Edinburgh Festival/Fringe

[Boo Khaki]

Made it up the bridges unscathed, but jesus christ...

[GTG_03]

Saw a street performer hit an old man int the head yesterday with a juggling pin. Tried his best to move on and make light of it but he was clearly rattled.

[MazzyStar]

Edinburgh cringe more like. #scotlandsworstcity

[jamamafegan]

Think I've only been to the fringe once and enjoyed it, going to try and go to a few shows this year I think. Don't really understand the hatred towards the event from folk on here. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, jamamafegan said:

Think I've only been to the fringe once and enjoyed it, going to try and go to a few shows this year I think. Don't really understand the hatred towards the event from folk on here. 

Try working round about it then you'd understand, it's also full of pretentious wanks.

[Suspect Device]

I was in Edinburgh from Thu-Sat and it's already too busy in the royal mile. Will be ten times worse during this month.

 

And by f**k it's expensive for drink. I thought Aberdeen was bad.

[sparky88]

On 31/07/2023 at 23:11, tamthebam said:

Pack this tedious shite and all the pretentious tossers off to Glasgow and be done with it 

It being in Edinburgh is precisely why it is so pretentious. 

[Paxo]

3 hours ago, Suspect Device said:

I was in Edinburgh from Thu-Sat and it's already too busy in the royal mile. Will be ten times worse during this month.

 

And by f**k it's expensive for drink. I thought Aberdeen was bad.

I went to the food festival in George Square last Friday to see my other half doing a baking demonstration. Got a lukewarm pint of Moretti in a plastic cup while waiting for the demo to start... £8.50.

[doulikefish]

1 minute ago, Paxo said:

I went to the food festival in George Square last Friday to see my other half doing a baking demonstration. Got a lukewarm pint of Moretti in a plastic cup while waiting for the demo to start... £8.50.

Kin hell I paid less than that at Springsteen in Hyde park £6.90 a pint there 

[Paxo]

9 minutes ago, doulikefish said:

Kin hell I paid less than that at Springsteen in Hyde park £6.90 a pint there 

They take a 'charity donation' of £1 for the cup which you only pay for your first one if you bring the cup back to get them to fill it with more shitey beer at £7.50 a pint... Bargain.

[Craig fae the Vale]

Four shows today.

Legally Blonde at the Hill Street Theatre. Bloody excellent.

Chriskirkpatrickmas: A Boy Band Christmas Musical at the Pleasance. Hilarious and really good songs.

Marjolein Robertson: Marj at The Stand. I strongly recommend anyone who's in Edinburgh this month goes to see this show. Probably the best hour of stand up I've watched. Really funny and really really affecting. Superb stuff.

American Idiot at the Hill Street Theatre. An enjoyable way to finish off the day.

Long day, but had a blast. Only managing to do one day at the Fringe this year so made the most of it.

[Boo Khaki]

Big fan of Marjolein, but am I f**k going into the toon centre to see her. 

[Boo Khaki]

On 02/08/2023 at 11:33, jamamafegan said:

Think I've only been to the fringe once and enjoyed it, going to try and go to a few shows this year I think. Don't really understand the hatred towards the event from folk on here. 

I get the whole 'nostalgia ain't what it used to be' thing etc, but honestly, it's morphed into something totally different to what it used to be, and it's nothing more than a completely cynical money-grubbing w**k-fest now. 

The cooncil has spent years doing everything they can to turn Edinburgh into some ridiculous 'Disneyland North' experience for tourists and bizarre Harry Potter loving weirdos, so much so that it's full-on tourist season pretty much 365 days a year. It's annoying enough just trying to get around them at the best of times, but August becomes completely insufferable. Just want a bus home after work? Well, tough shit if you live in Midlothian and happen to need the service that passes Roslin Chapel. You'll have a fist-fight with foreigners who have no concept of queuing just to get on the bus in the first place, and that's only if it stops and isn't so rammed that it just flies past your stop. It's not unusual for three or four rush-hour buses to pass you consecutively because they are chock full of people who don't even live in Scotland. 

