We look back on what's been an exciting year in Aberdeen and look forward to a busy festive period.
Hey you,
We've been feeling reflective the past few weeks, which happens when the year starts winding down, and you're forced to take stock of everything that's happened. One thing keeps coming back: small venues, independent artists and community organisations are struggling. You know this already. When you choose where to go and what to support, you're deciding what survives. A ticket bought, a friend brought along, some merch as a gift, just showing your face - it really matters. Times are tight for most of us, which makes it more important to think about where your money goes. If you care about having local venues and artists around, we all need to support them. That's how they stay open.
2025's been a decent year for Aberdeen, all things considered. The Tall Ships Races in July was massive - over 400,000 people, 50 vessels filling the harbour, a two-week Festival of the Sea running alongside it. Aberdeen Performing Arts brought international circus and theatre here for the first time with their International Season, revived the Comedy Festival in autumn, and kept Light the Blue going in June. Aberdeen Music Week landed in August and, despite it being its first run, was very impressive. We’re very much looking forward to its 2026 return.
Aberdeen Art Gallery marked five years since reopening, with visitor numbers up. Aberdeen Arts Centre keeps going whilst fighting for its future. The Belmont Cinema got a new chief executive and half a million from Creative Scotland - still closed since 2022, but the free community screenings at Cowdray Hall have kept some version of independent cinema alive here. Hopefully we get some big news on that front in 2026.
Moving on to December, sometimes the month brings pressure to feel festive, but this month's cultural calendar offers enough variety that you can lean into Christmas or swerve the whole thing if that's more your speed. There's defitintely a focus on folk music this month in Aberdeen. The MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards are back in the city for the first time since 2019, which matters if you care about traditional music getting any recognition beyond the folk bubble. Murray Macleod's doing a stripped-back solo show at Drummonds - a chance to hear The Xcerts' frontman without the full band setup, which should be interesting.
Talisk brings their high-energy folk to the Lemon Tree. Their impressive playing keeps traditional music from feeling stuck in the past. Mànran are celebrating 15 years with a hometown gig. The Blue Lamp hosts Zor early in the month, performing modern Gypsy music, then flips to a five-band Christmas bill later if you want something messier. Not to be outdone, AGP packs six Scottish bands into Tunnels for seven hours, which is either perfect or exhausting depending on your stamina 😆. The Belmont's free festive screenings continue at Cowdray Hall. If you’re quick, Aberdeen Arts Centre is running its first Christmas fayre to raise funds for their campaign. Spoken word nights, rock ceilidhs, album launches fill the rest.
POST is taking a wee break between mid-December and mid-January. The burnout has been real during the darker months and we need to step back and recover. Don’t worry, there’s still a newsletter at the start of January, but otherwise we'll be relatively quiet. We need to recharge so we can jump back in stronger than ever in the new year.
Stay cool.
Chris & Kevin xx
POST Hightlights
This month we published an interview with Oliver Richard about his debut album. The best bit is hearing about all these night walks he'd do through the Scottish countryside when he was working rubbish jobs, spotting badgers and deer in the moonlight. That's where the album basically came from.
He ended up recording it in village halls and his old family home because he wanted this huge sound, so he'd set amps up at opposite ends of rooms. The whole thing's about him getting fed up with bands and deciding to just make an album completely on his own terms.
POST
We also wrote about Vagrant Real Estate's new album, which brings together 25 Scottish artists from completely different worlds. There's folk singers like Iona Fyfe working alongside hip-hop artists like Bemz and Jackill, plus spoken word artists, choirs, brass players, and rapping in Gaelic.
The album's built around Jackill, who appears on nine of the thirteen tracks. VRE produced and wrote everything himself, which is what gives it such coherence despite having so many different voices and traditions mixed in. We went along to the album launch and it was great to see Nick again and meet Jackill for the first time. The whole thing feels like a proper attempt at showing what Scottish music actually sounds like when you stop keeping genres separate from each other.
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We covered a new exhibition at Aberdeen Art Gallery that marks 140 years of Gray's School of Art. It's subtitled Never Make a Head Bigger Than a Melon, which was advice the painter Sylvia Wishart used to give her drawing students. The show traces how knowledge gets passed down through generations of artists who studied and taught at Gray's, creating these chains of influence where your teacher's teacher might have studied there in the 1950s.
