New Year's Day Walk

Goodbye ’23, Hello ’24

bruceonthefringe 2023, Edinburgh traditions, Holyrood Park, Logan's Close, Music, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

When I woke up on the 1st it was raining, oh I was so tempted to go back to sleep but no, and sure enough by the time I was ready to head out the rain had stopped. The proof of the pudding is in the picture….

Yes, that is a traffic cone on top of the trig point!

Yay, my New Year tradition completed again, no thanks to the high winds – I was lucky not to get blown over to Fife! My concerted effort to be up there relatively early (about 10am) paid off, the hordes had not yet ascended, probably still their beds. After the annual pic, I found a slightly sheltered spot in the rocks for my brunch (chicken sandwich and christmas cake washed down with whisky), just taking time to admire the view and exchange new year greetings with passers-by.

I mentioned in my last post that The Scat Rats were playing Whistlebinkies at 3 in the morning on the 2nd (or technically the 3rd), I didn’t make it. The soul was willing but my flesh and bones decided otherwise, a shame. And I bet you’re wondering how the LC gig went on the 29th – totally and utterly bloody awesome!! Mind, I wouldn’t have expected it to be anything less.

It’s been many years since I was last in The Liquid Room, nothings changed; nice that the stage has enough height to allow plenty of the audience a decent view of the band. There is a balcony round the sides and back, tempting (I’ve never been up there) but I’d got myself a good spot close to the front, so was fine.

The lights dimmed to four scattered spotlights, SeanKeys started playing the opening bars of Dans Le Jardin over and over as the rest of the band came on stage and readied themselves (to rapturous applause, natch); Carl next joined in with a lush guitar sound, followed by Scotty’s velvet vocals (and a natty new top he got for Christmas). And they were off!

The set for the evening was Heart-Shaped Jacuzzi in reverse order, so next up was the magnificent Mock Marble Linoleum, yes! Back for the evening was original bassist Ollie Turbitt (he’s definitely acquired some italiano cool), slotting in fine, obviously enjoying himself, sharing plenty of laughs with SeanKeys.

In the absence of Stu, Gavin picked up some of the harmony vocals (there will be four part harmonies in the future, I hear). Great that he was actually visible, and he is a drummer worth watching.

After the chirpy cheeriness of Merry-Go-Round the rest of the band left the stage to Scott and Carl for Calculations + Guesses. It struck me that by the end Scott’s body language seemed to be trying to belie the emotion of the song, distancing himself from it, perhaps? Next, our two troubadours took us way back to an early tune they wrote, very Beatlesque!

The rest of the band returned with two Logan’s Close classics, Lost In You swirling straight through into Give It To Me, what a night!

From there we plunged back into the new album and Curious Terrain, the other grand baroque opus (the studio version is powerful, live it loses none of the nuance and gains from a full-on performance from the band). From there on to the big guns, Babestation then Heart-Shaped Jacuzzi, gotta say this way round really works well live.

It was around this point I get fuzzy, I think it was after the title track that we were treated to a new song (called So Cold, possibly?), I remember a bottle of Buckfast appearing, Scotty saying something like “I’m changing it”, the band going into I Want You which seemed to throw Ollie and Sean a tad. Well, that all happened, though not necessarily in that order!

I do remember the evening ending with Hot Blondes In Your Area Tonight and the whole place going hyper. Oh lordy, what a grand evening! And what a way for LC to end the year! Can’t wait to see what happens next in 2024 ❤️

Oh, if you’re new to this blog, do yourself a favour and check out Logan’s Close on Spotify or wherever you listen to music, hear what I’m making such a fuss over (and see why on my Instagram reels).

Wishing you all an excellent 2024! Toodle pip!

Legs don’t fail me tomorrow

bruceonthefringe 2023, Edinburgh, Edinburgh bands, Hogmanay Tags: , , Leave a comment

Well, the sun has set on the last day of 2023, and what a lovely sunny day it was here in Edinburgh. This morning was glorious for my climb up onto Arthur’s Seat, yes, I went all the way up. Just scoping out my final ascent path for the morning, I’m going a different way than I’ve done the last few years, this one will take a little longer but it won’t be such a scrabble up.

A gorgeous morning, bet it won’t be so nice tomorrow!

It was relatively quiet up at the top this morning at ten o’clock. Yes, early for me but tomorrow I’m gonna be even earlier, well that’s the plan, and now that I’ve told you, I’m much less likely to back out of it. Oh, I’m not having a late night, of course I’ll see the bells in but I won’t be awake much longer probably. I may go see Wonka later this evening but no carousing for this moose.

For some Christmas is a time of ghosts, for me it’s New Year’s Eve, so many glorious memories; carousing and dancing into the small hours, oh, all the dancing. Some drift away, some motor away, some get lost, some are lost. I know every one of them would have been blown away by Marah and Rough, Potts, Smit, Babyface.

Enough maudling!! Almost time to eat, methinks. Well, cook, two chicken thighs in a curry and a third to be cooked for a sandwich tomorrow, sustenance for the expedition! That, a slice of christmas cake and a hip flask of whisky. Ah, that’s a point, where is the hip flask? It does like to hide. Hang on. Haha, it was where it should be, for once.

Have a great Hogmanay and a Happy New Year wherever you are, whatever you’re up to, with whoever you’re with! And if you’re on Instagram check out all the brilliant clips of the lads playing in the Liquid Room the other night.

Toodle pip 💛

A Happy New Year To You

bruceonthefringe Happy New Year, Holyrood Park, New Year's Day, Walking around Edinburgh Tags: , , , Leave a comment

….. And all your kin! We’ve made it to 2021, woohoo, and I made it to the top of Arthur’s Seat and back down again without any serious mishaps. Never have I known it so treacherous before, a friend on Facebook joked that she’d like a helicopter to take her back down – if ever there was gonna be a serious accident requiring an airlift, then today was definitely in the running.

The snowfall from a few days ago wasn’t much but freezing temperatures and lots of feet compacting it down, then drizzly weather and more freezing! The pavements around Holyrood Park are like ice rinks, the road through looks deceptively fine in comparison, but as I and plenty of others know, its just out to give us a false sense of security, then, BAM!! All the well-trodden paths up the hillsides are now ice or compacted snow. The best way to get up to the top was definitely off piste……

So I went into the Park a much longer way round (but less icy), I totally avoided the scene of my fall, by walking through rough tussocky grass that I had to check didn’t conceal any deep holes. I avoided all the main routes upwards, instead heading up Nether Hill and veering to the right just before the final rocky climb up to the Seat, that was a scary part, it wasnt so much up as, up a bit, left, left, down a bit, left, up, up, right, no left, up, you get the picture! The last wee bit and the top were actually the easiest, least slippy bits. God, I was knackered, as is rather obvious here……

I spent a while just sitting near the top, sipping ginger liqueur from my hip flask and munching on a large slice of Yorkshire parkin (a bit like gingerbread but way better), enjoying the spectacle of all the jackdaws and crows having a fine time soaring above. Alas, I had to head down at some point. At least in our mutual terror folk were chatting to strangers as we’d pause, pondering where to put our feet next. Yes, there were definitely more smiles and encouraging “Happy New Year”s than usual. Staying off the main routes as much as I could, I realised how much more I know about the Park now thanks to all my summertime wanderings. I really am a lucky moose to have such amazing parkland close by, sometimes I forget.

I leave you with a pic of me having a wee rest in a pine tree on the way back down. Yes, in a pine tree! I can just let my legs hang and relax a while that way.

Toodle pip! And Happy New Year!