Terminal V has been the headline weekend of Scottish techno for the better part of a decade. April 18-19 2026 was the ninth and final edition at the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh, a venue that's hosted some of the heaviest UK weekends going, and the closing of a chapter before the festival heads to a brand-new Scottish location for its 10th anniversary in 2027 (with a new Australian edition also confirmed).

Our FERAL team went out as press, full weekend, six stages deep. Here's what stood out, what hit hardest, and what we'll be carrying with us into whatever Terminal V looks like next.

The Final Edinburgh Edition

Terminal V has been at the Royal Highland Centre for nine years. The 2026 edition was the last one in this room. The festival has confirmed a move to a new Scottish location for the 10th anniversary in 2027, alongside a brand new Australian edition launching the same year.

For 2026 they didn't hold back. A reported £1 million site investment, a brand new venue-wide d&b audiotechnik sound system, six stages, over a hundred artists, and 40,000 ravers across two days. If you were ever going to spend a weekend at the Royal Highland Centre, this was the one.

What Terminal V Actually Felt Like

Terminal V is half indoor warehouse weekend, half outdoor fairground rave. The Royal Highland Centre is built for it: enormous indoor halls for the heavy stages, a full open-air site that lets you wander between rooms without ever feeling cramped, and a fairground sat right in the middle.

The crowd is a mix of actual Scottish ravers who've been doing this every April for years and a wave of Europeans flying in for the closer. You can hear it in the chat between sets. It feels like a city saying goodbye to a venue, all at once.

The weather actually came through. Sunny both days, a bit chilly at night, though the dancefloor warmed you up real quick.

The Greenhouse: Our Favourite Room of the Weekend

The Greenhouse was the room we kept coming back to. Marquee roof, hanging vines and ivy along every beam, daylight pouring through, packed to capacity from the moment it opened. It hits a really specific feeling. Like the start of festival summer, except you're in Edinburgh in April.

Morgan Seatree's set in there was one of the most fun moments of the weekend. The crowd locked in immediately, everyone moving the same way, that early-evening energy when the sun's still out and nobody's tired yet. Biianco was the other one. Chilly outside, warm inside, the Greenhouse just had its own micro-climate going. Some of our best photos of the entire weekend came out of that room.

If Terminal V 2027 has a Greenhouse equivalent at the new site, that's the room we're heading to first.

Sara Landry's Eternalism at Area V

Saturday's headline moment, no debate. Sara Landry brought her Eternalism show to the UK for the first time at Area V, festival exclusive, only Scottish appearance she's doing all year. The production was on another level. The kind that makes you forget where you are and just lock into what's in front of you. Massive visuals, full immersive setup, the crowd held in the room for the entire run. Clara Cuvé, Novah, Fumi, Adrián Mills and Alex Farell rounded out the lineup beneath her, and every slot landed.

It's the kind of set that, looking back, you realise was the whole reason a lot of people bought tickets in the first place. It earned that.

The Block: The Hidden-Stage Side Quest

Brand new for 2026, and probably the most talked-about addition to the festival: The Block, Beatport Live's touring shipping-container stage, making its Scottish debut at Terminal V. Secret guest lineup, no advance schedule, no phones up. The whole thing ran on rule-of-the-room.

We took a side quest in there on day one and watched Chlär close it out. Sweaty, steamy, intimate, completely unfiltered. A steel container packed with people who all had the same realisation at the same time that nobody was filming. You could feel the room breathing differently because of it. It was easily one of the best forty minutes of the weekend, and we only know that because we were actually present for it.

If you go to Terminal V's new home in 2027, look for this stage. Don't try to plan a set time. Just walk in.

The Lab: Watching D-Amage Hold It Down for Scotland

The Lab is Terminal V's stage for emerging Scottish talent. Entirely new and emerging artists, both days, all weekend. It's loud, it's scrappy, and it's the room where you actually meet the next generation of UK underground before they're on every flyer. This is where we caught our friend D-Amage hold the room down. Scottish underground artist playing Scotland's biggest techno weekend, in front of a Scottish crowd. Couldn't have asked for a better setting for him to do it in.

Big names get the flyer, but small-room sets like this turn into your favourite memories twelve months later. Worth setting aside an hour both days.

The Hangar: Sunday Closing With Restricted

If the Greenhouse was our favourite room, the Hangar was the most mental. Full-throttle hard techno, no breathing room, the heaviest production on site. The weekend ran through 999999999, I Hate Models, Vieze Asbak, Winson and NEGITIV. Names that don't need an introduction in this scene.

Sunday night belonged to Restricted. Australian hard techno heavyweight, perfect choice for the final-ever Edinburgh closing slot. The whole FERAL team ended up on stage, side-of-stage, around the booth. Best collective moment of the festival, hands down. You don't get many chances to be the last group standing at a venue's last edition. We took it.

Our Experience as FERAL Press

We were there to shoot, document, and feel the weekend out from a media side. Royal Highland Centre is one of the more photogenic festival sites in the UK. Shipping-container backdrops by day, lasers and LED walls by night. The site does half the work; you just point a camera.

We had the team in the new FERAL jerseys all weekend (numbered, named, photographed like a unit), sigilism bikinis layered under tees, hoodies pulled on the second the sun went down. Some of our favourite team shots of the year came out of this weekend.

Survival Guide: What to Wear to Terminal V

Indoor-outdoor weekend, big temperature swing between rooms. Layering does the heavy lifting.

1. A FERAL jersey

Team energy, indoor-warehouse comfort. Photographs like a unit when you're all moving together. Easily the most photographed piece on us all weekend.

2. A sigilism bikini, layered under everything

Sounds wrong for April in Scotland. Works perfectly. The Greenhouse and Hangar both got hot enough to lose layers, and the fairground at midnight cooled down enough to put them all back on.

3. A heavyweight hoodie for the walks between stages

The Royal Highland Centre site is enormous and the wind doesn't care. A 450gsm zip FERAL hoodie got us between Area V and the Greenhouse without losing the night. Worth the layer.

4. A solid crossbody bag

Phone, ID, earplugs, lip balm, portable charger. Goes everywhere with you, survives the weekend. The d&b rig at full pelt is no joke, the earplugs are non-negotiable.

5. A bamboo rave fan

Even in April. The Greenhouse got hot and the Hangar got hotter. Bamboo, not plastic.

What's Next for Terminal V

Terminal V have confirmed 2027 marks the festival's 10th anniversary at a new Scottish location, with a separate Australian edition launching the same year. The brand is expanding.

The Royal Highland Centre era ends with Terminal V at the top of its game: six stages, sold-out weekend, a UK debut from one of techno's biggest names. Whatever the new home looks like, the standard's been set.

Final Thoughts

Terminal V 2026 wasn't just another weekend in Edinburgh. It was the closing of nine years of UK techno history at one venue, and the entire festival team, and crowd, knew it. The Greenhouse stays in our heads. Sara Landry's Eternalism gets talked about for years.

We left Edinburgh dusty, hoarse, sunburnt, and pretty certain we'd witnessed the end of one chapter and the start of another.

See you at Terminal V 2027, wherever it lands. We'll be the ones in FERAL.

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