AROUND TOWN

It’s officially Fringe season in Edinburgh, which means there are more cultural happenings than you can possibly shake a stick at. 

While we have an entire newsletter dedicated to guiding you through the month (subscribe here), plus three weekly festival issues, may we draw your attention to our already-published Edinburgh Festival Guide? Drag Race UK winner Ginger Johnson is our cover star and she’ll be performing Ginger Johnson Blows Off! every day at 6.30pm at the Pleasance Courtyard. 

Meanwhile, across Friday 2 & Saturday 3 August in Glasgow’s SWG3, seminal Scottish indie group Belle And Sebastian are topping a stellar line-up of musical talent in what they’re calling The Glasgow Weekender. Catch acts like Mercury-nominated songstress CMAT, pop band Bis, The Vaselines and Callum Easter over the two days.

Now for a sprinkling of nightlife. Sitting adjacent to its Fringe shows is Summerhall’s jam-packed programme of club nights taking place throughout August. Head along this Saturday 3 August to see Edinburgh DJ collective Femmergy take over The Dissection Room from 11pm. 

MUSIC

Core, Scotland’s newest festival dedicated to heavy music, returns to Glasgow this weekend from Friday 2–Sunday 4 August across Woodside Halls and nearby basement institution The Hug and Pint. Among this year’s lineup is Show Me The Body, Glitterer and Gilla Band. 

If garage punk is more your thing, head to The Old Hairdressers in Glasgow this Sunday 4 August to see lively Melbourne band Delivery play songs from their debut album, Forever Giving Handshakes. 

After nearly a decade away, Scottish singer-songwriter Sandi Thom returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this weekend to present her captivating new album, Warpaint! Catch her perform at the Voodoo Rooms on Friday 2 August.

STAGE

Jessica Regan's 16 Postcodes kicks off its Fringe run this weekend. The Guilty Feminist star's one-woman show tells her life’s story through geography as she covers true incidents with bad landlords, financial instability and personal turmoil while incorporating audience participation as they choose which part of the country she should move to next. Until Monday 26 August at Pleasance Courtyard.

At Glasgow’s King’s Theatre, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar is enjoying a limited run (until Saturday 3 August) as part of its UK-wide tour. Timothy Sheader (Crazy For You, Into The Woods) is on directing duties for this highly anticipated adaptation, which has been touring around the country since September.

Award-winning company 1927 returns to Edinburgh International Festival this year with their new production, Please Right Back, following acclaimed Festival performances Roots and The Magic Flute. Catch it at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre from this Friday 2–Sunday 11 August.

SCREEN

Celebrating a special 2024 re-release, don’t miss your chance to see Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli classic My Neighbor Totoro on the big screen this weekend. Catch it at Edinburgh’s Cameo Picturehouse on Saturday 3 August at 3pm (and in select cinemas across the country).

Screening at the GFT on Sunday 4 August as part of SNAPSHOT (a season of films celebrating Black girls coming of age on their own terms), Alma's Rainbow (1995) is a comedy-drama following the lives of three African American women in Brooklyn. The story centres on Rainbow Gold (Victoria Gabrielle Platt), a teenager transitioning into womanhood, grappling with societal beauty standards, self-image, and women's bodily autonomy.

Fellow coming-of-age film Didi hits UK cinemas this Friday 2 August. Written and directed by Taiwanese-American filmmaker Sean Wang, this childhood tale follows 13-year-old Chris (Izaac Wang), known as Didi, navigating adolescence in California within a matriarchal household made up of his mother, sister and grandmother.

PODCASTS

Las Culturistas’ sporty younger sister Two Guys, Five Rings is Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang’s Olympic games spin-off podcast that delves into all things Paris 2024. Its 15 episodes have the comedic duo divulge their thoughts on the opening ceremony, interview legendary athletes and embark on general silly musings. 

Does everyone have a book in them? And if so, how do you unleash it? Author and podcaster Elizabeth Day (How To Fail) has developed the ‘podclass’ How To Write A Book to answer those very questions, hosted by novelist Sara Collins, literary agent Nelle Andrew, and publisher Sharmaine Lovegrove. 

Finally, hear Russell Howard record his smash-hit podcast live in the flesh at his Wonderbox Fringe! shows. Howard will chat to a special guest about the things that make life worth living on Thursday 1, Friday 2 & Sunday 4 August at Assembly George Square at 12.15pm. 

VISUAL ART

Numerology is the latest group show in Leith Walk’s Sett Studios. Reuniting more than 15 former residents of The Number Shop, an Edinburgh artist-run studio and gallery that operated from 2014–2018, the show features a variety of media and perspectives, with works born from the often tenuous and temporal nature of our city’s creative spaces.

Taking over Glasgow’s Wasps Studios until Sunday 4 August is new group exhibition Cult, a selection of visceral artworks exploring the gothic, grotesque and macabre through dream space, heightened reality and dark fantasy. 

Housed in Special Exhibition Gallery 2 at the National Museum Of Scotland is Cold War Scotland, a new exhibition showcasing how the impacts of Russia and America’s 40-year nuclear standoff can still be felt in communities across Scotland today. Free, until Saturday 25 January 2025.

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