Celtic Connections First Week – Glasgow: Live Review

By Stuart Anderton on 27th January 2026 • ( Leave a comment )

Celtic Connections, the annual festival of roots and traditional music, nears its half way point

TRIP are joined by some enthusiast step dancers at the Barony Hall

CURE FOR SEASONAL AFFECTIVE DISORDER

For 18 days in windswept January, Glasgow welcomes traditional musicians from around Scotland and the world for its very own cure for seasonal affective disorder, Celtic Connections.

Reviewing such a festival is near impossible, as every evening there are up to ten concerts taking place around the city, many combining multiple artists in previously unseen combinations, and ending up in late night sessions until 2am. You can only talk about the tiny proportion of the 300 concerts that you get to actually see for yourself

FAVOURITE IMAGES

At this half-way point I am sharing some of my favourite images taken to date, to give you a flavour of what has happened so far this year in the 33rd annual festival.

It’s been a fantastic start. Onwards to the second week!