A global scramble is expected to get under way on Friday when tickets for Simple Minds’ eagerly-anticipated Stonehaven Hogmanay show go on sale.
Demand for the £30 tickets is expected to be huge after 1,000 early bird tickets were snapped up by locals in just an hour, and there has already been interest from Europe and the USA.
Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr was at Dunnottar Castle outside Stonehaven yesterday to plug the gig which is already the talk of the town.
The Glasgow rock star led a march to the clifftop castle to the strains of Scots anthems played by youngsters from Lathallan School Pipe Band.
He was also treated to a live fireball swinging display by Stonehaven gran Lynn Callaghan, 53. The concert runs in tandem with the famous fireball swinging festival in the town’s High Street.
Jim said he had been overwhelmed by the warmth of his welcome and said all his family wanted to come to Stonehaven for the Hogmanay gig.
He said that in the beginning Simple Minds were a small group with big ambitions and he liked the idea that Stonehaven was “a small place that thinks big”. He promised they would play all the crowd’s favourites.
Advance tickets were snapped up at a discount rate of £20, while the main batch of tickets will go on sale for £30 plus booking fee online at www.stonehavenevents.org from 9am on Friday.
They will also be on sale at Celtic Chords music shop in the town’s Barclay Street.