Spoiled for Choice: Monday at Piping Live! 2026, with Iain MacDonald

Iain MacDonald (Regina) reports from the epicentre of piping (and drumming) . . .

Piping Live! officially began on Sunday with the Masters competition, but Monday morning is when the full festival site comes alive with two all-day stages at the National Piping Centre (NPC), plus events in the auditorium and at venues throughout Glasgow, including Sauchiehall Street, the Kelvingrove Gallery and Museum and the Big Band marching from Partick to Kelvingrove in Glasgow’s west end.

“More people were packed in front of the main stage than previously, and the food and drink were easier to access than last year. This must be a winner for sales.”

First on the main stage was round one of Pipe Idol, featuring excellent music from all four pipers. While I appreciate that a sound system gives the solo pipes some real sound presence in the space, I’d say they were a distraction overall and probably not necessary, especially at that volume. Most annoying was the overhead drone mic, which the taller pipers had trouble avoiding, making the drone sound leap out when they marched under. This must surely have been a distraction to the competitors also.

Still, the performances were excellent, and the future of piping appears to have good hands.

I wandered down to Sauchiehall Street for a sandwich and a break from the crowd, and only then did I notice that pipe bands this year are performing on Sauchiehall and not Buchanan Street in Glasgow, moving west to east down the street, finishing in front of the concert hall, the point at which they used to start.

I was able to catch some of the Stuart Highlanders starting into the last set, and drawing a very interested crowd of what appeared to be local folks with no connection to the pipe band.

“There are just too many performances and venues in a day, and festival goers are really spoiled for choice.”

Whether you like solo piping and pipe bands, top drum corps, smallpipes and fiddles, Portuguese bagpipes, or maybe you just want to learn a little history and talk piobaireachd . . . it’s all here. If you like it all, the problem would be getting around to see it.

This is a good problem for a festival, and I’d say organizers have done an amazing job bringing a full lineup to the 2026 event.

Iain MacDonald is an all-too-often underappreciated treasure of the piping world. A tireless teacher, leader, competitor, judge, volunteer, writer, and all-round good guy, he has played with Grade 1 bands Simon Fraser University under Pipe-Major Terry Lee and Babcock Renfrew under Pipe-Major Iain McLeod. For many years, he was a pupil of the great Donald MacLeod. He served as pipe-major of Grade 2 City of Regina for more than 30 years, and during that time, was instrumental in starting the Conservatory Pipe Band for young learners. We could go on. He lives in Regina, Saskatchewan, and operates Reelpipes.com.

Stay tuned to pipes|drums for Iain MacDonald’s daily reports from the 2026 Piping Live! Festival.