Scotland
Prom 37: Schiff, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Fischer 1 review - landscapes and mindscapesSunday, 13 August 2023
“Very traditional, but fun,” ran the verdict of one fellow-traveller as we waited for a bus outside the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday night. No one can gainsay the infectious fun that the Budapest Festival Orchestra bring to every gig. For all its... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: Casting the Runes / The Return / WoodhillSaturday, 12 August 2023
Casting the Runes, Pleasance Courtyard ★★★★ A viciously critical review gets its unfortunate writer driven mad and sent to an untimely death in this adaptation of a macabre MR James chiller. In that case, I’d better be careful what I say... Read more... |
Trojan Women / Thrown, Edinburgh International Festival 2023 reviews - passionate all-women productionsFriday, 11 August 2023
Trojan Women, Festival Theatre ★★★★★You can feel the white-hot intensity radiating from the stage virtually from start to finish of this remarkable, hypnotic production from the National Changgeuk Company of Korea and Singaporean director... Read more... |
Edinburgh International Festival 2023 reviews: FOOD / DuskThursday, 10 August 2023
FOOD, The Studio ★★★There’s no denying it: Los Angeles-born Geoff Sobelle is a theatrical magician (quite literally – it’s how he began his career). Through a string of visually spectacular shows on the Fringe and more recently at the... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: Heaven / Lie Low / After the ActWednesday, 09 August 2023
Heaven, Traverse Theatre ★★★★★It’s a rare show that combines form and content to quite such devastatingly potent effect. The storyline of two-hander Heaven from Dublin-based Fishamble theatre company might seem simple: a middle-aged couple... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: Stuntman / Beautiful Evil Things / What You See When Your Eyes Are Closed...Tuesday, 08 August 2023
Stuntman, Summerhall ★★★★★Masculinity and violence are hot subjects for theatrical examination – and dance theatre two-hander Stuntman from Scottish company Superfan is far from the only Fringe show that investigates them this year. What... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2023 reviews: The Death and Life of All of Us / Anything That We Wanted To Be / ChickenSaturday, 05 August 2023
The Death and Life of All of Us, Summerhall ★★★★Victor Esses was 16 when he first discovered his grandmother had a sister – someone the family had never discussed. It was just a year after his own first illicit visit to a gay sauna.Esses’s... Read more... |
Album: Dot Allison - ConsciousologyThursday, 27 July 2023
This album promises to be an expansion of the sound and ideas of its 2021 predecessor Heart Shaped Scars, and boy does it deliver. HSS was the Scottish singer-songwriter Dot Allison’s first album in some nine years, and only her... Read more... |
KISS, OVO Hydro, Glasgow review - familiar feel to rock legends bombastic farewellMonday, 10 July 2023
The farewell for KISS has lasted so long that this Glasgow show, their final ever UK gig, came four years after the End of the Road tour first stopped off in the city. Admittedly that is partly down to the coronavirus scuppering touring plans for a... Read more... |
Peter Gabriel, OVO Hydro, Glasgow review - beaming with optimism and creativitySaturday, 24 June 2023
Even when Peter Gabriel is bleak, he has reasons to be cheerful. Early on in his set he opined that soon enough “none of us will have jobs anymore”, referring to the ongoing rise of artificial intelligence, although this was followed by him... Read more... |
The War On Drugs, OVO Hydro, Glasgow review - impressive musicianship but a lack of excitementThursday, 22 June 2023
War might be good for absolutely nothing, but it does provide bands with some easy names. Before the War on Drugs headline set, Warpaint took to the stage, and despite a muted reaction to the quartet they were on enjoyable form. They’re unlikely to... Read more... |
Chvrches, Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow review - homecoming provides only intermittent thrillsTuesday, 13 June 2023
Of all the Scottish bands to be name dropped at a Chvrches gig, the Bay City Rollers would be far down the list. Thankfully singer Lauren Mayberry was only citing the 70s group in reference to her tartan outfit, and not a surprise cover of “Shang-A-... Read more... |
