Edinburgh Festivals in August

Fysh

Around August everything in Edinburgh gets kinda mental with all the festival activity:

• Edinburgh Art Festival (28th July - 28th August)
• Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo (5th - 27th August)
• Edinburgh Festival Fringe (5th - 29th August)
• Edinburgh International festival (5th - 29th August)
• Edinburgh Book Festival (13th - 29th August)
• Edinburgh Mela (world music & dance) (27th-28th August).

Given how impossibly busy it is during festival season, I thought it would be good to have a thread where people can post about events or acts they've been to and what they thought about them. We might even end up with some meetups along the way!

I've not had a proper chance to look through the Fringe lineup this year, but I'll be looking over it in the next day or too (ditto the Book festival). I'm seriously tempted to go and see Godspeed You! Black Emperor on the 10th at the Playhouse, I reckon they'd be fantastic.

razorblunt

I didn't realise this forum was up and running!


The Edinburgh Fringe App is really good to keep track of shows you want to see.

I've added Foil, Arms and Hogg to it, I meant to catch them last year and never got round to it.

Katherine Ryan is doing a Work in Progress show for 2 weeks, she's on every panel show at the moment so she's gone a bit stale but I'm interested to see what she's like live as she was very good when she first came on the scene.

In more important news , the Edinburgh Gin pop up bar is already open in St Andrew's square.

jimmii

We've got a good few things booked and will probably head to some free Fringe too.

So far we have booked deep time the opener which is on day 3 or so. Makes sense right? Elixir, unknown and liminal, the cabinet of Doctor calgari, Hackney colliery band, the joys of retail, 360 all stars and torte e mort.

Nice mix of things there hopefully a few gems!

jimmii

Saw Torte e morte: tales of songs and cake at the Omnitorium at George Square theatre yesterday. Its the exact sort of thing you expect to find at the festival completely random and something you don't really get to see very often outside of festival time. It's mostly comedy songs but there's also lots of cabaret thrown in for good measure. Not really one you want to go for if you aren't a fan of swearing or the sight of a bit of skin as there's plenty to of both! The venue is tiny only sits about 50 if you go I would suggest sitting in the middle aisle and may as well get good and close there's no real audience participation other than one bit where she stands in the front row so need to worry about getting dragged up on stage by a half naked lady! Run time is just under an hour and there's a couple of bars right outside which is handy as it's a little bit round the corner from the gardens. If you have some time and fancy some mildly rude songs about Marie Antoinette and cake then it's worth a look but it feels like a really solid 30/40 minute show stretched a touch too far she is very likable though so it doesn't feel like it's dragging.

https://www.assemblyfestival.com/event/377/

Heading to 360 all stars and Deep Time tomorrow expecting lots from the opener.

jimmii

I was really looking forward to 360 AllStars and the guys are incredibly skilled but I left a little bit underwhelmed. It might have been because it was a bit early in the day its definitely better suited to being at night have a few drinks beforehand and it becomes a bit of a party which wasn't the case here. What is very impressive is how all the music is created on stage there is a beat boxer/layerer/mc guy who does most of it and builds it and layers it all on stage and there is a drummer too. The highlight is definitely Mr Basketball I was a bit apprehensive about him as I thought sure what is he going to be doing that is going to be that impressive but he has so much charisma it doesn't matter and his skills with a basketballs (and basketballs) are insane.

Deep Time was superb so hope everyone got to go. The bits where the rocks was falling off the castle was unreal! Amazingly even the weather was good their timing was impeccable on that front after the downpour in the afternoon!

razorblunt

Saw James Acaster tonight, decent show, not fantastic. Very dry sense of humour but he has some very clever bits.

He was nominated for Best Shows for the last 4 years running but I don't think this will be up for it.

Though following a quick search he's getting very good reviews and it was sold out in advance.

razorblunt

For the sake of passing on Word of Mouth, Abandaman is supposed to be very good.

razorblunt

Just saw Tommy Tiernan and I thought he was brilliant, not really a huge fan of his normally, but he knocked it out of the park.

jimmii

Went to a free show in the Hannover tap. It was erm different!

Off to see Sigur Ros tomorrow not such a risky pick!

