FLY Open Air festival: Edinburgh dance music fans must have negative lateral flow test to attend Princes Street Gardens event

Revellers attending a huge electronic music festival in Edinburgh city centre next weekend will be required to present proof of a negative Covid test to enter, it has been confirmed.

It comes after councillors voted to give the green light to the 4000-capacity FLY Open Air festival, which takes place in West Princes Street Gardens.

The event, being held from September 17 to 19, will create 260 jobs across the weekend and directly benefit the park by raising funds to plant over 100 new trees suffering from ash dieback disease.

The local organisers say the local tourist economy will also receive a massive boost with youngsters coming back into the city centre, spending in shops, hotels, cafes and bars.

FLY Open Air Festival has been given the go ahead to return to the Ross Bandstand for its first festival in two years.

Councillor Amy McNeese-Mechan, Culture and Communities vice convener for Edinburgh City Council, said: “I’m delighted the much-loved FLY Festival is making a welcome return to Edinburgh’s events calendar – particularly for our young people who have missed out on so much over the course of the pandemic.

“We’ve been working closely with the organisers and other partners, including the police and ambulance service, to ensure the event can go ahead safely and in line with the latest Scottish Government guidance and I want to pay tribute to the Team Edinburgh approach that’s allowed this to happen.

“This has very much been our approach to supporting the ongoing recovery of our festivals and events sector and, as we’ve seen from the hugely successful return of the Festivals this summer, careful planning and, where necessary, compromise can pay real dividends.

“I sincerely hope this will become a template for future years.

“As well as bringing live music back to the city centre, FLY Festival has also pledged to plant 100 trees in the Gardens after raising £10,000 for local charities in previous years and will support local charity Steps to Hope this year.”

Founder of FLY, Tom Ketley, said: “We will be making a negative lateral flow test as a condition of entry to ensure a safe site and implementing additional sanitation and covid measures.”

The event, which sold out the 12,000 tickets in a record two minutes, sees some of the world’s biggest names in electronic music as well as homegrown local talent playing across all three days – including Folamour, Dance System and Palms Trax.

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