Tens of thousands will attend Edinburgh Hogmanay celebrations

Tens of thousands of people will join together to bring in 2019 at one of the world's biggest street parties in Edinburgh tonight.

Bands, DJ's, street performers and acrobats are just a few of the acts that will be helping to bring in the new year.

Organisers of the annual event said this year's events celebrate the ties between Scotland and Europe as the UK prepares to leave the EU in 2019.

Music will be performed across the street party, with Scottish singer Gerry Cinamon headlining the Waverley stage, Judge Jules on the DJ stage in Castle Street and Elephant Sessions on stage in South St David Street.

Franz Ferdinand will headline the Concert in the Gardens at the foot of Castle Rock, with support acts Metronomy and Free Love, while ceilidh bands perform at Ceilidh under the Castle.

Event directors Charlie Wood and Ed Bartlam said: "This year's Edinburgh's Hogmanay has a fantastic line-up of events for young and old under the banner We Love You, a celebration of Scotland's long-standing cultural ties with Europe.

"From our Concert in the Gardens headliner Franz Ferdinand to Carlos Nunez at the McEwan Hall, Massaoke at Bairns Afore to Gerry Cinnamon and Snap! at the Street Party, and the Loony Dook to our six writers creating love letters to Europe in Message from the Skies across the city, the programme is diverse, exciting and fresh.

"We look forward to welcoming you all."

The sold-out event opens at 7.30pm tonight, and will take place mainly along Edinburgh's Princes Street.

Tonight's festivities are part of a three-day event which started last night where tens of thousands took part in a torchlight procession down the Royal Mile.

On New Year's Day, buildings across the Scottish capital will be illuminated by "love letters to Europe" by writers including Chitra Ramaswamy and Emma Pollock.

The weather is predicted to be unsettled but not as bad as previous years where storms affected the events.

Met Office forecaster Matt Box said: "It should stay quite dry during the day and it could be quite breezy through Monday.

"But we could see some rain in the evening, light in nature, and it will stay fairly breezy into the evening.

"We could see some gusts up to about 35mph, so it's looking a bit unsettled for any new year celebrations. There could be light rain or drizzle."