EXCLUSIVE: A dress rehearsal was held in front of 4,000 volunteers, featuring pipers, musicians and sporting stars. “It was amazing,” a source said. “But emotional, many were in tears.”
The opening ceremony for tomorrow’s Commonwealth Games has been described as a ‘tear jerker’ that will pull on the heartstrings of athletes and millions of viewers.
For the first time in Games history, it is taking place indoors, and the details are a closely guarded secret. A dress rehearsal was held on Tuesday in front of 4,000 volunteers, featuring pipers, musicians and sporting stars.
“It was amazing,” a source told the Mirror. “It was emotional, many said they were in tears.”
Sir Chris Hoy, who has spoken of his heartbreaking cancer diagnosis as he seeks to raise awareness, plays a key role. King Charles is expected to tell the audience about the importance of togetherness in his speech to open the Games.
KT Tunstall is headlining the show which takes place from 8pm to 10pm at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro. The 14,300-capacity venue more accustomed to hosting the music stars than international sporting events.
Organisers describe the show as “a creative kaleidoscope and Clyde-built journey packed full of music, humour and Scottish surprise”. The King will formally declare the Games open by reading aloud the message he placed inside the King’s Baton at Buckingham Palace on Commonwealth Day, March 10 last year.
It has spent the past 500 days travelling to all 74 competing nations and territories, each of which decorated its own version, before being reunited on stage during the Parade of Nations at the opening ceremony. Sporting action gets under way before the ceremony itself, with Bowls and Para Bowls holding an extra session between 9.30am and 4.25pm on Thursday at the Scottish Event Campus.
Scottish musicians Callum Beattie, Nina Nesbitt, Nathan Evans, and duo Saint PHNX. and electronic folk duo Valtos will perform during the Parade of Nations, while Brit Award-winning singer Tom Walker was added to the line-up earlier this month. Around 600 volunteer performers are also taking part in the show.
For the first time since 1954, the BBC will not broadcast the Commonwealth Games. Channel 5 will also show the entire ceremony live from 8pm, both on television and via 5 Streaming.
It will be followed by daily highlights throughout the Games presented by former Olympic sprinter Jeanette Kwakye. The Games run from July 23 to August 2, with around 3,000 athletes from 74 nations and territories competing across 10 sports at multiple venues in Glasgow.
These include the Scottish Event Campus, Scotstoun Stadium, the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome and Arena, and the Tollcross International Swimming Centre. Sir Chris was on crutches last December and “hobbling about” after breaking a leg in a cycling crash which he described as the “worst” of his life.
Six-time Olympic champion Hoy announced in October 2024 that his cancer is terminal. But the 50-year-old has continued to ride his mountain bike thanks to a “stability period” in his treatment. He stressed that he wanted to continue ‘living life and enjoying it’. He described it as his worst accident in 43 years on the bike.
Hoy, whose seven Olympic medals include one silver, is Britain’s second-most decorated Olympic athlete behind fellow track cyclist Sir Jason Kenny (seven golds). He also claimed 11 World Championship golds and 34 World Cup titles before retiring in 2013.
Simple Minds headline the closing ceremony, and tickets are still available for that event, and some of the Glasgow 2026 events next week. Fans are encouraged not to miss out and get their hands on their tickets today, available at glasgow2026.com/tickets.