AROUND TOWN

Celebrating one of the most eye-catching and indelible of all the artforms, The International Scottish Tattoo Convention (Saturday 22 & Sunday 23 March) is back this weekend, at Edinburgh’s O2 Academy, bringing together world-renowned tattoo artists with clothing and jewellery vendors, music and plenty of other entertainment.

If you’re more about nourishing your brain than decorating your body, then the Scotonomics: Festival Of Economics (Friday 21 & Saturday 22 March) is for you. It consists of debates, films, talks and seminars taking place across Dundee and online, designed to demystify Scottish politics and discuss the country’s place in an increasingly unpredictable world.

And Big Glasgow Comic Page are putting on another one of their popular events. Kirkcaldy Comic Con (Saturday 22 March) returns to the Mercat Shopping Centre with a host of vendors, props, cosplay and meet-and-greets.

MUSIC

Best known for ‘Babylon’, singer-songwriter David Gray (Saturday 22 March) is back on the road for his Past & Present tour. Expect favourites from across David’s career, including his phenomenally successful White Ladder album, plus tracks from his 13th studio album, Dear Life. Catch him at Glasgow’s SEC Armadillo.

She went viral as a teen with her cheesy debut ‘Friday’ but since then US pop star Rebecca Black (Sunday 23 March) has reinvented herself with well-received electropop and supported the likes of Blackpink. She’s touring to promote her latest EP, Salvation, and you can check her out at Glasgow’s SWG3.

Meanwhile, over at Theatre Royal Glasgow, English space rockers Spiritualized (Saturday 22 March) will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of their seminal second album Pure Phase by playing it in its entirety.

STAGE

Edinburgh’s Scottish Storytelling Centre plays host to the returning Edinburgh International Improv Festival (until Sunday 23 March). It features four days of fun workshops, shows and jams showcasing the best in longform improv from around the globe.

Irish stand-up and host of hit podcast Trusty Hogs, Catherine Bohart (Sunday 23 March), will be tickling the ribs of attendees at Edinburgh’s Monkey Barrel Comedy as she talks death-obsessed parents, queer reproduction and how adulthood ain’t living up to her expectations. 

Combining live music, artworks, spoken word and theatre, The Revelations Of Rab McVie (until Friday 21 March) is an explosion of creative forces that was a hit at the Traverse Theatre and Edinburgh Fringe. Featuring alt-rock from The Filthy Tongues, projected paintings from artist Maria Rud and impressive physicality from actor Tam Dean Burn. Catch it at Dundee Rep.

SCREEN

Featuring two Robert De Niros for the price of one, in The Alto Knights, Rain Man and Dopesick director Barry Levinson returns for a mob biopic, with Debra Messing and Shōgun star Cosmo Jarvis in support.

The deserved winner of Best Animated Feature at this year’s Oscars, gorgeous animated adventure Flow is the brainchild of Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis who made it using the free software Blender. It follows a pack of assorted animals as they learn to co-operate and keep their heads above water in a flooded landscape.

From sensationally successful production company Shondaland, The Residence is a Netflix whodunnit series in the mould of The Afterparty. Set in the White House, it follows quirky detective Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba) as she sets about solving a murder. Giancarlo Esposito and Randall Park co-star.

PODCASTS

In Gangster Presents… Hooligans boxer and Everton fan Tony Bellow digs into the dark side of football, taking a look at the phenomenon once dubbed the ‘English disease’ which turned terraces into battlegrounds.

Good Bad Billionaire looks at how the richest people on the planet made their billions, including Taylor Swift, Roman Abramovich and, most recently, the original lifestyle influencer and former jailbird Martha Stewart.

In Gold Minds With Jessica Ennis-Hill the Olympian sits down with an impressive array of interviewees to relive their highs, lows and the secrets to their success. Gabby Logan and Nicola Adams are amongst the guests.

VISUAL ART

Glasgow’s Gallery Of Modern Art is the setting for Ciara Phillips: Undoing It (Saturday 22 March – Sunday 26 October), a new solo exhibition by the Canadian-Irish artist consisting of woodcuts, etchings and screenprints.

Also kicking off this weekend in Edinburgh is the 16th edition of RSA New Contemporaries (Saturday 22 March – Wednesday 16 April), an exhibition offering a unique opportunity to see some of the most promising artistic talent in Scotland, featuring the work of 63 graduates.

And finally, closing this weekend at Dundee Contemporary Arts is Soft Impressions (until Sunday 23 March), an exhibition of the work of Helen Cammock, Ingrid Pollard and Camara Taylor, taking in printmaking, installations, moving image, textiles and more.

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