Glasgow's Emirates Arena to become concert venue for first time as Celtic Connections reveals 2025 line-up

It is the spectacular sports facility built to help Glasgow host the Commonwealth Games a decade ago.

Now the Emirates Arena is to be turned into the city's newest live music venue - as part of an expansion of its annual Celtic Connections festival.

Hebridean rock band Peat & Diesel will be staging the first ever live music event and their biggest ever indoor show when they return to Glasgow in January.

It is hoped the 4500-capacity pilot show, which will be staged in the main athletics arena, will pave the way for it to be used regularly during Celtic Connections, as well as for other major events throughout the year.

The gig is expected to be one of the highlights of the 2025 festival, which will feature a record number of headline shows by female singers and musicians, the opening event for a year-long celebration of Glasgow's "850th birthday" and the launch of a new discounted ticket scheme for fans under 26.

The Peat & Diesel show has emerged from talks between Celtic Connections and Glasgow Life, which runs many of the city's sporting and cultural venues.

It will be by far the biggest gig in next year's Celtic Connections, which will also deploy the Barrowland Ballroom, which can cater for just over 2000 fans, as well as the O2 Academy and the festival's traditional home, the Royal Concert Hall, which both have a capacity around 2500.

Creative producer Donald Shaw said the Emirates Arena would fill a gap in the venues used by the festival - which has only staged a handful of shows at the 14,000-capacity Hydro since it opened in 2013 - as well as extend the reach of Celtic Connections in the east of the city.

Mr Shaw said: "The festival is always ambitious about looking for new opportunities in terms of the spaces we use.

"There have been discussions for a while about whether the Emirates Arena could be an option for a new performance space in the city. Part of what we're doing will be about testing it out as a venue to see how it feels.

"We've already done some sound-tests in there and it sounds pretty good. We will need to put in protective flooring, but it’s a really interesting space. There are two banks of around 2000 seats and the sightlines are terrific.

"The arena has got good transport links and could really open up events like Celtic Connections to the community in the east end.

"It sits in quite a good place in terms of capacity, which will be 4500 for Peat & Diesel. The theory is that it doesn’t step on the toes of the Hydro, which has a much bigger capacity.

"If we want to jump above the O2 Academy, which we're also using this year, we have to go to the Hydro, but it has to be the right show for a space as big as that."

Peat & Diesel drummer Uilly Macleod said: “When Donald Shaw got in touch and asked how we felt about really giving it laldy, we didn’t quite appreciate what he had in mind.

“This will be our biggest indoor show to date and the honour of being the first act to headline the Emirates Arena.

“We've worked hard with Donald and his team to make the show accessible to all and keep the ticket price affordable. Lets show the east end of Glasgow how we do it in the Western Isles.”

American stars lined up for Celtic Connections include Lyle Lovett, Lady Blackbird, Josh Rouse, Madison Cunningham and the Indigo Girls. The festival will feature a major showcase of Irish music, including Four Men and a Dog, Nuala Kennedy, Eamonn O’Leary and Karen Casey.

Landmark anniversaries which will be celebrated at the festival include a two-show celebration of debut album Eye to the Telescope from Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall, 20 years of Orcadian supergroup The Chair, 25 years of Scots song champions Malinky, and 30 years of Ceòas, South Uist’s annual traditional music, song and dance summer school.

Scottish folk singers Julie Fowlis, Karine Polwart and Beth Malcolm will be staging their biggest ever headline shows at the festival, while Roaming Roots Revue, Roddy Hart's annual celebration of classic songs will focus on British pop and rock icons including Elton John, The Beatles and David Bowie.

The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra will join forces with award-winning Scottish folk outfit Breabach, as well as stage a celebration of jazz at the Old Fruitmarket featuring appearances from stars of Scotland's current thriving scene including Fergus McCreadie and Kitti.

However Mr Shaw said the line-up for the opening concert at the Royal Concert Hall was likely to be kept largely under wraps until the show got underway.

He said: "I love the idea of shows where there is an element of surprise. There were some real moments like that at last year's festival, including an appearance from Dick Gaughan, which had real energy and emotion. It made me think a bit more about it.

"But it will be a big celebration of Glasgow and it will be the first event in the city's 850th birthday programme."

Mr Shaw said the festival had deliberately stepped up the number of female singers and musicians headlining their own shows, but suggested Celtic Connections had been unfairly criticised in the past.

He said: "I was a little tired about Celtic Connections being thrown into the debate about festivals and gender balance.

"It has become fashionable to point the finger at any festival. But I think we've always been quite proactive about having a stronger gender balance.

"We've never programmed by design. There's always been a very strong number of female-led artists working in Scotland and Ireland. But I had some choices to make this year."

Mr Shaw said the introduction of an under 26 discounted ticket scheme was part of the festival's founding commitment to ensure the event was as accessible as possible to the people of Glasgow.

He added: "We want people to interact with lots of shows. We have to balance the books, but we feel that the positives of not necessarily charging the highest ticket price we can are played out in terms of the number of shows that multiple buyers will go to.

"We run close to 75 per cent capacity across the festival. That is a substantial success rate, which allows us to be sensible with ticket prices."