Articles by Mark Gregory

Cat Stevens Reconstructed

The Jess Abrams Quartet - or on this particular evening, trio - are a glorified Cat Stevens tribute band: they spend an hour covering Cat Stevens’ most prominent hits, while putt…

Blues

There is a huge difference between having obvious musical talent and putting on an entertaining, engaging show.

Lights! Camera! Improvise!

What do you get when you combine sci-fi with time travel with the Vatican City and the movie title “Bad Popes Gone Wild”? The answer – a hilarious improvised movie containing…

Rob Deering's Beat This

When an audience member throws up on stage five minutes into this particular evening of Rob Deering’s Never Mind The Buzzcocks-esque quiz show, it’s difficult to consider how t…

Art for Lunch - Free Concerts at St Giles'

Churches are great: not only is a marvellous acoustic found within those imposing stone walls, but visitors also feel an inherently peaceful atmosphere upon entry.

Never Too Late to Learn

To base a show around the theme of evening classes is an interesting concept and one which has not been trialled very extensively anywhere, let alone at the Edinburgh Festival.

Simon Donald’s School of Swearing

“This show is family friendly, apart from your grandma, so she can f*ck off!”Thus opens the foul-mouthed Simon Donald, donning typical private school headmaster robes and morta…

Bil&Cyn Bizarre Guitar and Terse Verse

Bil Fulton and Cynthia Stephens, or Bil&Cyn as they like to be called, represent two different sides of the same coin.

Cheese-Badger presents... Midge (a Two-Man Musical) - Free

Budding musical thespians aim to be what is called a ‘triple-threat’, developing extreme talent in the three areas of musical theatre - acting, singing and dancing.

The Blondettes: Three Blondes And A Mic

When three ex-Oxford Gargoyles return to the Fringe as part of a three-piece girl band, it’s expected of them to present a predominantly jazz-filled set and to be almost musicall…

Blossom Street: A Capella @ the Kirk

The London based ex-York University graduates that make up the Blossom Street choir form a refreshingly different type of a cappella group that takes the genre back to its roots an…

Palmstar Poppy: Songs in Search of Love Lost at Sea

Dim, dingy lighting barely illuminates this musty Edinburgh bar, its vague seafaring theme embodied by scale wooden models of old sailing boats, naval pencil sketches suspended fro…

Malones Live Music

There are certain criteria that a Free Fringe Show should fulfil when performed in a public bar.

Conor Drum - A Sense of Humour

Conor Drum, the 30-year-old Irish actor cum comedian battled through the adversity of a small audience and actually put on an entertaining and amusing show with some very shrewd ob…

Nick Keir

One man and his guitar: it’s a classic combination that, when done well, reaps its rewards.

James Grant

Singer-songwriters such as James Grant are tasked with the difficult job of keeping an audience entertained with merely a voice and a guitar, but James Grant proves in this hour-pl…

John McNamara Acoustic Soul / Blues Singer - Free

The Edinburgh Festival has some unusual venues – that is a well-known fact amongst regular Fringe-goers, as avid audience members hop from university building to converted wareho…

All the King's Men - It's Reigning Men!

In three short years, All the King’s Men have gone from a little-known university a cappella group to the third best collegiate group in the world, and from the simply phenomenal…

Nick Pynn with Kate Daisy Grant

An array of instruments welcomes audience members as they take their seats in this tiny, intimate venue just off Princes Street, from strings through percussion to a homemade There…

Ghillie Gigs

Going alone to a review a concert that promises a complimentary three-course meal with your ticket can go one of two ways: either finding yourself thoroughly stranded and friendles…

The Template for Lack of Conversation

Alison Trower would be an excellent date – never running out of topics of conversation, skipping from theme to theme with probing intriguing questions that make you think, and no…

Alternotive A Cappella

Student a cappella groups are not exactly a rarity at the Fringe, so often it can be difficult to decide which of the varied assortment of groups is actually worth going to see.

Silky: Nut Allegory

The Fringe for many comedians is a testing ground for new material admits Silky.

In the Pink - Fantastic Female a Cappella!

Patience is a virtue: this proverb was particularly fitting during this afternoon of a cappella hosted by all-female a cappella group In The Pink from the University of Oxford.

Bob Graham Work Ethic

Some comedy shows can be slow burners – they introduce a few seemingly unrelated jokes before linking everything together towards the climax of the show, ending on the ultimate p…

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