Tattoo 2022: Tickets for Edinburgh Castle spectacular to go on sale this week

A public sale of tickets for the new-look Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo are to be launched this week.

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is due to return in August 2022.

The revamped event, the first for three years at Edinburgh Castle esplanade, will be the first staged under a new chief executive and creative producer.

It emerged last month that the Tattoo, which has been worth more than £77 million to the economy in recent years, was set to shed its “tartan and shortbread” image in a bit to attract a younger, more Scottish audience in future.

New sound and lighting systems will be deployed to transform the look of the castle and light up the esplanade itself for the first time.

New Zealander Michael Braithwaite is the new creative director of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

Ahead of ticket sales launching on Wednesday, organisers have pledged that next year’s show will “evoke the emotions and stir the senses like nothing you’ve seen before.”

They say the 2022 production will draw inspiration from people around the world who “onnect and share their voices creatively through spoken word, song, writing, music and dance.”

Last month, Major General Buster Howes, who was appointed Tattoo chief executive last year, said next year’s show would mark “a new era” for the event, saying that “people will absolutely notice a difference when we return.”

The 2022 production – which is entitled “Voices” – is being masterminded by Michael Braithwaite, who was appointed the first dedicated creative director in the history of the event, which was first staged on the esplanade in 1950.

The New Zealander’s CV includes working on the Harry Potter movies and with Muppets creator Jim Henson’s company, producing an outdoor festival for then London mayor Boris Johnson to coincide with the 2012 Olympics and working for Legoland operators Merlin Entertainments around the world.

Mr Braithwaite said: “Through the challenges and separation of the last two years, people of every culture have used their voices to remain connected.

“These voices can be found in many ways – the piper through music, the dancer with movement, the poet through words and the drummer with a beat.“Voices is our desire to make next year’s Tattoo not just a reunion, but a celebration of the connections, cultures and languages that bring us together at the unique setting of Edinburgh Castle.“I’m hugely excited to play a part in the history and spectacle of the Tattoo, helping it return to the global stage, re-energised and invigorated for a new era.”

The 2020 was cancelled along with Edinburgh’s other summer festivals. Efforts to revive the event this summer were scuppered by the late lifting of Covid restrictions in Scotland and the time needed to build the event’s temporary auditorium.

Performers from more than 50 countries have taken part in the Tattoo so far, which the event has staged overseas five times, in Australia and New Zealand.

The event, which has been a complete sell-out in modern times, is staged before an overall audience of around 220,000 every year, with highlights shown on TV to a further 100 million people.

Standard tickets for the 2022 range in price from £30 to £95. Hospitality packages cost up to £640 each.