WinterStorm Rock Weekender
It feels like yesterday that we took over our annual home at Troon Concert Hall and Walker Halls; conversely it feels like a lifetime ago already!
This is a simple, very brief but heartfelt thank you from me, Ian, to you the happiest go lucky music fans to be found; to the bands their TMs and crew who get that we are struggling with space and help us work with it rather than make it difficult and of course all of the wonderful team who come together once a year for a few days to make magic happen all around them.
When we walk in the front doors of Troon Concert Hall we know that the council team on the ground will do everything they can for us and they work with us at every turn to overcome a plethora of issues that the old lady concert hall throws at us every year. Security from Scotia is delivered with down to earth Ayrshire humour and in nine years we've yet to chuck anyone out! The bars and catering are provided in house and these guys deserve medals for producing the range of beers and fresh food in a pop up environment such as Troon Concert Hall. Hard work and sheer professionalism is understating it. The sound and light? From a dry hall on the Wednesday morning to full soundchecks by Thursday and we believe the best sounding stages you'd find anywhere; the main hall with Smalltown Audio is just one of the very best places for bands to play and for fans to listen to live music in Scotland. And Studio 5 manage to convert a meeting room into the best temporary small venue with a superb atmosphere.
Add to that the videography and filming provided by UK Live Metal and their team to record and edit and broadcast to the screens all weekend and then provide the WinterStorm YouTube archive.
And then, of course, there's the volunteers. Some of whom work alongside me all year and others who come along for a few hours. The support in setting up and dressing the entire building to make it your unique "WinterStorm" venue, the admin and planning, front of house, green room and band services, the backstage crew, merch team and this year the additional challenges of managing the challenges of vouchers and tokens. Every one of these people stepped up to deliver excellence and added value to bands and customers alike. And they know that if I was in front of them just now they'd be waiting for me to start greetin'! I may have my own concerns about events being subsidised by volunteers but until there's a better way I couldn't be more thankful and proud of what is given to me personally by these generous and supportive people.
And then there's you lot! Every thank you you gave is received in full and passed on to all of the above in spirit. I'd be fooling no-one if I didn't say that I think there is something different, special, about us all getting together on dark, cold, wintry weekends on the west coast of Scotland just before the Christmas madness consumes the world. Our wee escape?
WinterStorm is physically demanding; it can be mentally challenging; but in the end it is emotionally fulfilling because it seems to just work for so many of us.
Thursday 26th to Saturday 28th November 2026
And so to the future. It's year ten in 2026 and that in itself is something that we never even contemplated reaching when we opened the doors at 4pm on Friday 25th November 2016 - it's kind of unique, due to the lost year of COVID that the tenth anniversary is actually also our tenth event (you work it out!) but we plan to mark it as best we can.
We have been asked whether 2026 will be a farewell event and to be honest we are not in a position to answer that just now - we are committed in consulting all stakeholders over the coming months and then determine what the future shape of WinterStorm should or could be. However we do recognise that because of this we do expect the demand for tickets this year to be higher and earlier than normal.
Please remember that all ticket prices include VAT at 20%; bank and card charges, ticket printing and postage and all other booking fees. The price shown is what is paid.
The price promise for all Advance (pre line up) tickets purchased last year is that we would hold the price from 2024 into 2025 and 2026 and these tickets will be available to purchase from the 4th of January exclusively for a week.
The 10 month Direct Debit will be available to last year's users for sign up from Sunday 14th December - an email with the link will be sent out - and first payment will come out on the 9th of January and monthly until October. This will also be at the 2025 price of £17.50 per month for a single ticket.
General sale advance (pre-line up) tickets will go on sale from 11th of January and these as always will be covered by the Line Up Refund Guarantee
All remaining three day tickets will go on sale on the 1st of February or on the announcement of the majority of the line up* and these will be price at 2025 prices. Regardless of our increasing costs we recognise that we have hit a price point that we cannot push further.
Day tickets will not be released until at least the summer and only subject to availability. We will NOT be holding back one day tickets for future release - they will only be made available if the three day tickets have not been sold out.
We will be marking the tenth anniversary with some unique items through the year but we really don't want to rip the proverbial out of it. However there are two very special commemorative items that will go on sale very early in the New Year to uniquely mark ten years of rock n roll by the seaside.
There will be approximately 200 hundred bottles of ten year old malt released to reserve in January with the option of ten monthly payments. This single malt from Bunnahabhain Distillery on the west coast island of Islay was distilled in October 2016 and will have been aged for 10 years in a first fill Bourbon barrel.
The whisky will be named, branded, labelled and packaged as The WinterStorm Ten Year Old Malt with commemorative packaging. There is no way we can do this cheaply but we will keep the cost in line with other limited editions and it is likely to be priced at £130 per bottle. It will be bottled ready for collection at WinterStorm 2026 or mailing thereafter.
Over the years we have gathered and shared wonderful imagery from the WinterStorm photographers and to mark the tenth anniversary we will be producing a limited edition hardback 30cm x 30cm, coffee table book with 256 pages featuring the history of WinterStorm from 2016 to 2026 in words and pictures. This will be only be available on a pre order basis and will be delivered by post after the event to ensure 2026 is fully covered.
These two commemorative products will be available to purchase together in a combined presentation box or as separate items.
More information will be sent out by email and all of the above. Dates are subject to amendment.
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WinterStorm Rock Weekender
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WinterStorm Rock Weekender
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WinterStorm Rock Weekender
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