Happy World’s Solstice Day! It’s exactly six months until Glasgow Green

It’s February 15th. The sun rose today exactly over the pinpoint of the Nelson obelisk thingmee at Glasgow Green. We hear there was a small bands of piping and drumming religious zealots who danced around the monument wearing only an imitation sealskin sporran to celebrate the day.

The biggest event of the pipe band year will occur exactly six months from today when about 180 bands converge on the Green for the World Championships. (Yes, we know that only the Grade 1 bands will also compete the day before.) The myriad contest events are the most well-run and organized in the pipe band world, and woe betide the band that arrives a minute late to the line. No association delivers such a big event with such precision as the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association.

Apart from the fact that 18 of the globe’s Grade 1 bands plan to enter this year’s World’s, there are scant details to report. But we expect that the contest will have all the familiar sights and sounds: an excited buzz of musical activity and tension, judges prowling circles like cats with clipboards, ever-changing weather coming in from the west, the silver-tongued and silver-bearded Fergus Muirhead on the mic, privileged very special people enjoying tea and watercress sammies from the sumptuous arena-side marquis . . .

pipes|drums was at the Green in 2019, and we’re pleased to bring readers/viewers our fourth annual World’s Solstice retrospective video, featuring sights and sounds, images and performances, comments and celebrations from Glasgow Green, as well as a lot of great shots from the previous week in Glasgow.

We hope that you enjoy this warm-up as you count down the sleeps until the big event.

Hey! If you enjoy content like this, the hundreds of stories we bring you every year and the thousands of articles available in our huge archive, why not subscribe or donate to the non-profit pipes|drums? It costs money to produce and maintain our online magazine, so, if you already subscribe, thank you, and if you decide to subscribe or donate, thank you, too!

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