Dusk falls over Edinburgh Castle as a laser beam cuts across the ramparts and high into the sky. The voice of actor Richard Rankin speaks solemnly of lonely soldiers answering a call, while a bright light rises from the gatehouse. From the gates emerge dozens of drummers and pipers, playing the emotional notes of "The Skye Boat Song" across the esplanade. This is the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, an event that, despite being overlooked by some during the festival season, remains the city's most popular attraction. Last year alone, the spectacle played to 230,000 spectators and raised £1.5 million for charity, offering a massive variety show complete with fireworks, projections, and a soundtrack spanning from Carmen to Star Wars.
The event draws dedicated fans from across the globe. Susan from Aberdeen, attending for her third consecutive year with her daughter, praises the highland dancing and the amazing atmosphere. Francesca, visiting from New Zealand and staying with family in Glasgow, describes the Tattoo as a bucket-list item she was told she had to see in its original setting rather than waiting for its tour to Auckland. Performers are equally captivated; Staff Sgt Ross Yorkstone, a drum major with the New Zealand army band performing for his sixth year, notes that even the Basel Tattoo cannot match the scale of the Edinburgh event, prompting his band to always bring their "top A-game."
At the creative helm of this year's show, titled "A Call to Gather," is Alan Lane. Meeting in West Princes Street Gardens, Lane sits near a statue of a kilted soldier with a rifle across his knees—the very figure voiced by Rankin in the show's opening. Known as "The Call 1914," the statue honors American expatriates who fought in the First World War and serves as Lane's core inspiration. "It’s a celebration of those who will lend a hand," Lane explains. "If you’re my friend, I’m going to come when you call." Lane himself is an intriguing study in contrasts. Standing 1.9 meters (6ft 3in) tall with a soldier's posture, he is a Sandhurst-trained reservist officer in the Royal Engineers who dreamed of directing the Tattoo as an 18-year-old.
Yet, Lane is also a lifelong Labour party member and the founding artistic director of Slung Low, a Leeds-based theatre company known for massive community productions. His past projects include "Flood," a 58-cast epic for Hull, UK City of Culture, and "Camelot: The Shining City," a dystopian play that involved evacuating the audience from the Sheffield Crucible. During the pandemic, Lane coordinated a free food delivery service in Holbeck and Beeston, ran a working men's club, and set up a community college on a double-decker bus. "Having run a food bank and working men’s club, there aren’t many theatre directors who are more obnoxiously leftwing than I was," says the vegetarian director, who arrived for the interview in pink shorts accompanied by his spaniel, Bolt.
Lane sees no contradiction between his military and leftwing background, pointing out that D-Day beach commanders served in the Labour cabinet five years later. Appointed in April 2024, Lane adapted to the Tattoo's unique culture—including its tweed, tartan, and ties—and its high-stakes operations, where dropping below 96% of the 8,800-seat capacity triggers a crisis meeting. For Lane, the Tattoo is a vehicle for cultural exchange. This year, he has deliberately placed American and Qatari performers in the same lineup. The Qatar Police Academy Band and Drill Team, wearing sky-blue tunics and accompanied by Islamic projections, performs immediately after "Bright Brave World," a segment celebrating American culture with the Jackson 5, country music, tap-dancing cowgirls, and historic slogans like "All men are created equal" and "The pursuit of happiness" projected onto the castle walls.
Founded in 1950, the Tattoo preserves core traditions like marching bands and the lone piper on the ramparts. However, two-thirds of the show is redesigned annually by its own company of 133 dancers and musicians, one of the UK's largest amateur troupes. The event has a history of embracing contemporary culture, featuring Chubby Checker's "Let's Twist Again" in 1962 and hip-hop performances by US Army Field Band rappers Lamar Riddick and Nicholas Feemster in 2022. Lane emphasizes that the show must have a clear creative purpose rather than just letting international acts "do their thing."
This creative purpose is tested by current global tensions. With the Tattoo celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence at a time when the US is firing missiles at Iran, some question the appropriateness of featuring the US Army Field Band. Lane defends the programming, asserting that the Tattoo is "unapologetically Scottish" rather than a celebration of militarism. He believes that difficult times demand more dialogue, not less, arguing that excluding the American band would cause audiences to forget the "great philosophical and poetic ideas of America." With military leaders telling him that their plans for the next few years involve actual war, Lane believes finding common ground is more urgent than ever.
