GlasGael, Glasgow’s first Irish music festival, has been postponed until 2027 just weeks before its May 2-3 debut due to escalating costs
GlasGael will not happen this year. The two-day Irish music and culture festival, which had billed itself as the biggest Irish festival in the UK and was scheduled to debut on Glasgow Green on May 2 and 3, has been postponed until 2027, its organisers confirmed this week. The High Kings, Derek Ryan, and the Tumbling Paddies were among the acts booked to perform in a 5,000-capacity big top tent on the same patch of ground that hosts TRNSMT, one of Scotland’s largest annual music events. The cancellation came just weeks before opening day and follows a pattern of festival collapses that has been accelerating across Scotland and the wider UK.
Festival HQ Limited, the company behind GlasGael, framed the decision in terms of forces beyond their control.
Since we launched GlasGael, the global landscape has shifted in ways that have fundamentally impacted our financial model,” the company said in a statement
“The combination of current geopolitical turmoil, increased costs in the industry, and the ongoing cost of living crisis has created unprecedented challenges.” The statement added that over recent weeks, several long-term contractors and suppliers had been forced to increase their rates, pushing cumulative costs past the point at which the event could be delivered at the planned scale and quality. All ticket holders will receive full refunds. The festival’s social media accounts have been deleted.
A Pattern of Collapses
GlasGael’s postponement is not an isolated case. It arrives just days after the cancellation of Paisley Alive, a music and wellness festival planned for Barshaw Park on July 4 that had Rag’n’Bone Man and Emeli Sandé booked to headline. Organisers of that event cited lower than expected ticket sales as the reason for pulling the plug, after two years of planning. Both cancellations follow a string of Scottish festival failures in recent years, including the Connect event in Argyll, which collapsed under the combined pressure of post-pandemic revenue gaps and surging operational costs. The broader picture across the UK festival industry is not much more encouraging. The years since the pandemic have placed an enormous structural strain on mid-sized and new events in particular. Established festivals with large loyal audiences and strong sponsorship infrastructures have largely survived. Newer events and those with less financial cushion have found themselves caught between audiences who have not fully returned to pre-pandemic spending habits and a supply chain that has not returned to pre-pandemic pricing. GlasGael, attempting to launch for the first time in this environment, faced both problems at once.
The Promise of 2027
Organisers were clear that the postponement is not a cancellation.
We are deeply sorry for the disappointment this causes and thank you for your incredible support,” the statement read.
“We are now focusing our efforts on making GlasGael 2027 a celebration worth the wait.” The festival had generated considerable excitement in Glasgow’s large Irish diaspora community, with the planned programme extending beyond music to include Irish dancing, instrument lessons, storytelling, bars, food vendors, and carnival rides. There had also been logistical concerns in the days before the announcement, after it emerged that the second day of the festival was scheduled to coincide with a loyalist march expected to conclude at Glasgow Green. Police Scotland had confirmed a policing plan was in place. Whether either of those factors contributed to the final decision has not been stated.
