COMMUNITY FESTIVALS
SUMMER FESTIVALS West End Festival
LEITH FESTIVAL
Where: Various venues in Edinburgh, 8–17 June, leithfestival.com Price: Free–£16.
Line-up: Leith Festival Tattoo, plays by Leitheatre and Citadel Arts Group, breakdancing classes for kids, whisky tasting What can’t you do at the Leith Festival? Whisky tasting, belly dancing, pot pourri making: all covered. What about the Johnny Cash impersonator? He’s in there too, madam. And as if that wasn’t enough there’s also the Edinburgh Short Film Festival taking place at The Granary on The Shore on 9, 12 and 17 June from 7.30pm. This is a community festival in its truest spirit, with Leithers throwing together all sorts of bizarre and entertaining odds and sods. The highlight is, of course, the Gala day and Leith Walk Pageant (Pilrig’s answer to New Orleans’ Mardi Gras) on 9 June, but also look out for comedian Susan Morrison’s More Whores with More Sores night-time walking tour, an ‘antique guide to the prostitutes of Edinburgh’ (not a ‘hands-on’ experience). (Jonny Ensall)
Where: Various venues, West End of Glasgow, 1–24 Jun, westendfestival.co.uk Price: Free–£20 for bigger gigs
Line-up: James Yorkston, Howard Marks, Suzanne Vega, Michael Marra, We Were Promised Jetpacks
You want to learn Gaelic in an hour, get your Shakespeare fi x amid an audience of rare tropical fl ora, shop for darling vintage blouses, observe the transit of Venus, and round it all off with a gig? Well, have we got the festival for you. The WEF, now in its 17th year, is so enormous it encompasses several smaller fests, including nightly cutting-edge contemporary sounds at the Cottier Chamber Project, weekly beer ‘n’ jazz at the Three Judges Ale Festival, quirky charms down the Hidden Lane Festival and multi-cultural vibes at the Glasgow Mela. And then there’s the kids’ events, theatre, comedy, walks, talks, etc, etc . . . (Laura Ennor)
Solas Festival
Fringe by the Sea
Where: Various venues, North Berwick, East Lothian, 6–12 Aug, fringebythesea.co.uk
Price: £3–£25 per event Line-up: Kate Rusby, Phil Cunningham & Aly Bain, Emily Smith
Imagine the Fringe, but with fewer fl yers, crowds and student improv troupes, and more ice cream, fi sh suppers and sea air. The picturesque village of North Berwick hit on a winner fi ve years ago with the fi rst edition of this chilled but charming alternative to the cultural tornado blowing itself silly a few miles to the west. Six venues, including a purpose-built Spiegeltent on the harbour front, now host around 70 events over the week. The focus is on music (mainly the cooler, contemporary side of folk, with a sprinkling of jazz and world music for good measure), but there’s also theatre, dance, comedy, author talks and plenty to keep kids occupied. (Laura Ennor)
Where: Wiston Lodge, Wiston (by Biggar) 22–24 Jun, solasfestival.co.uk Price: £10–£90.
Line-up: Raghu Dixit, Stewart Henderson, Marie Louise Cochrane, John Bell This smart (and relatively undiscovered) family festival has some quality homegrown folk acts like Admiral Fallow and Roddy Woomble. Activites are centred on the themes of arts, justice and faith, and include storytelling, drawing games and outdoor play for the kids, cultural debates for the adults and some comic poetry from Harry Baker to break it all up. (Andrew Latimer)
SOUTHERN FRIED FRI 27–SUN 29 JUL
PERTH
Celebrating its Americana side, Southern Fried Festival
touches base with blues,
THISTLY CROSS CIDER FESTIVAL FRI 27–SAT 28 JUL
DUNBAR
What better way to enjoy some locally brewed cider than with
country, Cajun, gospel, swing summery bands Meursault
and soul over the weekend.
and Woodenbox; and of course some acoustic gigs, food stalls and fruit-picking events.
EDINBURGH FESTIVALS ROYAL MILITARY
STANDON CALLING
THROUGH AUG & SEP EDINBURGH
The Fringe (Fri 3-Mon 27 Aug), the International Festival (Thu
9 Aug-Sun 2 Sep) and the
Mela (Fri 31 Aug–Sun 2 Sep) will offer you absolutely any sort of entertainment you
can imagine.
TATTOO
FRI 3–SAT 25 AUG EDINBURGH
Celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the year of Creative Scotland, this is Edinburgh’s most extravagant event in
the Castle.
FRI 3–SUN 5 AUG STANDON,
HERTFORDSHIRE With swimming pool,
late-night bar, dance hall
cowshed, and some amazing
costumes, fans are in for more than just dance music.
24 May–21 Jun 2012 THE LIST 41