Even if your bus stops and you fight your way on, you'll be sat at each stop for ages while an endless stream of folk who barely speak English board, bombard the driver with queries, then get off again once it dawns on them that this isn't the bus they need. It's the same story coming into Edinburgh on the same route, because from about 9am in the morning the tourists are doing the same in reverse.

That's just one, very personal gripe. Most folk who need to navigate the town during August will have one of their own. My ex-missus used to work up near the castle. We lived at the bottom of the Mile. She's a gentle-natured soul for the most part, but every evening in August she'd come home partly sobbing, partly purple with rage, and barely able to speak because of spending 30 minutes dodging oblivious or downright contemptuous tourists on the Mile for a journey that should have taken 10 minutes.

It's not really the tourists themselves, it's the fact that consecutive councils have set out to pander in every possible way to city visitors without giving a solitary flying f**k about the consequences for permanent residents. It's a similar story at the Hogmanay farce, where you basically get either locked in or locked out one part of the city, and have to jump to the Cooncil and Underbelly's tune just to go about your day. Once you've had 20+ years of it, you grow a bit weary.

 

[Sergeant Wilson]

5 hours ago, Boo Khaki said:

I get the whole 'nostalgia ain't what it used to be' thing etc, but honestly, it's morphed into something totally different to what it used to be, and it's nothing more than a completely cynical money-grubbing w**k-fest now. 

The cooncil has spent years doing everything they can to turn Edinburgh into some ridiculous 'Disneyland North' experience for tourists and bizarre Harry Potter loving weirdos, so much so that it's full-on tourist season pretty much 365 days a year. It's annoying enough just trying to get around them at the best of times, but August becomes completely insufferable. Just want a bus home after work? Well, tough shit if you live in Midlothian and happen to need the service that passes Roslin Chapel. You'll have a fist-fight with foreigners who have no concept of queuing just to get on the bus in the first place, and that's only if it stops and isn't so rammed that it just flies past your stop. It's not unusual for three or four rush-hour buses to pass you consecutively because they are chock full of people who don't even live in Scotland. 

Even if your bus stops and you fight your way on, you'll be sat at each stop for ages while an endless stream of folk who barely speak English board, bombard the driver with queries, then get off again once it dawns on them that this isn't the bus they need. It's the same story coming into Edinburgh on the same route, because from about 9am in the morning the tourists are doing the same in reverse.

That's just one, very personal gripe. Most folk who need to navigate the town during August will have one of their own. My ex-missus used to work up near the castle. We lived at the bottom of the Mile. She's a gentle-natured soul for the most part, but every evening in August she'd come home partly sobbing, partly purple with rage, and barely able to speak because of spending 30 minutes dodging oblivious or downright contemptuous tourists on the Mile for a journey that should have taken 10 minutes.

It's not really the tourists themselves, it's the fact that consecutive councils have set out to pander in every possible way to city visitors without giving a solitary flying f**k about the consequences for permanent residents. It's a similar story at the Hogmanay farce, where you basically get either locked in or locked out one part of the city, and have to jump to the Cooncil and Underbelly's tune just to go about your day. Once you've had 20+ years of it, you grow a bit weary.

 

Aye, but apart from that...

[Leith Green]

On 02/08/2023 at 11:33, jamamafegan said:

Think I've only been to the fringe once and enjoyed it, going to try and go to a few shows this year I think. Don't really understand the hatred towards the event from folk on here. 

 

6 hours ago, Boo Khaki said:

I get the whole 'nostalgia ain't what it used to be' thing etc, but honestly, it's morphed into something totally different to what it used to be, and it's nothing more than a completely cynical money-grubbing w**k-fest now. 

