Veteran Glasgow indie rockers Franz Ferdinand to headline Hogmanay

Veteran Glasgow indie band Franz Ferdinand is set to headline Edinburgh’s Hogmanay for the first time, organisers announced today

Ten thousand tickets to the annual New Year’s Concert in the Gardens will go on sale on Monday 3 September at 10.00am at edinburghshogmanay.com and (+44) 131 510 0395.

One of the standout bands from Scotland’s musical heritage, Franz Ferdinand burst on to the British music scene in the early noughties in a ‘flurry of jagged riffs, hands-aloft choruses and irresistible hooks’.

This is Franz Ferdinand’s first appearance at the world-famous Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, after their scheduled support for 80s pop band Erasure in 2003/04 was cancelled.

The band recently released a new album, Always Ascending, which has been shortlisted for the 2018 SAY Award, winning the popular vote.

Alex Kapranos from Franz Ferdinand, said: “Hogmanay is the greatest party of the year and there is nowhere in the world like Scotland to celebrate it. Just thinking about bringing in the bells in Edinburgh gets me excited. It’s going to be some night.”

Charlie Wood and Ed Bartlam, directors of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, said “We’re super excited with the line-up for the Concert in the Gardens at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay. It’s going to quite a party! Franz Ferdinand has had a fantastic year with Always Ascending and, in this, their first appearance at Hogmanay, they’re our top choice to get the crowd going into the midnight moment! Great support too from top Scottish talent Free Love and dance-floor and festival favourites Metronomy. Edinburgh once more proves itself the best place to be for New Year!”

Councillor Donald Wilson, Edinburgh’s Culture and Communities Convener, said:“Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is the place to be to bring in the bells and with a strong Scottish musical line-up, this is going to be one of our best celebrations yet. Let headliners Franz Ferdinand ‘take you out’ of 2018 and secure your tickets now for our world-famous Concert in the Gardens 2019.”

Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is the UK’s leading New Year Festival lasting three days in the capital and drawing an estimated 150,000 people from Scotland and around the world.