About
Acoustic Extravaganza!
Acoustic Edinburgh was inspired by a number of ‘Acoustic Extravaganza’ gigs
organized by KT Tunstall in 2001 before she moved to London in pursuit of the massive international success
she has since achieved. These were run in The Gilded Saloon in Edinburgh’s Cowgate and after KT’s departure,
Paul Gilbody and Simon Kirby (regulars at Acoustic Extravaganza) took it upon themselves to create
a regular monthly event to showcase the best of the original music coming out of Scotland.
Acoustic Edinburgh was born in March 2002.
…from the ashes
In Dec 2002 our venue (along with other key Edinburgh musical Meccas such as The Bridge Jazz Bar
and La Belle Angele) was destroyed in the old town fire.
AE was on hold for a few months until we were given a new home by the lovely folk at Medina.
Centrally located in the basement of Negociants cafe, it’s soft lighting, soft cushions and low stage provided the perfect intimate environment
for our laid-back evenings of acoustic music and from April 2003, Acoustic Edinburgh was back in action.
AE
Our aim has always been to create a unique evening of musical entertainment in a relaxed atmosphere,
focussing on high quality and an eclectic mix of styles. While we regularly promote singer-songwriters,
we always try to feature local bands playing full acoustic sets as a departure from their normal show.
Kind of like Edinburgh’s answer to ‘MTV Unplugged‘.
In the past we’ve had acoustic sets from the likes
of Amplifico, Last Great Wilderness, Underbelly, Sans Trauma,
Gecko 3, Shrinking Violet, Super 8
and X-Tigers – as well as sets from more traditionally acoustic acts such
as Nizlopi, Rosie Brown,
Douglas Kay Band,
Andi Neate and Ellie Mulhern.
Musical styles have ranged from the mellow, lazy-cool of Floozie Soo to
Seattle-inspired power of Battalion of Flies; from the satirical folk of
Ballboy‘s Gordon McIntyre to the big band
latino grooves of Das Contras; from the virtuosic harp playing of Phamie Gow
to the Didgeridoo/Beatbox of Nathan Kaye;
from the Senegalese beats of Diwan and Iranian magic of Mosca,
to the squeezebox and laptop induced experimentation of Found and Ordinaryson;
from the stunning guitar wizardry of Davide Sanna and John Gomm
to the beautiful songcraft of our own KT Tunstall.
1st Tuesday each month
Every regular Acoustic Edinburgh event follows the same relaxed
format of 5 original acts, usually kicked off by a warm-up set from Paul.
Each act plays an ear-catching short set of 3 songs until the featured headline
act of the night performs a full set to round off the evening.
The night is split into two halves by a chilled interlude of lazy sounds
from DJ Si‘s laptop, who regularly features MP3s from local and unsigned
artists gleaned from the web.
We find that this format lets the appreciative audience focus on each artist
whilst they’re playing and get a chance to chat between acts while DJ Si
plays a tune or two during the change over.
Free Music
Inspired by London’s (now defunct) Kashmir Klub, all our regular events are free entry.
This has always been our policy – partly to remove any excuse for you not being able to afford to come and hear the finest original music
emerging from Scotland and partly to avoid the commercial aspect of promoting quality
music altogether. Taking a stand against the (we feel) damaging trend of pay-to-play music promotion, we have
been blessed by the willingness of such excellent musicians to come and play a few songs for a few free drinks.
We have consistently been able to showcase original music of the highest standard and in return, our
audience continues to return and listen appreciatively.
AE Specials
The ‘Acoustic Edinburgh Festival’ has run every year since 2003
in tandem with The Edinburgh Festival. During the month of August, AE runs
every tuesday and features the pick of the international acoustic music talent in Edinburgh
that month, as well as a healthy mix of the best of home-grown. In 2005 The AE Festival was
part of the official Edinburgh Fringe programme for the first time.
Occasionally we also run special events on a saturday and change our format to
showcase full sets from two acts, usually from out of town. To cover artists expenses
and other overheads we have to charge in for our festival and special events,
however we feel the chance to see such quality acts as KT Tunstall,
Nizlopi and Rosie Brown
in our intimate venue are well worth it.
Welcome
Acoustic Edinburgh runs on the 1st tuesday of every month
at Medina. Doors open at 7.30pm
for an 8pm start. Our regular events are always
FREE ENTRY.
We are always looking for new acts, so if you’d like to get involved please
get in touch via the website.
See you at an event soon.
Paul and Si