The cooncil has spent years doing everything they can to turn Edinburgh into some ridiculous 'Disneyland North' experience for tourists and bizarre Harry Potter loving weirdos, so much so that it's full-on tourist season pretty much 365 days a year. It's annoying enough just trying to get around them at the best of times, but August becomes completely insufferable. Just want a bus home after work? Well, tough shit if you live in Midlothian and happen to need the service that passes Roslin Chapel. You'll have a fist-fight with foreigners who have no concept of queuing just to get on the bus in the first place, and that's only if it stops and isn't so rammed that it just flies past your stop. It's not unusual for three or four rush-hour buses to pass you consecutively because they are chock full of people who don't even live in Scotland. 

Even if your bus stops and you fight your way on, you'll be sat at each stop for ages while an endless stream of folk who barely speak English board, bombard the driver with queries, then get off again once it dawns on them that this isn't the bus they need. It's the same story coming into Edinburgh on the same route, because from about 9am in the morning the tourists are doing the same in reverse.

That's just one, very personal gripe. Most folk who need to navigate the town during August will have one of their own. My ex-missus used to work up near the castle. We lived at the bottom of the Mile. She's a gentle-natured soul for the most part, but every evening in August she'd come home partly sobbing, partly purple with rage, and barely able to speak because of spending 30 minutes dodging oblivious or downright contemptuous tourists on the Mile for a journey that should have taken 10 minutes.

It's not really the tourists themselves, it's the fact that consecutive councils have set out to pander in every possible way to city visitors without giving a solitary flying f**k about the consequences for permanent residents. It's a similar story at the Hogmanay farce, where you basically get either locked in or locked out one part of the city, and have to jump to the Cooncil and Underbelly's tune just to go about your day. Once you've had 20+ years of it, you grow a bit weary.

 

I can see both sides of these - I always like the festival as you get to see basically whatever you want at a time that suits you over a month. I have seen many acts who later went on to be massive. 

Its a good laugh, and pubs and clubs are oper really late, so its a pish heads dream.

However, the flipside is as @Boo Khaki mentions above, its been commercialised to a ridulous point now, and its far too busy - and thats on the council and the big companies who want a cultural "trade fair" once a year.

Its a conundrum but frankly there is no other place outside London that would be able to stage this - the objections about accomodation, noise, litter etc etc woud shut it down before it reached debate stage at the local council - Our issue is that it is here to stay but it needs changed - I had hoped Covid would damp it down a bit and take it back to a 1990s level.

On working in August, I agree with @Empty It - despite the fact I could make a packet I  tend to back off my maintenance workload in August, because - f**k trying to drive across town to some rental flat because Cletus from Bumfuk Alabama and his family cannae open the wardrobes or some other tedious shite.

[Wee-Bey]

@Boo Khaki has absolutely nailed it.

It either needs to be massively scaled back or get it completely to f**k.

I genuinely despise the various administrations that have ran the city this century.

[Don Diego De la Vega]

Went on Wednesday and today with my wee boy 

1/ Mario the maker magician  at underbelly I enjoyed it just as much as my son. my absolute highlight, just lovey 

2/Olaf Fallafel was very good really nice show 

3/A-Z of science - very entertaining 

4/ Revel puck circus - really enjoyed it too, girl In a wheel was excellent 

5/ the greatest magic show - not even close to what it claims to be.
pretty shite really 

6/ Comedy club4kids - utter guff, the compare was decent with the kids one of the acts came on and did a slow motion race with some parents and left the other boy -marcel ducont- I think would be good in an adult show but the kids stuff was a miss. I think there was meant to be another comic that didn’t turn up. 

also saw John Kearns on Monday myself and he was fantastic - highly recommend

[Silvio Tattiescone]

 

[MazzyStar]

It’s Edinburgh cringe time of the year again. I see that they want to expand it to other parts of Edinburgh. Can’t wait for some non-binary yank to rock up at Pilton community centre to do a performance.  

[parsforlife]

It does tend to get the odd venue outside of the traditional center but they tend to be community performers  or newbie idiots who haven't realised they are (compared to other acts) in the middle of nowhere.  Even pushes into the west end don't particularly succeed.

I get a desire to push the limits by organisers but I don't see what gains they have, they would need to go really hard on creating a new hub area and that sounds like too much of a gamble to take on.