Terminal V has closed the book on its Edinburgh chapter, bringing down the curtain at the Royal Highland Centre. It was one final edition that delivered everything the festival has come to stand for: scale, ambition, and an uncompromising commitment to production. With this, an era in Scottish electronic music comes to a close after a nine-year run. Over the weekend of 18th and 19th April 2026, tens of thousands of fans gathered for one last time in the Scottish capital to mark the end of a festival that helped shape the city’s global reputation as a home for techno and underground culture.
Co-founders Derek Martin and Simon McGrath launched Terminal V in 2017, inspired by the legendary electronic festival scene they had witnessed in Berlin. Since then, the festival grew from a bold regional idea into one of Europe’s most respected electronic music events. Along the way it earned recognition as Scotland’s number one festival, the fifth-ranked festival in the UK, and 34th in the world in the DJ Mag Top 100 Festivals poll. The DJ Mag Best of British Awards also named it Best UK Festival in 2023. By the time its final Edinburgh edition arrived, over a quarter of a million fans had passed through its doors across nine editions.
A Final Edition Made To Remember
The 2026 closing chapter was not a farewell show in name only. Representing a £1 million investment into the festival site, the final edition transformed the Royal Highland Centre across six fully reimagined stages. In addition, a bespoke site-wide sound redesign developed in collaboration with global audio leaders d&b audiotechnik.
The final programme spanned techno, house, and the harder edges of the underground. The headline moment arrived in the form of Sara Landry’s ETERNALISM show, a UK festival exclusive that brought cinematic, immersive production to the Terminal V stage for the first time. Alongside Landry, the weekend featured standout performances from Klangkuenstler, Mall Grab, Robert Hood, Restricted, Ben Hemsley, Vieze Asbak and many more.
“The standard of this weekend is the benchmark we’ll take with us,” said co-founder Simon McGrath. “We never compromise, and we never will. What comes next for Terminal V will be bigger and more ambitious than anything we’ve done before.”
For Derek Martin, the occasion was bittersweet but clear-eyed. He said, “Nine years ago we had a vision for what Terminal V could be, and Edinburgh gave us the platform to realise it. Closing this chapter is bittersweet, but watching so many people share this weekend with us made it feel like the celebration it deserved to be. This might be the end of one era but we are excited about what is coming next.”
What’s Next? A New Scottish Home, Australia, and a 10th Anniversary
The decision to leave Edinburgh was not taken lightly. Co-founder Simon McGrath cited the increasingly challenging operational environment, with policing and associated deployment costs now representing a significant proportion of overall delivery costs at the site. The festival organisers refused to absorb these costs by compromising on quality. Rather than dilute what Terminal V had built, the founders have consciously chose to move.
Plans are already confirmed for a new Scottish location in 2027, timed to coincide with the festival’s landmark 10th anniversary. This would be an occasion that Martin has described as the beginning of “a new exciting chapter.” The 2027 edition will mark Terminal V’s first decade. If the ambitions outlined by both founders are anything to go by, it promises be their most significant edition yet.
The international picture is equally compelling. Terminal V’s reach has grown well beyond Scotland in recent years, with a Croatian edition launching in 2024 at The Garden in Tisno. Also, a successful London debut at the 15,000-capacity Drumsheds reinforcing the brand’s appeal beyond its home market. Now, Terminal V Australia is set to launch. This appears to be the next step in their broader global expansion plan.
Nine years. A quarter of a million fans. Terminal V has closed its Edinburgh chapter. What comes next is a plan in progress.
