Andrew Kaye Edinburgh Diary Part 3

DAY 7

After much to-ing and fro-ing, it finally decided to be quite a nice day. The best part about Sunday is the gradual ebbing away of the weekend crown, until by 11pm the place is back to normal and you can finally find a seat in Udderbelly’s Hullabaloo. Quite fancied a game of giant Connect 4 there, but most of the yellow pieces had mysteriously vanished. Probably because they look exactly like the made-up drug Cake from Brass Eye. Who wouldn’t want their own piece of cake?

Spotted the balding one of Pappy’s FC in the Dome, and Stephen K Amos hanging round the Pleasance Courtyard. Also . . . Read More

Skeletons and the Empty Pockets
Vintage Rockbar, Doncaster, August 8 2009

When it comes to live performances Sheffield’s Skeletons and the Empty Pockets simply ooze appeal. Strutting onstage, the former thisGIRL group instantly injects 10,000 volts into the building, leaving the hairs on the back of your neck not only raised but singed to the bone. While lead singer Liam waltzes through the crowd flashing a . . . Read More

Andrew Kaye’s Edinburgh Diary – Part 2

DAY 4

Feeling increasingly blurry. Up for a stroll down the Royal Mile while the sun is out. It’s a kerrrrrazy place during the festival, if by kerrrrrazy you mean hundreds of overconfident stage school kids desperately trying to get your attention away from all the other overconfident stage school kids. Go early and they’re putting some effort into it. Go in late afternoon, it’s more, “Here’s your flyer, now piss off.”

There is also a massive quantity of street performers – mostly Australian, mostly riding unicycles. What is it with Australians and unicycles? Do they teach it in the schools over there? . . . Read More

EDINBURGH FESTIVAL DIARY

Andrew Kaye is a Doncaster-based journalist who has been attending the annual, world-famous Edinburgh Arts Festival for the last 10 years. Destroy Before Reading is proud to bring you his exclusive online diary from this year’s event for your reading pleasure.

DAY 1

Well, I have my laptop with me and I just about have a WiFi signal in my room – coming from an unsecured unknown source somewhere to the south-west of here – which means I can report to you on the 2009 Edinburgh Festival on a daily basis.

Yesterday a man walked right past me, close enough for me to wrestle him to the ground . . . Read More