‘Fringe’ events will thrill music lovers

All this week, a number of “fringe”events will be held to mark the run-up to the BBC Biggest Weekend.

The flagship event will be held at Scone Palace on Friday, May 25 and Saturday, May 26 with a number of top acts including Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Simple Minds, Emeli Sande and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with Nigel Kennedy.

A whopping 20,000 people are expected to attend the Saturday event, with the music being broadcast on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 3.

A range of fringe events have been held over the weekend, and the next event takes place tonight (Tuesday, May 22) with a spoken word event called “ExpressingYourself ThroughWords”.

Scottish talent will come together for a celebration of words showcasing Scotland’s cultural life at St Matthew’s Church on Tay Street.

The event is hosted by author Alan Bissett, and will feature appearances from spoken word artists Rana Marathon and Victoria McNulty, and rapper SVWN.

And on Thursday, May 24 there will be a PRS workshop with BBC Radio 2’s folk musician of the year, Rachel Newton.

Multi-instrumentalist Rachel will be conducting a masterclass in composing and traditional music arranging at Perth Concert Hall.

Aimed at everyone – not just musicians – the event will give an exclusive insight into the world of composition and this will be followed by a question and answer session with Stuart Fleming from PRS for Music.

And on Friday, May 25 – the first day of the BBC Biggest Weekend – BBC Radio 2’s Ken Bruce will be in conversation with Deacon Blue’s Ricky Ross, broadcast from the Civic Hall at 2 High Street.

Ricky Ross will be discussing his journey in the music industry over the past 30 years, and talking about songwriting for artists such as KT Tunstall, Jamie Cullum and James Blunt.

There will also be the opportunity for the audience to ask questions to both Ken Bruce and Ricky Ross during the Friday night conversation.

For more information and tickets to the BBC Biggest Weekend fringe events, visit the BBC BiggestWeekend website.