Simon Gibb

Ghosts from Fringes Past

bruceonthefringe 2023, Cabaret and Variety, Edinburgh bands, Edinburgh Fringe, Fringe history, Puppets Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Just a quickie (oo, matron)! It’s late but I feel like sharing….

The Blueswater at The Jazz Bar on Friday night were awesome, as expected. I rolled up shortly after showtime (come on, how often are these times accurate?) and was warned it was pretty busy inside – I was even given the opportunity to pop down and check out whether I wanted to commit to going in (there was a £10 entry charge), nice offer but I’d just go for it. Hell, the weather was really bad, I wasn’t going to have a wasted soaking.

It was very busy, but at least towards the back the floor is higher, allowing a better view. I could be wrong but I think there’s a grand piano on the stage, it takes up a lot of space – I was only able to see the heads and shoulders of the band (no dandruff) but I assume it’s still there, otherwise the close huddle of five of the band would just be weird. It kinda looked like they’d all ganged up against the drummer and were refusing to go anywhere near him. Okay, so that was my brain having fun, like, one scenario, Simon was letting loose some lethal gases! (Yes, that’s Simon Gibb, buccaneer and back-up crew) Haha, going along with that line, when Nicole Smit joined them for a couple of numbers, the huddle made her stand closest to him!

Plenty of classic blues was the order of the night and Felipe Schrieberg has the voice and presence to deliver them. Such a great night! Oh, and special mention for their rendition of The Wizard, wow, so, so good. And now, from a wizard to a doctor…

Oh my giddy aunt, how good was Dr Who on Saturday evening? Bloody awesomely good, that’s how good. RTD really threw everything into this episode including an old companion, a very old adversary and a Lethbridge-Stewart! Neil Patrick Harris was perfect to play the Toymaker, the man is such a great performer (apparently he was the first to play Hedwig on Boadway, god, I would love to have seen that!) With RTD back at the helm it was a great story, great script, so many digs at the state of humankind, wonderful – “the lies, the righteousness – that’s human, that’s you …… and hating each other? You’ve never needed any help with that.” He’s right, you know.

Hurrah, we met the latest incarnation of the good Doctor, and what’s this? David Tennant‘s Doctor is still among us, could he make further appearances along the line?! Who cheered with me when Donna stood up to the creepy dolls and bashed the mother doll against the wall? I’m shuddering again just thinking of her babbies; old dolls and puppets are always up to no good when they turn up on anything! The companion show Doctor Who: Unleashed had an interesting section on the filming of the puppet scenes, but I was amused that our guide seemed so unaware about how big puppetry is these days – okay so not huge, but there’s always puppetry of some ilk at every Edinburgh Fringe.

And on that note, yay! Boris and Sergey are back in Edinburgh Boris and Sergey’s Christmas Cabaret on at the Assembly Roxy until 21st December. Two hours of darkly delicious humour, macabre mayhem, oh yeah, I’m going. It’s been a while since I saw them at the Fringe, ah, not since 2016! The first time was in 2012, then 2013, those shows were both at the Pleasance Courtyard; in 2016 they had a new home, the perfect stage for them, the Omnitorium a wonderful, strange, unsettling little world on its own, set slightly away from George Square Garden. They have been back since then, but you know, so many shows to choose from!

Anyhoo, it’s very late now, I must off to bed. Sweet dreams!

Not your average Sunday evening

bruceonthefringe 2023, Bands, Edinburgh bands, Live bands in Edinburgh Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Oh lordy, so glad I got back up yesterday evening! I knew that The Buccaneers were playing Stramash at ten, which is always good, but I had no idea they would be that good! Wowzah. On fire they were, and with plenty new covers too. I didn’t arrived back in Edinburgh until the back of eight, just time to put things away, eat and faff a while; well, I wasn’t convinced it wouldn’t actually be a ten thirty start in reality.