Gray's was founded in 1885 by John Gray, a carpenter who became an engineering partner and set up the school because he'd struggled to get proper training himself. It started with over 400 students in a building next door to the art gallery, connected by a bridge so people could walk straight through to sketch from the collection. The exhibition uses the school's move to Garthdee in 1966 as a way of looking at how its identity has shifted over the decades. The whole thing's free and runs until April next year.
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Finally this month we looked forward to Nuart Aberdeen in April, which is doing something no other street art festival has done before. The whole thing will focus on poetry and text-based work. Instead of murals and images, artists will be putting large-scale text pieces and poems across Aberdeen walls from 23-26 April.
The curator Martyn Reed reckons it makes sense because of how we read now. On social media, text basically functions as image anyway, posted as jpegs or overlaid on photos. Aberdeen already has some strong text-based pieces from previous festivals, like Robert Montgomery's mural at Jopps Lane. The idea behind the theme "Poetry Is In The Streets" is that poetry and art come from everyday life in the first place, not from galleries or textbooks.
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What’s on in December
With Love
Until 14 Dec | kooperator.space
A group exhibition exploring what an intention, a gesture or a way of doing might become when held with love. Thirteen artists contribute work spanning self-love, romantic, familial, communal and ecological themes across varied forms and mediums.
The exhibition runs Friday to Tuesday, 11am to 6pm until 14 December. A free publication accompanies the show. The month-long programme includes reading groups, workshops, performances and guided tours, all free but ticketed.
Christmas Fayre
2 Dec | Aberdeen Arts Centre
Aberdeen Arts Centre hosts its first Christmas fayre, bringing local makers, artists and crafters together to sell handmade gifts, decorations and creative work. The event runs from 5pm to 9pm with festive atmosphere throughout.
The café bar will serve mulled wine, hot drinks and festive snacks whilst you browse. Entry donations support the Save Aberdeen Arts Centre campaign, helping secure the future of the community venue and the artists who rely on it.
Flowers for the Slaughterman Book Launch
2 Dec | Book Release
NJ Edmunds launches the second book in the Flint & Masson Crime Series, set in 1983 Aberdeen. Four years after unmasking a serial killer in Miles Away, PC Masson and botany graduate Flint reunite to clear a wrongly accused man.
The crime thriller follows the detective duo as they race to prevent the next victim being crossed off the kill list. Available in hardback, paperback and eBook.
Murray Macleod (The Xcerts)
4 Dec | Drummonds
Xcerts frontman Murray Macleod plays a solo hometown show, supported by Arran Hopkins. A chance to hear stripped-back performances from the Aberdeen musician away from his band's usual setup.
Macleod brings his songwriting to an intimate venue setting at Drummonds. The evening offers a different side to the songs, with the focus on vocals and acoustic arrangements in a room where you can feel every word.
Barvale Nights: Zor
5 Dec | The Blue Lamp
Modern Gypsy band Zor bring their blend of traditional Roma music styles with funk, pop and rock to Aberdeen. The powerhouse act sits at the cutting edge of Gypsy music in the UK, fresh from performances across the country this year.
Part of Ando Glaso's Barvale Nights series, the event offers an opportunity to experience authentic Roma music and hospitality. Produced by the leading Roma arts organisation and funded by Creative Scotland's Multi-Year Funding programme.
Josh Jones: I Haven't Won the Lottery So Here's Another Tour
5 Dec | Lemon Tree
Manchester comedian Josh Jones returns following his sell-out Gobsmacked tour with a new sshow. The TV favourite fills his show with observations on turning 30, cats, wrestling, history and everyday life, keeping things light and laugh-filled.
Jones delivers a night of comedy built around solid laughs and relatable material. The show does what it says, offering an evening of entertainment without pretension or grand statements.
"Bee" for Bill
6 Dec – 7 Jun | Aberdeen Art Gallery
A display of sketches by internationally celebrated North-East fashion designer Bill Gibb, all featuring his signature bumblebee motif. The hand-drawn designs for garments, accessories and footwear show how Gibb drew inspiration from the simple bee throughout his career.
The display coincides with the publication of Refashioning Bill Gibb for the 21st Century, edited by Josephine Steed of Gray's School of Art and Shane Strachan of the University of Aberdeen.
