Bright tartan trousers – and a glorious smell of whiskey – greets Irish Country Living when we arrive at the Edinburgh Tattoo. Fire torches light up Edinburgh Castle at the far side of the esplanade. Royal marines are running around moving props as the 8,000 plus people in attendance make way to their seats.

The military musical extravaganza, which runs throughout August, kicks off with a Scottish clan chief toasting with a quafe of whiskey at the start of the show. This silver bowl must be then licked on the outside to show that not a drop of the precious liquor has been wasted. The clan chiefs, holding their standards, then lead their families (wearing their own clan tartan) off the esplanade. The red carpet is rolled up and the show gets underway.

Between the Tattoo and the Fringe festival, Edinburgh comes alive in August, with the tattoo entertaining a live audience of 220,000 annually and a further global TV audience of over 100 million. Just 20% of the live audience is from Scotland, with 50% from the rest of the UK and 65,000 visiting from overseas. Since the tattoo started in 1950, more than 14 million visitors have attended. Considering the fact that Scotland gets its fair share of rain, it is an impressive feat for the show to be able to claim that, in all its years, not a single performance of the Tattoo has ever been cancelled.

Having attended the show last year, the best part for Irish Country Living was, without doubt, the Highland dancers, in brightly coloured costumes, skipping about making it look as though they were walking on air. Another standout moment was when a lone piper appeared lit up high on the castle ramparts playing Scotland The Brave. Indeed, days after our visit to the Tattoo, those opening bars were still marching around in our heads. And while we were very excited about the traditional firework display, it was the scenes on the castle walls that really dazzled, which at different points resembled a stained glass window, a flight simulator and even a Highland glen.

This year’s show promises to be just as dramatic with the theme, The Sky’s The Limit, which has been chosen in celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and marries with Scotland’s Year of Young People.

In a first for the show, laser technology will take the audience on the incredible journey following man’s obsession with flight, including space travel, while international performers will include the Royal Cavalry of the Sultanate of Oman’s Pipers on horseback and its all-female marching band, the central band of the Czech Armed Forces and The Edinburgh Girls’ High School from Malawi.

While the Calgary stampede in Canada claims to be the greatest outdoor show on earth, the Tattoo says it is the greatest show on earth – period! To be fair, both of them are impressive but in totally different ways. One demonstrates the skill of handling livestock – or handling oneself while being bucked around on aforementioned livestock – while the other demonstrates the co-ordination of hundreds of performers playing instruments, dancing and acting in synchronisation.

No visit to Edinburgh is complete without seeing the Tattoo. Full of pomp and pageantry, it celebrates Scotland’s cultural differences in the context of a very traditional military history.

The 2018 Tattoo runs until 25 August. For further information, visit www.edintattoo.co.uk