Edinburgh Tattoo

[granny grump]

I always look forward to this every year as it reminds me of my late dad. Extremely disappointed this evening - nothing but music. It could have been musical Where were the military displays

Anyone else feel the same way ?

[Buenchico]

They're probably just doing what the Royal Tournament organisers did back in the 1990s, when they decided to ditch all events which weren't relevant to the modern armed forces. (e.g. those involving the types of field guns which hadn't been used since WWI). The current activities of the armed forces don't generally lend themselves well to public displays. (e.g. using a computer to program a drone doesn't make for a great spectacle).

Those which might work well as part of a public display (such as those using helicopters) are probably either too expensive to put on or, alternatively, the relevant activities (such as helicopter search and rescue activities) are no longer carried out by the armed forces anyway because they've been privatised.

[pixie374]

Not sure, as I don't watch it myself... but I have left it on for a few clients who were interested. But I am fairly sure they were expecting military displays.

[Caran]

I normally enjoy this programme but only watched half of it. There was too much silly dancing. Not enough of the good old tatto stuff.

[Gill1941]

I agree didn't enjoy it this year. No military displays and too much music. Won't bother to watch again if it continues like this.
Does anyone know if it is broadcast live? Got very dark there compared to here in the far SW.

[Buenchico]

>>> Does anyone know if it is broadcast live? Got very dark there compared to here in the far SW.

I'd be amazed if, without a bit of editing here and there, they could get all of the performances to fit precisely into the 59 minutes that's allocated in the programme schedules for the Tattoo. Further, Google shows that the official website at one time carried a note about seating arrangements during recording by the BBC. (Clicking through to the website shows that the relevant text is no longer there but here's a screenshot of the Google search result:
http://www.upl.co/uploads/EdTat1566933387.jpg )

[Gill1941]

Thank you for that information.
Of course, thinking about it, I expect the whole performance was a lot longer than that.