Our #PopUpPiper surprised young patients and staff at the Royal Hospital for Children with a visit this week, to help celebrate the inspiring work of everyone at Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity! Here’s a wee look at what happened…

Our #PopUpPiper returns to twitter next week, so if you have a special event or need a shout out, tweet us at @GlasgowPiping and make your request!

If you still want to sign up to the Piping Live! Big Band, there are still a few spaces left – head over to the page now and find out more.

This year, we are offering to tart-an up your beards at this year’s event with the introduction of the world’s first Bonnie Beard Booth! The Bonnie Beard Booth will open at George Square 12noon- 3pm on Thursday 10th August at Glasgow’s George Square. Ladies, don’t feel left out, this can be done on your fringe or long hair too.

We want you to grow your facial fuzz to take full advantage of the booth when it pops up in George Square. The booth will be run by beard experts, Braw Beard Oils who will allow bearded gents to choose from a variety of tartans and styles, making it the ultimate accessory for all Piping Live! events.

Roddy MacLeod, Festival Director of Piping Live! said: “Bagpipes and tartan are two important symbols of Scottish heritage and culture that continue to evolve through the talents of emerging musicians and designers and we’ve celebrated both at Piping Live! for fourteen years now. We’re delighted to add the Bonnie Beard booth to this year’s festival, where bearded pipers and kilties can take their image to the next level! There’s just four weeks to go until thousands of visitors and musicians arrive from all over the world for this year’s event – so now’s the time to ditch the razors and let’s fill the city with tartan beards!”

Beard care expert and Braw Beard Oil founder, John Jackson said: “Men around the world are embracing their facial hair – there’s been plenty of variations from glitter beards to bauble beards – and this is another great example of how you can have some fun with it. For one day only, we’re going to blow piping fans and grooming enthusiasts away with some truly special facial patterns.”

Keep Piping Live! And Braw Beard Oil updated with your beard growth progress on Twitter using #bonniebeard. All appointments are free and first come, first served, so get there quick!

We are delighted to be hosting the launch of Bill Livingstone’s memoirs here at Piping Live!, in the National Piping Centre Auditorium on Thursday 10th August from 4.30pm. The event will be hosted by Stuart Liddell and is sponsored by McCallum Bagpipes.

Entitled Preposterous: Tales to Follow, the 276-page work covers over seven decades of Bill’s life, ranging from his childhood in the tough mining town of Copper Cliff in northern Ontario, Canada, to some of his most high-profile solo and pipe band ventures around the world.

“This book has been in the works for several years now,” said Bill. “Writing it has been a roller-coaster ride of emotions as I have not held back on putting my memories, my views and my feelings out there for everyone to see. Seeing it finished is simultaneously elating and terrifying.”

Preposterous: Tales to Follow is available for pre-order now from The Bagpipe Shop.co.uk until Friday 21st July. Check out the details of the launch event in Glasgow here

The 2017 Piping Live! Merchandise is now available to pre-order at The Bagpipe Shop!

We have a fantastic range with t-shirts, zipped hoodies and caps all available now. So get your’s first as pre-orders will be posted out as soon as they arrive!

Find out more and order now! 

Take a look to the right….

The Piping Live! Programme is now available as a PDF download.

Take a peek now and plan your week!

Join us again in 2017 as we make the Piping Live! Big Band even bigger and better! 

We want to celebrate Piping Live! with a massed band of all the pipers and drummers that are here in Glasgow that will also support a fantastic charity – Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity (formerly Yorkhill).

The parade will take place on Monday 7th August. Whether you are in a band of not, come and join the Piping Live! big band, for your chance to take part in the festival. Joining the band will be top pipers and drummers from across the globe, and you could be part of it too!

Through this scheme we are supporting Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity. The Glasgow International Piping Festival has been supported by the people of this great city for so many years that this year, we wanted to give back to the city, through one of its most well-loved charities.

So we are looking for pipers – chanters too – drummers and drum majors to join us. So register today to be part of something special at Piping Live! 2017.

ENTER NOW

Join us here at The National Piping Centre after a long day at Glasgow Green to round of a fantastic week with the spectacular After Worlds Shindig Ceilidh! This late night ceilidh starts at 9pm, with the Shimmy Grand Ceilidh Band, who will have you Canadian Barn-dancing, Strip-the-willowing and so much more in their own inimitable style. With sets including “Blame it on the Ceilidh Band” and “Shut Up and Ceilidh Dance”, this will be a ceilidh of epic proportions!

Get your dancing shoes out for this very special ceilidh that will go on to the wee hours.

Find out more

New for 2017 – the Piping Live! Trad Trail will depart from George Square on Thursday 10th August.

Brought to you by Glasgow Music City Tours, the two-hour Trad Trail tells the tale of Piping Live! and traces the story of Glasgow’s folk and roots scene, from legendary sessions in long-standing bars to today’s international stars.

We look at the history of Piping Live! and take a peek behind the scenes of this hugely popular festival to hear how it all comes together in one glorious week in August. Covering all the highlights, late night hi-jinks and unexpected collaborations, our tour takes you backstage at Piping Live!