NoCrackHaving

I went to see Mouse – The Persistence of an Unlikely Thought by Dave Kitson in the Traverse last night. Honestly one of the best plays I have ever seen, quite difficult to explain what it's about but very, very funny and entertaining, highly recommend it for something a bit different.

jimmii

NoCrackHaving wrote: »

I went to see Mouse – The Persistence of an Unlikely Thought by Dave Kitson in the Traverse last night. Honestly one of the best plays I have ever seen, quite difficult to explain what it's about but very, very funny and entertaining, highly recommend it for something a bit different.

How did you get tickets? Online it says there is no allocation do you have to go to the venue?

NoCrackHaving

jimmii wrote: »

How did you get tickets? Online it says there is no allocation do you have to go to the venue?

I bought them online back in July as it's something I really wanted to see, it was a sell out show last night though so maybe there's just no tickets available on the dates you put in?

jimmii

NoCrackHaving wrote: »

I bought them online back in July as it's something I really wanted to see, it was a sell out show last night though so maybe there's just no tickets available on the dates you put in?

There's no tickets for any date. I'll give them a ring see if there's any left there.

Fysh

Caught Foil, Arms & Hog yesterday and they were a howl! The style of humour is probably best summarised by the description from their Fringe page:
"Irish comedy, potato, potato, potato, potato, potato, potato, potato, potato, potato, potato, potato, you racist. Ireland's top comedy trio. Sold out Edfringe 2009-2015. Over four million hits on YouTube. Fringe favourites Foil, Arms and Hog present a delicious blend of bizarre, surreal and hilarious comedy scenes with outrageous characters and unexpected twists."

Alternatively, check out their "How to speak Dublin" sketch.

jimmii

Saw Hackney Colliery Band last night. Absolutely amazing! I've been to hundreds of gigs and that's gone in right at the top as one of my favourites. The wife insisted we go and I really wasn't looking forward to it that much but I would happily go see them again tonight!

Fysh

I'm bumping this thread as I've just booked my first tickets for a show this year - Baba Brinkman's Rap Guide to Consciousness. I've seen him before so I'm pretty confident this should be entertaining and interesting in equal measure, and cheap too - there are a couple of days with 2x1 ticket deals on. Worth a look if you like articulate, intelligent rap.

OneColdHand

Fysh wrote: »

I'm bumping this thread as I've just booked my first tickets for a show this year - Baba Brinkman's Rap Guide to Consciousness. I've seen him before so I'm pretty confident this should be entertaining and interesting in equal measure, and cheap too - there are a couple of days with 2x1 ticket deals on. Worth a look if you like articulate, intelligent rap.

Wow, is it that time of the year already?!

zweton

Is there a light/special effects show at the beginning of the fringe? apparently its very good.

jimmii

zweton wrote: »

Is there a light/special effects show at the beginning of the fringe? apparently its very good.

Yeh there is an opener on August 4th tickets are free but guessing they will go quick enough. I thought last year was very good and it's the same team so will definitely try get tickets to it again. I'd be expecting something special for the 70th anniversary.

zweton

when can i hear about them being released? just subscribe to fringe page or something?

razorblunt

Is that the Virgin Festival of Light?
Virgin the company now, hard enough to find a virgin round these parts I'd say.

If so, its on at the end of Fringe.
https://www.eif.co.uk/2017/virginmoneyfireworks#.WR2aKTiGO70

jimmii

zweton wrote: »

when can i hear about them being released? just subscribe to fringe page or something?

They release more info in June not much info a out it yet other than it's called Bloom and a bit on the inspiration behind it.

jimmii

razorblunt wrote: »

Is that the Virgin Festival of Light?
Virgin the company now, hard enough to find a virgin round these parts I'd say.

If so, its on at the end of Fringe.
https://www.eif.co.uk/2017/virginmoneyfireworks#.WR2aKTiGO70

There's a special opening event too last year it was a projection onto Castle Rock that showed how the rock changed through history this year it's held in one of the city "precincts" and it tells the history of Edinburgh in some way.

ems_12

zweton wrote: »

when can i hear about them being released? just subscribe to fringe page or something?

The event this year is called "Bloom", I think tickets are due to be released on 3rd July at 10am.  https://www.eif.co.uk/2017/bloom#.WVDFAevythE

Last year's light event at the castle was great, and it's worth looking up the "theme" to enjoy the show

NoCrackHaving

RebusFest was on this weekend, looked great but literally everything was sold out so didn't get along to a single event. I was pretty gutted as I'm a big Ian Rankin and Rebus fan.

Anyone head along?

Also the Magic Festival is on at the minute if that's your cup of tea.