So today it was off to the Foodie Festival for some fine food – and meeting up with Nicci Kitchin before seeing brother Tom doing a cooking demo. Then off to see Pippa Evans followed by John Bishop at the Pleasance.

Then to top it all it was a fine bag if chip on the way home from the bus stop

Wow, its a long time since I’ve seen such amazing acrobatics. I was in awe at some of the agility and strength on display. So much so that I kept clapping, mesmerised by the performance!

That’s it for another year!

Mind trickery from Chris Cox beforehand was okay but nothing hugely original.

Not being an officiando meant that it could have been the worst performance of Giselle ever, but to me it was amazing. Don’t worry dear reader, I’m off to see some comedy next week – two in one night to be exact!

Anyway – we have seen a couple of things so far with a few more booked in too.

First off at St George’s West was Capoeira Knights. Some amazing martial art, gymnastic type dancing to South American Rhythms. Very good – fit Brazillian chaps for the lasses…

Then – once we found it was InvAsian Festival: Skywalk which was an amazing mix of Martial Arts and Hip Hop dancing from Korea. The energy and agility of the performers was amazing! Funny too as it was all done in the style of a competetion between the two families – one doing hip hop and the other doing Martial Arts.

More to come…

Was well worth it though. Craig Hill compered 3 comedians at The World Stands Up starting at midnight. Don’t think it was the delirium of us needing sleep but all three were hilarious. Kitty Flanagan from Oz, Mitch Benn from the UK and Steve McGrew from the US had a small audience in stitches. Mitch was musical comedian  – tunes about hating James Blunt and how everyone sounds like Coldplay. Burt Chewbacharach too LOL.

The other two I would go and see again if they come back. Kitty’s name rings a bell – maybe I’ve seen her on something before, or had fliers pushed into my hand for her show – anyway, she was excellent. Steve McGrew telling stories about his dog being sick, or him being sick, pretty gross at points but funny – the denver accent, whatever that may be sort of adds to the humour.

Thats it for the year though.

Perhaps Edinburgh will be back to some sort of normallity, a few less tourists attempting suicide wandering across the roads, hotel prices back to normal, taxi fares just pricey instead of extortionate, pub opening hours reduced to 1am instead of 3/4/5am. Lorraine thinks Edinburgh always feels a bit flat for the next week or so. Lets see if its true.

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It might be sold out, dear reader, but we managed to get press tickets that get re-allocated to general public 15-30 mins before the show starts.

Thanks Linda for the tip!

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A troop of about 20 performers did dances like sketches in a fast paced TV comedy show – one minute there would be 4 hip hopping street performers spinning on their hands, the next a scantily clad female and her partner energetically going through as many sexual positions as they could – all to some pounding beat.

There were also some more ‘traditional’ pieces – where the same people would be more balletic, showing amazing strength and poise.

A couple of times in the show there were short 5 minute intermissions where the audience were shown slides of the effects of war – I guess in Korea – and of people marching against war and being anti-Bush. Not entirely sure how it gelled with the rest of the show but I guess they wanted to get their message across.

Worth a visit if you think the bits between the BBC2 programs where guys hurl themselves off park benches is cool.

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Lorraine has persuaded me to cast my festival going further than comedy again, what with flamenco last year, and Havana Rumba this year, so a trip to see some tenors in concert is yet another new experience.

Three black dudes dressed in what I would class as standard opera get-up (top hat and tails – without the top hat) perfomed various pieces, both as a trio and as soloists. Musically backed up by some top quality piano, drum, guitar, and double bass playing.

It was all brilliantly performed – foot tapping or completely emotionally enthralling – it had the entire range. All accompanied by some nifty footwork by the 3. In fact at some stages it was almost a song and dance show rather than just song. It all added to what was a great hour and a bit of entertainment.

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Having seen him at least once (maybe twice – I can’t quite remember) at The Stand Comedy Club here in Edinburgh, I was expecting some close to the bone humour, and he delivered

Nothing was too taboo for Frankie, from paedophilia to the twin towers. It was all excellent stuff. The man has a very likeable delivery, chuckling away at his own jokes, and striking up the odd conversation with the audience. Very easy to watch – and laugh at.

There are still tickets available so book him now!

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Noted here in the venue web blog.

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addition ->

Aye, he was proper stand up with witty tales of holiday booking on lastminute.com and lots of couples routines. Cool set too – I definitly wanted a shot… (I’ll say no more in case you end up going. Lorraine nearly wet herself with laughter at one point !

Show was loosely based on Ed’s frustration and it hung together on the film Falling Down and how simple things can drive a man to shooting up a burger joint.

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It was fantastic. The music and singing was vibrant and filled with feeling, the narrator (at 70 this month) was full of character and spun the yarn well, and the dancing! It was sensual, balletic, energetic, totally amazing.

You will be tapping your feet and clapping your hands at every opportunity – and might even manage a conga at the end of the show!

This was the opening night of the show with them being delayed a couple of days coming from Cuba – this meant there were a few raw edges with lighting/microphones/etc but for some reason this added to the experience. Maybe it felt more real than a squeaky clean faultless performance?

And the Kylie bit?

When the conga and audience participation was happening at the end of the show and the Assemby @ St George’s organiser was on stage being very enthusiastic, he appeared to bring a petit pop star in a hat onto the stage who danced with everyone else. Was it Kylie? Lorraine is convinced and I might be persuaded. I’m off to hunt through the press to see if she is in Edinburgh.

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