Nope, it was ten o’clock, The Buccaneers were already getting down to business when I trotted in, with fellow creative James Gilhooly filming them. Did his presence perk up the performances? Was it the new set list? Was it the joy of having Luke Cunningham was back with his keyboards? Whatever it was, the band were soaring and took the crowd along with them.

Stramash was up for a good time last night, plenty were out with it being a Bank Holiday weekend, Mr Marah was on fire, yes, he’s always good but last night was one of those special nights, he was totally in his element, oh he shone (shined?) brightly. I look forward to what James Gilhooly will put together from the evening, when it’s out I will let you know, really you will have to see it, it’s gonna be awesome!

Among the new tunes were Heard It Through The Grapevine, The Weight (the song with the line “Take a load off fanny” see now you know the one), Feeling Alright? a classic originally by Traffic. Donavon song Season of the Witch was in there with great keyboard swirly bits and Mr Marah rocking it on his guitar. Oh, and California Dreamin’ had a tasty jam in it (to be seen on my Instagram).

One after 909 stayed in, nice. I got a great quick snippet Carl and Simon Gibb singing, not an easy thing to do filming a drummer – there’s very few angles where he’s visible! I loved Shake Your Hips as did the crowd, all indeed shaking their hips and everything else, and all with the beat; they had the floor bouncing to the rhythm!

For shame that I write a whole blog post about a band and not mention the bass player; there, steady, reliable but rarely mentioned. Ewan Gibson, also part of Nicole’s Back-up Crew, the Black Diamond Express and no doubt others, he’s a tad busy. I’ll also give a mention to John Mackie the best on sound and lighting in Stramash, LA Woman is awesome anyway but he adds the cherry on top!

Hopefully The Buccaneers will be back soon, and they haven’t played Binkies in a while, just sayin’. The Scat Rats are back on the midnight watch at Whistlebinkies tomorrow night and next Tuesday (according to their website). Must get an early night tonight.

Toodle pip for now!

See what I mean?!

Lights, music, camera – action

bruceonthefringe 2023, Cinema, Live bands in Edinburgh, Logan's Close, Pubs Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Oops, it’s thirteen days since my last post, and this is gonna be a very short and sweet catch-up as it’s very late and I need to be up early in the morning. I say I need to be up early, I intend to be, really I do.

Well Everything Everywhere All At Once did brilliantly at the Oscars, just as I thought it deserved. Yes, the most bonkers film of the decade won big time, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Director, Best Picture, along with Oscars for Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis. So so happy the ladies were recognised for being bloody awesome in it.

And in other awards news, The Jolly Judge has just been named as Branch Pub of the Year 2023 by CAMRA Edinburgh & South East Scotland. An excellent choice! One of my favourite Edinburgh pubs to be found in James Court off the Lawnmarket (near the top of the Royal Mile); a cosy wee place, friendly bar staff and always a good selection of real ciders and real ales (also dog-friendly).

Since I returned from a wee trip away I’ve caught The Scat Rats twice and The Buccaneers, yay. No keyboards again, I noticed; I also noticed the sound and lighting guy was having a lot of fun with The Buccaneers set – check out the reel I’ve put on Instagram of Simon Gibb’s drum solo on Black Magic Woman! Hmm, on Tuesday evening in Whistlebinkies the Rats got blasted with the smoke machine, engineers getting sassy!

Ah, it’s just after midnight so it’s now two weeks since the lads released their latest single Babestation from their upcoming album Heart-shaped Jacuzzi (I’ve just now noticed that it’s one word not two, I have some editing to do). It’s had nearly 2,500 streams on Spotify so far, I highly recommend you check it out! Besides being part of the Logan’s Close library of sound, Babestation has been added to Scotify a playlist of the best new alternative music from Scotland.

And sometime in the next 24 hours the video is being released, yes, a video for Babestation!! LC have put out a tiny wee bit to tantalise us. I won’t say anything about what I’ve seen so far, apart from, it’s not a video you’ll forget you’ve seen, apparently the band came up with the concept for it whilst in Hamburg (it figures).

Anyhoo, I must away to my bed. Toodle pip!