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Marines musicians help take Tattoo spectacular to far side of the world
5 February 2026
The UK’s premier military musicians take their precision performances to the other side of the world this month.
The Band of His Majesty’s Royal Marines will appear in Australia and New Zealand, performing alongside counterparts from the RAF and Army, as well as bands, artists and dance troupes from around the globe.
The musicians are supporting the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, which is taking its unique brand of military – and civilians – pomp, ceremony, music and dance to Brisbane and Auckland.
They will appear for four nights at Brisbane’s 52,000-seat premier rugby league venue, Suncorp Stadium, then cross the Tasman Sea as the tattoo moves to New Zealand’s national stadium, Eden Park.
It’s the first time in a decade the tattoo – which traditionally plays to a packed house in the grounds of Edinburgh Castle each August – has headed to Australasia.
The Royal Marines Band Scotland, based at HMS Caledonia in Rosyth, will provide a marching band, while its drummers will be bolstered by colleagues from Portsmouth, HMS Collingwood and the Commando Training Centre RM in Lympstone to create a Massed Corps of Drums.
Both will link up with fellow military musicians to form a massed military band, while the drummers will be performing independently – including a ‘battle’ with other drum corps featuring music from 90s rock/dance band The Prodigy.
The drummers will also be performing a static routine with the massed Military Bands.
The chance to perform to an entirely different audience – and soak up the culture and experience of visiting two Commonwealth countries – has the Scotland-based musicians buzzing.
"Having played at previous tattoos in Edinburgh, I'm thrilled to be part of this Antipodean adventure" said Lance Corporal Alex Williams.
Bandmate Corporal Chris Hunt will be appearing in his fifth tattoo “but my first on tour. I'm looking forward to visiting new places and meeting new cast members from across the world."
Musician Emma Sims added: "I'm very excited to be a part of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo on tour. Being a just a month out of training this is going to be an incredible gig to be a part of – one I will never forget."
It’s a particularly proud moment for New Zealander Musician Max Glazier.
"Having joined the Royal Marines all the way from Aotearoa [the Maori name for the country] I'm incredibly excited and proud to first perform in Australia but then on my home island in front of my family."
While the Scottish-based musicians are 10,000 miles from home, their colleagues back home in the UK have an equally busy schedule in February, before all the bands converge at the end of the month to rehearse for the principal event in the bands’ calendar, the Mountbatten Festival of Music at London’s Royal Albert Hall in late March.
The various bands’ upcoming concerts are:
- Camberley (6 February, HMS Collingwood Band)
- Fareham (7 February, HMS Collingwood Band)
- Exeter (14 February, Commando Training Centre RM Band)
- Romsey (21 February, HMS Collingwood Band)
- Worthing (22 February, Portsmouth Band)
- Newport, Isle of Wight (25 February, Portsmouth Band)
- Poole, (26 February, Portsmouth Band)
- Royal Albert Hall (20-21 March, Massed Bands – Mountbatten Festival of Music)
- Torpoint (5 May, Plymouth Band)
- Chandler’s Ford (26 May, HMS Collingwood Band)
Details and tickets are available via: https://www.royalmarinesbands.co.uk/events/ (the 21 March evening performance is already sold out).