Boggies down for 2024 Pre-World’s Concert

Reigning World Champions Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia will take the stage for the third time in the band’s 52-year history at the annual Pre-World’s Concert in Glasgow on August 14th.

The Glasgow Skye Association Pipe Band will promote the “Cabar Fèidh” event, as they have every time the concert has been staged since 1994  when the show was first held in Motherwell, Scotland. The Boghall performance returns to the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall after the 2023 Simon Fraser University concert was held at the SEC while the hall was being renovated. 

The 2024 concert promises to highlight more than five decades of Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia, one of the world’s greatest pipe band organizations. It consistently produces an elite Grade 1 band, teaching hundreds of pipers and drummers from scratch.

The band last mounted their Pre-World’s Concert in 2012, marking the organization’s fortieth anniversary with a much-celebrated sold-out “Forte” show that spotlighted the importance of family, community and respecting musical tradition while simultaneously pushing boundaries. The show was captured in both a commercial DVD and CD that is still seen as one of the greatest pipe band recordings of all time.

“We are delighted to be playing the Pre-Worlds Concert this August as reigning World Champions following the band’s success in 2023,” Pipe-Major Ross Harvey said in a statement. “This is the first time since 2012 the band has played the concert and we are excited to be putting on an ambitious show that will showcase all of the musical and creative capabilities the band offers. Translating to ‘Stags Antler’ in Scottish Gaelic, ‘Caber Feidh’ pays homage to a longstanding emblem of our organization and nods to the famous pipe tune that will feature throughout our production.”

If the pandemic hadn’t scuttled plans for the 2020 and ’21 Pre-World’s Concerts, the band might have played the 2022 event in sync with their fiftieth anniversary year. The 2024 Pre-World’s Concert will be the first under Harvey and Leading-Drummer Kerr McQuillan.

“Being able to share the stage with your best friends is going to be something very special,” McQuillan added. “We have been working incredibly hard to create new and ambitious music that will push the boundaries of pipe band drumming. This show will pay homage to Boghall traditions and open the door to the future in what will promise to be an exciting musical journey.”

Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia has been active on stage over the last decade, with successful concerts in Aberdeen, Northern Ireland, Ontario, and a few times at Celtic Connections in Glasgow, including the 2024 festival.

The band had teased the 2024 Pre-World’s Concert announcement in a series of social media posts about an announcement coming on February 29th.

Tickets went on sale on February 29th at 17:30 GMT via the Glasgow Life / Glasgow Royal Concert Hall’s online box office, priced from £35.28 each.