Find out more about the Morning Tour and Afternoon Tour and book your tickets now.

We are delighted to bring you the details of this year’s Piping Live! Lunchtime Recital Series.

This year we have 3 heavyweights of the solo piping world lined up for you. On Tuesday 08th August, join Callum Beaumont, the youngest ever Clasp winner, at 1pm. On Wednesday 09th August Canada’s Jack Lee, former Glenfiddich Champion and multiple World Pipe Band Champion, will perform in recital at 1pm. On Thursday the record-holding 8-time Glenfiddich Champion, Willie McCallum will take to the stage at the slightly later time on 2pm.

Head over to the events section now and book your tickets for this fantastic recitals.

The world’s biggest week of piping – Piping Live! and The Worlds – set to return to Glasgow, August 7 – 13

The landscape of Glasgow Green looked very different today, Tuesday 25th April, as a giant 23ft piper mural, known as The Colossal Clansman, popped (or piped) up in the park – announcing that Piping Live! Glasgow International Piping Festival and The World Pipe Band Championships are returning to the city from 7 – 13 August.

The world’s biggest week of piping will see over 50,000 music fans, families and tourists flock to Glasgow to enjoy 200 events and 8,000 performers throughout the week.
The Colossal Clansman was created using a remarkable 6 miles of fabric – the same amount it takes to kit out the 23 participating Piping Live! bands and 21 competing in Grade 1 qualifiers of The World Pipe Band Championships.

The 7m by 4m portrait, made by Glasgow artist, Bruno Gallagher, was created to showcase the grand scale of both events, which annually attract thousands of visitors from across the globe to the city.

Piping Live! Glasgow International Piping Festival is the biggest festival of its kind in the world and the week-long celebrations will see over 200 events take place in various venues across the city from 7 – 13 August. Its diverse programme is famed for bringing the best pipers and pipe bands in the world to Glasgow and 2017 is set to be just as outstanding, with acts including Peatbog Faeries, Battlefield Band and Tejedor topping the bill and many more to be announced in coming weeks. The programme will also see performances by the very best international acts from countries such as Estonia, Argentina, Canada, Czech Republic, Northern Ireland, Australia and Italy, as well as numerous events including the fiercely contested Master Solo, International Quartet and Pipe Idol competitions.

Throughout the week there will be daily performances and family fun in George Square, the festival’s city centre hub, as well as recitals, book launches and the hugely popular Street Café at The National Piping Centre. The hugely popular Pipers’ Market will also return this year to George Square, bringing with it some of Scotland’s very best food and drink, as well as craft stalls for everyone to enjoy.

Roddy MacLeod, Festival Director of Piping Live! said: “Last year’s festival was all about celebrating bagpipes being at the heart of life’s moments that matter and this certainly resonated with people, as we celebrated a record-breaking number of attendees at Piping Live!. As well as selling more tickets than ever before, the festival had an economic impact of £2.3 million to Glasgow, which is just incredible. This year we are continuing to celebrate how piping and its music brings people together, with a diverse programme of events gathering the world’s best pipers and traditional musicians to the city. There really is something for everyone at Piping Live! – so make sure you come along and help make 2017 another record year for the festival.”

The World Pipe Band Championships will return to Glasgow Green on 11 and 12 August. This year it celebrates its 70th anniversary, with the first ever World Pipe Band Championships being held at Murrayfield in Edinburgh in 1947. The event was first held in Glasgow in 1948 and has been staged in the city continuously since 1986.

Known affectionately as The Worlds, they’re hailed as the pinnacle of competitive Pipe Band competition and are organised on behalf of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association by the City of Glasgow. This year, the Worlds will be part of the celebrations for the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology.

This year, Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band from Northern Ireland defends the title they reclaimed last year. The band has been World Champions five times in the last six years.
In recent years, over 225 bands have travelled from all over the world, bringing around 8000 pipers and drummers to compete in eight grades for the world title. Entries for this year’s event are open and the final list of participants will be confirmed six weeks before the championships.

Ian Embelton, Chief Executive of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association said: “The World Pipe Band Championships has developed and changed throughout its history but at its core the challenge to Pipe Bands is still the same. They spend months rehearsing for their shot at the World Title, all the time searching for the perfect performance that will show off their full talent as a band. A day out at the Worlds is to experience a unique showcase of Scottish culture but also to enjoy musicianship and teamwork of extraordinary quality. There is nothing quite like it.”

Paul Bush OBE, Director of Events at VisitScotland, said: “We are delighted to be supporting Piping Live! and The World Pipe Band Championships, with both events attracting the best piping talent from around the world. Scotland is the perfect stage for cultural events and it is fitting in the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology that Glasgow continues to host these two wonderful international events, which truly showcase Scotland’s heritage and cultural offering.”

Tickets for Piping Live! are on sale now via www.pipinglive.co.uk
Tickets for The Worlds are available now via www.theworlds.co.uk or 0141 353 8000

For more information, interviews and images, contact Wire:
Gillian Lamont | gillian@wearewire.co | 0141 648 9610 | 07738 271 568
Victoria Irvine | victoria@wearewire.co | 0141 648 9610 | 07951 365 636