Ukuleles at the Edinburgh Fringe 2008

This year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival kicks off this Sunday and, as ever, there are a handful of uke acts plying their wares.

Learn to Play the Ukulele in Under an Hour (How George Formby Saved My Life)

Donal Coonan (from Channel 4’s thisisaknife) and Sam Brown (not Joe Brown’s daughter) set out to show the joys of the ukulele by teaching the entire audience to play the ukulele in under an hour. Ably assisted by Sally Phillips and her ukulele machine.

Venue: Gilded Balloon

Sideshow is billed as “The Weirdest Show on Earth” and featuring, “freaks, outcasts, and attention seekers.” For some reason, they thought Jimmy from the Bobby McGee’s would fit right in. The presence of a great number of bendy and busty women convinced him to join them in Edinburgh.

Nigel Birch in Dancing On Your Grave

Or The Cholmondeleys and the Featherstonehaughs present ‘Dancing On Your Grave’ featuring Corpse De Ballet to give it its full title.

Nigel Burch has been strumming on his banjolele the Flea-Pit Orchestra for more than a decade. This year he’s been providing musical back up to The Cholmondeleys‘s twisted music hall show.

Venue: Assembly @ George Street

Liz Bentley-On-Sea

I wrote about Liz Bentley when she appeared at last years festival. This year she’ll be some aquatic strumming at the Sweet Grassmarket Swimming Pool.

View Comments

7 Comments

  1. J-Hob July 30th, 2008 9:55 am

    Cheers Al. I’ll definitely be checking out some of them!

  2. Woodshed July 31st, 2008 7:56 pm

    You going to Edinburgh, John?

  3. J-Hob July 31st, 2008 10:10 pm

    I live in Edinburgh!

  4. Woodshed July 31st, 2008 10:13 pm

    I thought all Edinburgians rented out their places to American tourists at exorbitant rates during the festival.

  5. J-Hob July 31st, 2008 10:31 pm

    Correction: All Edinburgians, without sub-let clauses in their rental contracts, rent their places out to American tourists. At any rate even if we could rent the flat, the dribbling three legged cat would probably be enough to put them off.

  6. liz Bentley August 3rd, 2008 3:20 pm

    … hi thanks for putting me on your site, and what a great site! Hope you get to come to see the pool show at ed….bring your swimming things, it gets hot and steamy – we provide towels! Ukuleles welcome to join in!!!! Liz x

  7. Woodshed August 3rd, 2008 4:38 pm

    Liz: You’re welcome. Have a great time at the Fringe.

Sorry, Comments Are Broken Right Now

You must be logged in to post a comment.