AGP Christmas Gig 2025
6 Dec | Tunnels
Six Scottish bands fill Tunnels for an end-of-year party hosted by Vic Galloway. Admiral Fallow, Broken Chanter, Wojtek The Bear, Haiver, The Painting and Fright Years play from 5pm to midnight.
A seven-hour celebration of Scottish music spanning different styles and sounds. An annual gathering bringing together some of the country's established and emerging acts.
MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards
6 Dec | Music Hall
The ceremony returns to Aberdeen for the first time since 2019, recognising contributions to Scotland's traditional music community across 22 categories. Dubbed the 'folk Oscars', the awards span Album of the Year, Musician of the Year and Venue of the Year.
Hosted by Alistair Heather and Mary Ann Kennedy, the evening features live performances from Scotland's traditional musicians. The Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame inductees will be celebrated during a special reception, with industry awards highlighting individuals and organisations supporting the sector.
Speakin' Weird
8 Dec | The Blue Lamp
This popular spoken word open mic night hosted by Orla Shortall and Hannah Nicholson, features poet Janette Ayachi this month. Sign up to perform from 7:30pm or turn up to listen to what others bring to the stage.
The format welcomes poetry, comedy, prose, stories, rants and introspective pieces. A chance to hear Aberdeen's spoken word community or share your own work in front of an audience.
Seed Talks: The History of Witchcraft & Women
9 Dec | The Lemon Tree
Dr Sharon Jagger examines modern witchcraft through the lens of feminism and political movements. The talk explores how witches became symbols of resistance during Trump-era protests and how feminists reclaim "witch" as both identity and rallying cry against historic misogyny.
Drawing on contemporary scholarship, Dr Jagger traces the transformation of the witch from persecuted figure to modern political symbol. Q&A follows the talk.
Stereophonics + Finn Forster
9 Dec | P&J Live
Welsh rock band Stereophonics bring their Winter Arena Tour to Aberdeen following a successful summer run that saw them play to over 500,000 fans across the UK and Europe.
Support comes from Finn Forster. The band continue touring after sold-out outdoor and stadium shows, including homecoming performances at Cardiff's Principality Stadium.
Talisk
10 Dec | The Lemon Tree
Contemporary folk trio Talisk bring their powerful, energetic show to Aberdeen. The band has spent a decade redefining traditional music, selling out venues across five continents with their high-energy performances.
Talisk's distinctive sound blends fiddle, concertina and guitar in arrangements that push folk music into new territory. The trio have built a reputation for technically impressive playing that keeps the floor-shaking intensity of traditional music whilst exploring new ground.
Mànran + Trail West
12 Dec | Music Hall
Multi-award-winning traditional band Mànran celebrate 15 years with a special hometown show, joined by fellow west coast act Trail West who are also marking their own 15-year milestone. Both seven-piece bands blend traditional and contemporary influences in their high-energy performances.
Mànran's anniversary tour follows their new album release. The double bill brings two of Scotland's established live acts together for an evening of traditional music with modern edge.
Mercedes Album Launch
12 Dec | The Lemon Tree
Aberdeen six-piece Mercedes launch their new album with a hometown show. The band's sound mixes swagger, soul and melody across anthemic songs that blend grit with soaring choruses and streetwise lyrics.
Mercedes stir up a storm of nostalgia and raw energy, drawing on classic rock influences whilst pushing their own sound forward. Their bittersweet anthems aim high, combining soaring melodies with grounded, everyman themes across their album.
African Creative Community Soirée
13 Dec | Ferryhill Community Centre
Aberdeen's African creative community hosts an afternoon marketplace, bringing vendors, artists and entrepreneurs together. Live cultural showcases and networking opportunities fill the event from 1pm.
A celebration of culture, identity and community running through the afternoon. The soirée includes vendor recognition, business showcase, coaching session, food, drinks, music and dance, all highlighting African creatives and entrepreneurs based in Aberdeen.
Bahookie + Ellen Bain
13 Dec | The Lemon Tree
Bahookie's annual rock ceilidh returns, mixing traditional Scottish dances with contemporary rock and pop tunes. The band's unique approach blends ceilidh dancing with modern music for a high-energy party atmosphere.
Support from Ellen Bain. An established pre-Christmas night out in Aberdeen for friends, family or work groups looking for a party.
