Terminal V has closed out its Edinburgh chapter in emphatic fashion, with the festival’s final edition at the Royal Highland Centre on 18 and 19 April bringing an end to a nine-year run in the city where it all began. Across that stretch, more than a quarter of a million fans passed through its gates, underlining the scale of the legacy it leaves behind in the Scottish capital.
The send-off was fittingly massive, with tens of thousands of fans spread across six reworked stages and more than 100 artists for one last weekend of heavyweight techno, house and harder sounds. It also arrived after Terminal V had already confirmed a £1 million site investment for 2026, aimed at upgrading production, facilities and the overall audience experience.
That ambition was clear long before the gates opened. The festival’s phase one line-up had already set the tone with names including Robert Hood, Sara Landry, Klangkuenstler and Ben Hemsley, before later additions pushed the final bill beyond 100 acts. By the time the last Edinburgh edition arrived, standout names across the weekend included Sara Landry’s UK festival exclusive ETERNALISM show, alongside Klangkuenstler, Mall Grab, Robert Hood, Restricted, Ben Hemsley and Vieze Asbak.
The emotional weight of the weekend was sharpened by the fact that organisers had only recently confirmed this would be the last Edinburgh edition, with rising policing and deployment costs cited as a major reason for the move away from the site. Even so, the final event was framed not as a retreat but as a statement, with the co-founders making clear that the standard set in Edinburgh would shape whatever comes next.
That sense of progression has been building for some time. Terminal V’s growth has already stretched beyond the capital through its Croatian festival edition and its London debut at Drumsheds, where it staged a major 15,000-capacity event in late 2025. Along the way, the brand also picked up major recognition, including being named Best UK Festival at DJ Mag’s Best of British Awards in 2023 and ranking among the top festivals in Scotland, the UK and the world.
For Edinburgh, though, the bigger story is what Terminal V changed locally. Over nine years it helped shape Scotland’s modern electronic music identity, building a fiercely loyal audience while consistently bringing major international artists to the city on a scale few other events could match. Its reputation was built not just on line-up strength, but on a level of production that made each edition feel bigger, louder and more immersive than the last.
The festival’s next move is now the obvious point of intrigue. Plans are already in place for a new Scottish location in 2027, which will also mark Terminal V’s 10th anniversary, while organisers have additionally signalled an imminent Terminal V Australia launch as part of a broader international push. Edinburgh may have hosted the final chapter of the story so far, but Terminal V has made it clear this is being treated as the end of one era rather than the end of the festival itself.
Image credits: Anthony Mooney
In this article: Terminal V, Royal Highland Showground, Edinburgh, Sara Landry, Klangkuenstler, Mall Grab, Robert Hood, Restricted, Ben Hemsley, Vieze Asbak, Drumsheds, DJ Magazine, Croatia, Scotland, London, Australia. Generated by Wikidata Schema Link Builder.
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