The Fringe Festival

Well, it seems to be a slow news day here in Scotland with The Scotsman offering up a mere 3 Politics stories to chew over. Or you could say it's a depressing news days given we officially live in the worst small developed country in the world (3 cheers to Labour for that one! Thanks Jack...). Maybe we should all celebrate with a bacon roll for lunch and a few bevvies in the evening, consolidate our position...!


But this lack of good politics chat gives me a chance to put to good use the grilling I gave the Fringe Festival programme yesterday, while the F1 Grand Prix blazed away in the background. I presume Lewis Hamilton won it given I left for Ocean's 13 with only 4 laps to go. If so, congrats to that man with the fine sideburns, what a cracking result. And to the rest of us, don't bother with Clooney and Pitt's latest Vegas offering, it's got a few twists and there's no denying the style factor is through the roof, the storyline itself is just a tad flat.


But, back to the Fringe.


The first few names I looked up were sadly wanting. There is no Tommy Tiernan this year, nor a return trip to the Spiegelgarden for the simply sublime La Clique burlesque troupe. With T on the Fringe not ticking too many boxes (as yet, more acts to be announced), this only serves as an invitation to find the hidden gems amongst the hundreds of acts on offer.

Well, potential gem number 1 is a given already, as I caught the chanteuse Meow Meow when I was out in Sydney. She is an absolute riot, sings European love songs in as sexy and seductive a way as you can imagine and then throws in jokes, crowd interactions and deadpan reactions with consummate ease. All I'll say is, don't sit near the front unless you want to be mortified onstage!

This is a good wee quote too.....

“The darling of the dungeons of the euro jet-set, Le Monde’s ‘tawdry underworld eurydice’. International Singing Sensation Meow Meow (no fixed address), descends with her ‘voix inhumaine’ in a dazzling downward spiral of cracked cabaret, euro-opera trash, tragedy and very, VERY high glamour…” (The Art Party, NY)


The comedian highlight for me will surely be Frankie Boyle, an absolute legend. I saw him for 15 minutes last year and he just rattled jokes at you like a boxer would throw jabs and punches. Some of the highlights include:

His noticing that a lot of paedophiles have scraggly beards and thick-rimmed glasses. He mused: "What is it about that look that 13 year olds just find so sexy...?"

His comments on the toilets on trains were highly amusing too, the way you can never lock a door on a Scotrail carriage for example, and the curved door sweeps around like some sort of gameshow prize. "Congratulations! You've won a sh*tting woman!"

Ahhh, all good. And of course, his delivery is 10 times better than how I'm rephrasing it.


Keeping things a wee bit political, some people might want to check out "art of the Scottish parliament". For those not yet sold on the Holyrood building, maybe this Karl Wagener person's display at the Danderhall Library could change some minds. And for those cheapskates (that would be me), the best news is that it's free.

Or maybe for those who can't get enough of the man, there is Tony Blair The Musical. I think this has the potential to be a real barnstormer of a show and with a a few preview and 2-for-1 nights early on, it might be one to check out early.

A bit of a risky bet this one but sometimes a good poster is all you need to sell yourself and it worked for me for Traces. A dance-based troupe who, with their gravity defying moves, can probably draw the odd "Oh my God" from people who don't see that as blasphemy.

Award-winning French-Canadian troupe (all former Cirque du Soliel members) perform a fantastical blend of circus, physical theatre and music. 'If this is the circus of the 21st Century, things are looking up ... a wild triumph' San Francisco Chronicle.



And of course, it would be remiss of me not to finish with the chat show hosted by Tommy Sheridan. It will surely be an ego massaging exercise for the orange wonder but when a man is so entertaining, who would grudge him his delusions of grandeur if you get a bit of a laugh out of your £10 (or £5 if you go for the 2-for-1 special). One can expect 'romping, ranting and ripping into the tabloids'. I don't think we would expect anything less from the man...



All of this and still the Fesitval of Politics and the Film Festival to come. Roll on August......!