Hogmanay Tickets Still Up For Grabs

Hogmanay revellers are being urged not to wait until the last minute to snap up their tickets for Edinburgh's world-famous street party. Organisers of the annual bash said people should get in now to avoid the last-minute queues which can build up at the Royal Mile box office on New Year's Eve. Tickets for the street party are still available, as are a limited number of tickets for the concert in the gardens. Many other tickets for Edinburgh's Hogmanay, a three-day festival of events beginning tomorrow, are now sold out. Steve Cardownie, festivals and events spokesman for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: Tickets for the street party are selling fast, so don't wait until the last minute to get them as this year's Hogmanay is all set to be a real cracker."I would also encourage everyone to come out and experience some of the other wonderful events that are on offer over the three days of activities, including the torchlight procession and the Loony Dook.'' The concert in the gardens is being headlined by Lily Allen, who will be joined by special guests Bjorn Again and Soul II Soul. Enclosure tickets for the concert are sold out but there are still a limited number of gardens tickets available. The street party will see performances from Twin Atlantic, Twilight Sad, Eddi Reader and this year's Mercury Prize winners, the Edinburgh-based act Young Fathers. A midnight fireworks display will welcome in 2015, with the traditional mass rendition of Auld Lang Syne to follow. Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations will actually get under way tomorrow with a torchlight procession weaving through the city from George IV Bridge to Calton Hill. On New Year's Day the city will present Scot:Lands, a festival of music, art and theatre in the Old Town. For those wanting to work off the excesses of the night before, the Queensferry Loony Dook - the annual dip in the River Forth - will take place on January 1 in the shadow of the Forth Bridge. Pete Irvine, director of organisers Unique Events, said With so many events already sold out for Edinburgh's Hogmanay this year, I would encourage you to get hold of your tickets for the street party from our box office at the Fringe office on the High Street before Wednesday - to avoid the last-minute queues."With a fantastic line-up across five stages, Edinburgh's Hogmanay is the UK's biggest outdoor winter music festival - come and join us for a rocking good party to welcome 2015.''