Belmont Cinema Presents: The Muppet Christmas Carol
15 Dec | Cowdray Hall
The Belmont Cinema hosts a free festive screening of the Christmas classic. Michael Caine stars as Ebenezer Scrooge alongside Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit, with Gonzo and Rizzo narrating Charles Dickens' tale through the visits from the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.
A family-friendly event with free tickets available in advance. Donations welcome on the day to support The Belmont's community screenings.
Phil Cunningham's Christmas Songbook
16 Dec | Music Hall
Phil Cunningham returns with his annual Christmas celebration, now in its 19th year. The accordionist leads a lineup including Eddi Reader, Karen Matheson, John McCusker, Kris Drever, Ian Carr and Kevin McGuire.
The ensemble performs contemporary carols, traditional tunes and festive classics. The show blends musicianship and storytelling across a mix of Christmas music from Scotland's folk and traditional scene.
Tide Lines + NATI
18 Dec | Music Hall
Tide Lines bring their Glasgow Love Story UK headline tour to Aberdeen with support from NATI. The band added three Scottish dates following the success of their latest album, expanding the winter run across the country.
Tide Lines continue to build momentum following the release of their highly rated new record. The Glasgow-based band blend Celtic, folk and indie influences across anthemic songs that have steadily grown their following throughout Scotland and beyond.
Depeche Choad Christmas Show
20 Dec | The Blue Lamp
Punch Face Champion Promotions presents a five-band Christmas bill upstairs at The Blue Lamp. Depeche Choad headline with support from Audiokicks, Ceramics, Tigerdrive and Pink Doom across an evening of local live music.
A festive night out with Aberdeen bands bringing different sounds to the stage. The lineup spans various styles, offering a snapshot of the city's current live music scene in one room.
The Bloody Marys' Big Xmas Night Out
20 Dec | The Lemon Tree
The Bloody Marys bring their high-energy Christmas show to The Lemon Tree. The band promise a riotous night of live music, laughs and festive chaos aimed squarely at the office party crowd.
A Saturday night pre-Christmas party with a band known for delivering wild tunes and mayhem in equal measure.
Belmont Cinema Presents: It's A Wonderful Life
21 Dec | Cowdray Hall
The Belmont Cinema hosts a free festive screening of Frank Capra's Christmas classic. James Stewart stars as George Bailey, a frustrated businessman visited by an angel who shows him what life in his town would have been like without him.
A family-friendly event with free tickets available in advance. Donations welcome on the day to support The Belmont's community screenings.
Belmont Cinema Presents: Home Alone
22 Dec | Cowdray Hall
The Belmont Cinema hosts a free festive screening of the Christmas classic. Macaulay Culkin stars as eight-year-old Kevin McCallister, accidentally left behind when his family flies to Paris for Christmas, who must defend his home against two burglars on Christmas Eve.
A family-friendly event with free tickets available in advance. Donations welcome on the day to support The Belmont's community screenings.
Snow White
27 – 31 Dec | Tivoli Theatre
The Tivoli Theatre's Christmas family pantomime brings the classic fairy tale to the stage across five days of performances. Various showtimes available throughout the run.
Snow White encounters the wicked Queen, seven dwarfs and a poisoned apple in this traditional pantomime. A festive show suitable for all ages with audience participation, songs and comedy woven through the familiar story.
Red Hot Chilli Pipers
29 Dec | Music Hall
The Red Hot Chilli Pipers bring their high-energy fusion of traditional Scottish music and rock anthems to Aberdeen. Known worldwide for their "bagrock" sound, the band combine blazing bagpipes, driving percussion and guitars across covers and original material.
From their viral Queen cover to takes on Coldplay, AC/DC and Avicii, the band deliver performances that blend Scottish tradition with contemporary rock energy. One of Scotland's most recognisable live acts touring their explosive show.
And that's your lot for this month. Running an event? Give us a shout. We're always keen to platform the low-key happenings that deserve their moment too.
Quick one about our Supporter Crew – you're literally why this exists. The cultural coverage, the local stories, all of it only works because you're here. We're running our Black Friday deal right now, so you can join the crew for half price. If you can stretch to it, ad-free access and keeping us going genuinely matters. If you can't, the free newsletter stays free. But if it's doable for you, please think about it. We really do need you.
As we said, we're taking a month off from mid-December to mid-January, but we'll be back as normal with a newsletter at the start of January.
Catch you out there, or back here in a month's time.
K+C xx
