Tropical Glasgow: a Spider-Man paradise – Piping Live! 2025, Wednesday, August 13th

Iain MacDonald (Regina) reports from the Glasgow International Festival of Piping

Glasgow city centre has, in places, been transformed into New York City for the filming of the next Spider-Man movie. As well as taking in the piping, many folks keep their eyes on filming locations, with large crowds peering down streets to catch a glimpse of the filming and stunts. The filming wraps on Friday, so the cast and crew should have no trouble making it to the World’s on Saturday, where other superhero feats will be displayed.

Yes, those drum-majors are amazing!

The heat is on in Glasgow, and the pedestrian malls and outdoor cafés are booming, as was the Piping Live! festival site at the National Piping Centre.

Any day that starts with Richard Parkes will be good, and the Wednesday’s Learn @ Live! began with Dr. Parkes’s presentation about how to set up a band, get the best sound, and manage players and tuning at practices and performances. I’ve had the privilege to hear this presentation before, and there was still a lot to take in and learn for everyone in the room.

Richard Parkes’s presentation was a window into the man himself, displaying his common-sense approach to solving problems, his dedication to getting things right, and his humility and humour when it doesn’t always work out.

The NPC auditorium was packed, and there were excellent questions and answers. The presentation was also a bit of a window into the man himself, displaying his common-sense approach to solving problems, his dedication to getting things right, and his humility and humour when it doesn’t always work out.

Today’s “Emerging Talent” session was a band called Meallan, a six-piece group formed in 2024 that has since toured and played a number of large festivals, including an official band launch at Celtic Connections this January. The band is Eòin Cumming on accordion and vocals, fiddlers Kirsty Harrison and Ruby Smith, clàrsach player Catriona Kane, guitarist Anja MacLennan, and keyboard player Matthew Duncan. Meallan filled the space with tight playing and superb vocals, delivering a highly polished set for an appreciative audience.

The festival site was filled with people. Events were packed, the bar and food tents were hopping, and all the seats and cement stairs were filled with people enjoying the music.

Slightly overlapping this was a one-hour session in The Bothy Tent featuring Mairearad Green and Rachel Newton, who presented a series of tunes that celebrated their great-grandmother Anna Bhàn, who played a key role in the women-led resistance to the Highland Clearances in 1852. The music featured clàrsach, accordion, smallpipes and Highland pipes, including Gaelic song and archival voice recordings mixed as part of the package. The Bothy Tent was like a sauna in the midday heat, and they held a good audience in place with their performance.

A feature of the festival this year has been drum-major performances and teaching, which were well-attended and quite interactive. There have also been daily injections of pibroch from Barnaby Brown and the Pibroch Network, including conversation, singing, performance, and just generally getting people to enjoy the music and the cultural connections outside the context of competition.

Piper Sarah Muir delivered an enjoyable set of tunes in the Lunchtime Recital series, with a full room to take in the tunes. She played a wide range of time signatures on an excellent bagpipe and displayed her virtuosity at good tempos in the hornpipes. Great stuff.

Out into the sun, Bagad Brieg immediately lit up the audience with their expressive and fun approach to music. Players weaved through the audience while they played, and dancing broke out immediately and was sustained for much of their set of primarily Breton and French dance music in the bagad style. This was great fun, and the crowd was into it. They fished with their trademark “La Boum” set, which had the crowd singing, dancing, waving, clapping and then the band itself again weaving through the audience. This is fun and engaging music.

A full day already, and it’s only half over. It was time to catch a break before Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia’s “SOLAS” concert. But wait, how about a pipe band on Buchanan Street on the way? The Gordon’s School Pipe Band piped their way to the bottom of the street, taking breaks in the shade along the way.