Chappell Roan ignites Edinburgh Summer Sessions with two-night Royal Highland Centre takeover

Two nights, one outdoor stage, and a breakout pop moment in Edinburgh

Chappell Roan closed out August in Scotland with a confident two-night run at the Royal Highland Centre, bringing her theatrical pop show to the Edinburgh Summer Sessions on August 26 and 27, 2025. The concerts, staged on the Royal Highland Showgrounds in Ingliston, drew early-bird queues long before the 4:00 PM gate time and capped off a late-summer stretch that has put the fast-rising performer at the heart of the UK and Ireland’s festival season.

Across both evenings, the setup leaned into the scale of the site: a wide outdoor stage, big-screen visuals, and a crowd that stayed vocal from first track to encore. Special guest Jade Thirwall delivered a high-energy turn that underlined the pop-forward billing, while support from Drag Show and JADE warmed up the arena-style grounds as the late-afternoon light gave way to golden-hour glow and phone-flash seas.

Edinburgh was not a one-off. The dates formed part of a broader festival circuit that also includes Reading Festival, Leeds Festival, and Electric Picnic in Ireland—three stops that traditionally define the late August and early September calendar for emerging headliners. Slotting Edinburgh between those pillars gave Roan a showcase in Scotland’s capital, and the timing couldn’t have been better. Summer Sessions has become a magnet for artists scaling up from club tours to outdoor headline slots, and this pair of shows felt like a statement: bigger stage, bigger production, and a fanbase ready for it.

On the ground, logistics were straightforward. Tickets went out via general on-sale, with the option to book parking in advance through the Royal Highland Centre system—sensible for a site that sits beside Edinburgh Airport and draws fans from across the Central Belt. Ride-shares and shuttle options did steady business, and the early door time meant the grounds filled gradually, with merch queues forming early and moving briskly.

Video highlights circulating online after night one captured the mood: choreo in tight formation, costume changes that played to the back rows, and a crowd that treated even the intros like sing-alongs. You could feel the show growing as darkness fell—those long Scottish summer evenings are kind to outdoor gigs—turning the airfield-adjacent site into a temporary pop arena. By the second night, fans had coded outfits, handmade signs, and that unmissable pre-show buzz that suggests word-of-mouth did its job overnight.

For the artist, these dates mark another rung up the ladder. The step from academy venues to outdoor festival-size productions usually comes with a testing period—how does the set play in open air, how does the pacing work without a ceiling, does the spectacle resonate past the pit? Edinburgh provided a clean read. The transitions were tight, the visuals landed, and the audience—heavy on first-timers and repeat attendees alike—stayed locked in. It’s the kind of run that helps an artist settle into bigger spaces ahead of the Reading/Leeds weekend, where split-site logistics and TV turnaround leave little room for error.

Summer Sessions itself continues to evolve. Long associated with picture-postcard views in central Edinburgh, the series has in recent years expanded and adapted to larger-capacity outdoor spaces, with the Royal Highland Showgrounds offering the mix of transport access and build room that modern productions demand. You can see why this stop is attractive for a rising pop headliner: room for screens and catwalks, a site that can be sectioned for production needs, and enough space to keep bars, toilets, and entry lanes moving without pinching the crowd.

The curation mattered too. Bringing in Jade Thirwall as special guest created a clear through-line for pop fans, while Drag Show and JADE gave the afternoon a festival feel rather than a straightforward one-artist bill. That programming choice helped the flow—late arrivals still caught a full arc of performances, and early birds got their money’s worth. The result was a proper day out rather than a dash to the headliner, and that shows in the crowd energy on fan-shot clips.

For Edinburgh, late-August gigs like these are a boost. They extend the city’s summer season beyond daytime arts programming and pull audiences west toward Ingliston, spreading the load on central venues. Local businesses benefit from the spillover—hotels near the airport fill, food stalls on-site report strong early sales, and ride-share patterns show predictable spikes at gate open and curfew. None of that is glamorous, but it’s what sustains a city’s live ecosystem.

What’s next? With Edinburgh wrapped, the road points to the late-August bank holiday twin bill of Reading and Leeds, where audience turnover and tight changeovers test an artist’s showcraft under pressure. Electric Picnic in Ireland follows with a different flavor—broad demographic, multi-genre sprawl, and a Sunday crowd that often sings like a choir. Edinburgh’s two-nighter sets up nicely for that run: the pacing is dialed, the cues are sharpened, and the production team gets live reps in outdoor conditions before landing on festival TV timelines.

If you’re tracking the arc rather than just the dates, this fortnight says plenty about momentum. The fan demand is there—the early queues, the repeat attendance night to night, the flood of clips within minutes of the last confetti. The production is there—clean lines, distinct eras within the set, visuals that read from the barrier to the back fence. And the industry piece is there too—smart routing, brand-aligned festival slots, and a Scottish anchor that signals intent in the UK beyond London and Manchester.

The details tell the story. Doors at 4:00 PM gave breathing space for arrivals and let the undercard breathe. Advance parking at the Royal Highland Centre kept traffic from bunching. A clear on-site layout meant fewer pinch points as fans moved between food courts, merch, and the main field. When outdoor shows feel smooth, it’s rarely an accident; it’s the result of a promoter, artist, and venue actually talking to each other.

Two nights in Ingliston won’t define a career. But they do mark the moment where the rooms get bigger, the word of mouth gets louder, and the calendar starts reading like a victory lap. Edinburgh showed that the leap lands. Now it’s on to the festivals that turn momentum into muscle memory.

Quick recap

Artist: Chappell Roan
Where: Royal Highland Centre, Royal Highland Showgrounds, Ingliston (Edinburgh)
When: August 26–27, 2025 (doors 4:00 PM both nights)
Bill: Special guest Jade Thirwall; support from Drag Show and JADE
Tickets: General on-sale; advance parking available
Context: Part of a festival circuit including Reading, Leeds, and Electric Picnic