Piping Live! 2018 – pipes|drums’ must-see picks

THURSDAY

By this time, if you’re competing, you’re feeling just a bit queasy about Friday and/or Saturday. Rather than sitting around chugging Maalox, take your mind off things and settle your stomach by watching someone else get turned inside out with anxiety . . .

Pipe Idol – Round 4

The last lot of young pipers playing to get through the final: James Stone, Ireland; Eosaph Caimbeul, Scotland; Anna Smart, New Zealand; and Lewis Russell, Scotland.

When: Noon
Where: Street Café, National Piping Centre
Price: FREE

John Mulhearn album launch

The creative tour-de-force that is John Mulhearn debuts Pipes, his “homage to the full sound of the Highland bagpipe captured from multiple angles and features all original compositions.”

When: 1:30 pm
Where: Street Café, National Piping Centre
Price: FREE

A MacCrimmon Collection

No, not a book of foosty piobs, but creative new works by Iain and Calum MacCrimmon and a range of tunes from various other modern composers. It’s the follow-on collection to Iain MacCrimmon’s books of the 1970s.

When: 3:30 pm
Where: National Piping Centre
Price: FREE

Pipe Idol Grand Final

The four who qualified over the week meet to duke it out to become Pipe Idol 2018 before a panel of “secret” judges. Today’s young finger-wizards of tomorrow. The winner gets a spanking new set of Fred Morrison pipes, sponsors of the event.

When: 5 pm
Where: Strathclyde Suite, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Price: £7

Vale of Atholl

The last of the outdoor open practices, with time with the stalwart Perthshire-based band that has spawned, through thick and thin, some of the greatest pipe band music in history.

When: 6 pm
Where: National Piping Centre
Price: FREE

P-M Alasdair Gillies Memorial Recital Challenge

It’s the event that first inspired Piping Live!, carrying on the Lord Todd Bar tradition, this year’s Pipe-Major Alasdair Gillies Memorial Recital Challenge features Callum Beaumont, Alex Gandy, Stuart Liddell and Angus MacColl. Can you say “virtuosity”?

When: 7:30 pm
Where: Strathclyde Suite, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Price: £12.50