Brian Ferguson’s diary
You don’t have to spent long looking for shows tackling issues like Brexit, mental health, gender identity and feminism in Edinburgh this month.
But could the most uplifting theme of the festivals be a revival for Scotland’s back catalogue of Scottish pop and rock?
Triggered largely by the National Museum of Scotland’s Rip It Up exhibition, it is mainly manifesting itself in Light on the Shore, the Edinburgh International Festival’s series of shows in the reborn Leith Theatre, where The Fire Engines, The Vaselines, The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Pastels are among the acts back in the spotlight decades after making their debuts.
The music of Strawberry Switchblade, Ettes, Sophisticated Boom Boom and The Mckinleys will also be celebrated in Since Yesterday, a consideration of the unsung women of Scottish pop.
Karine Polwart has been teasing clues about the setlist for her Scottish Songbook gig at Leith Theatre, including “A song I shouldn’t even dare touch”, “Where’s my umbrella?” and “C’moan the Hibees!” on her Twitter feed.
While Sunshine on Leith may be hard to resist, given the location, Polwart may have some competition up the road from Blue Rose Code (BRC) tonight, when he poses the question “What
0 Jesus and Mary Chain are in the spotlight; Ross Wilson instet
is Caledonian Soul?” at The Queen’s Hall.
BRC, aka Ross Wilson, who was brought up a corner kick away from the home of Hibernian FC, has won a devoted following with anthems like Edina, which recalls “the green and white on a Saturday, birling through the turnstiles, singing all the way down Easter Road”.
Wilson, who is appearing with Eddi Reader and Average White Band’s Hamish Stuart tonight, was even heard segueing from Edina into Sunshine on Leith in a recent festival performance
– the temptation to try it out on a home-town crowd might be too much to resist.
Tributes of a different kind – and more than a few tears – are expected at the Gilded Balloon tonight.
The venue is staging a special tribute to one of the most successful and most-loved comics to grace its stages.
Sean Hughes was just 24 when he became the youngest winner of the Perrier Award for his Gilded Balloon show in 1990, and he was among the comics to return for the venue’s 30th anniversary celebrations in 2015.
Now a host of his fellow comics, including Carl Donnelly, Phill Jupitus and Joe Rowntree will be honouring Hughes – who passed away last October at the age of 51 – at the venue, in benefit for the Hibernian Community Foundation.