the very best pipe bands on the planet.
Piping Live! 2024 takes place from Saturday 10th - Sunday 18th August. Tickets and more information is available at www.pipinglive.co.uk
Where possible we will update our listings to notify of cancelled, postponed and rescheduled events, however we STRONGLY ADVISE that you check with the venue/organiser in the first instance for updates.
All information (whether in text or photographs) is supplied in good faith but should not be relied upon as being a statement of representation or fact.GOT AN EVENT TO SHARE? It's free to post your events on What's On Glasgow, click here to find out more!
Want to be the first to hear about what's happening in Glasgow? Just hit 'Like' on our Facebook page, join the What's On Scotland Facebook Group and 'Follow' on our Twitter account and you're all set!Sponsored Links
Similar events you might like...
Sloans Ceilidh
Sloans Famous Friday Ceilidh is back and it's bigger and better than ever... it's a must for everyone visiting Glasgow and any true weegie!
READ MORE
Saturday Nights at Arta
Enjoy live music on Saturday nights at Arta... entry to the venue is free before 11pm so why not book a table in the main bar and put the entry fee towards a cocktail!
READ MORE
Accoustic Open Mic Hosted by Gerry Lyons
Join Gerry Lyons at Nice N Sleazy on Mondays for 'longest running open mic in the history of the universe'!
READ MORE
Sleazy Karaoke
Come and sing your hearts away, with the best karaoke Glasgow has to offer at Nice N Sleazy's on Monday nights!
READ MORE
Trad Thursdays at Sleazys
Brought to you by Falasgair their resident Trad band, come along to Nice N Sleazy every Thursday for knee slapping traditional Scottish music!
READ MORE
BIG Soul Events
Join in the fun and dance to the best in Soul, Disco, Motown, RnB, BIG Soul Classics to today's floor fillers!
READ MORE
Braw & Uncut
Get up close and personal with an in-the-round experience of raw, risque and raunchy cabaret at Nice N Sleazy!
READ MORE
Peace & Jam Presents: Open Stage Jam
Peace & Jam's Open Stage Jam at Nice N Sleazy provides artists with an open stage to plug in and jam with the house band at this iconic Glasgow venue.
READ MORE
The Best Of Open Mic
Indulge in a variety of acts every Friday night at The Best Of Open Mic at the Corinthian Club, get behind the scenes on Scotland's leading poets, comedians and musicians!
READ MORESponsored Links
Find other events in Glasgow
Sponsored Links