ROBERT Burns is set to help deliver record ticket sales for one of Scotland's biggest music festivals, The Scotsman has learned.
Organisers of Celtic Connections are hoisting the "sold out" signs for a string of events inspired by the 250th anniversary of the Bard's birth later this month. The festival, which kicks off tomorrow, is expected to be a focal point for the Homecomi
ng celebrations being held during the event's middle weekend.
But music fans are also facing a ticket scramble to see stars including Eddi Reader, Dougie MacLean, Karen Matheson, Nanci Griffith and Karine Polwart.
The news from Celtic Connections, which has revealed it is on track to smash last year's record-breaking takings, has emerged as organisers of the Homecoming celebrations have revealed all 1,200 tickets for a spectacular sound and light show in Burns's birthplace village of Alloway, Ayrshire, on 24 January have been snapped up.
It has also emerged more than 2,100 Burns Suppers around the world have registered online, so they can take part in the Homecoming celebrations.
Organisers of the world's biggest clan gathering in Edinburgh this summer have also announced they are on track for a sell-out. They said yesterday that 48 per cent of full tickets for the event have been sold in the US and Canada, with 14 per cent sold in Australia and New Zealand. More than 5,500 of the 8,000 available full passes have been sold.
Celtic Connections officials say a surge in overseas bookings has already helped advance bookings to reach last year's record-breaking levels.
It is hoped ticket sales will receive a boost this year from publicity Burns's birthday will generate for the festival.
Organisers have added a second concert by Eddi Reader after her special tribute to the work of Burns sold out. All tickets for two Transatlantic Sessions concerts, which will celebrate songs and tunes that have crossed the Atlantic between Scotland over the past 300 years, have gone. Only a handful of tickets are left for Auld Lang Syne, a gala concert on the eve of the Bard's birthday.
A spokeswoman for Celtic Connections said: "Early indications show tickets for this year are selling well, with sales currently in line with those from this time last year."
A spokeswoman for Homecoming Scotland reported huge interest in Iconic Burns, for which artists from across the UK will bring to life landmarks like the Auld Kirk and Brig o' Doon in Alloway. She said: "The full allocation of tickets was taken up some time ago, well before the deadline. We're still being inundated with requests."
Meanwhile organisers of a dramatic event planned to be staged in Dumfries on 25 January say they hope for a crowd of 10,000. A torchlit procession will wind through the heart of the town where Burns spent the latter part of his life. A finale on the banks of the River Nith will feature film, verse and the burning of a Tam o' Shanter sculpture.
Glasgow City Council is expecting several thousand people at a free Burns Night celebration in George Square.
