Analysis: Concerts were usually missing the X factor

By FIONA SHEPHERD
Published on 11/04/2012 00:00

I DON’T think The Edge Festival will really be missed that much by Fringe-goers.It had really moved away from the big event shows in the last few years and it was always difficult to built up momentum when you only had bands who happened to be touring doing the one night instead of an extended run that you have with most Fringe acts.

It felt as if they were putting gigs on in Edinburgh that would normally have been on in Glasgow at other times of the year, but they didn’t really have a festival atmosphere about them as they were in venues like the Liquid Room or the Corn Exchange that are used all year.

Although some of them would have mopped up the festival crowd, most of them just felt like normal gigs to me. It seemed like the people who were there would have gone to see the same band regardless of when they were on.

It never really had the feel of a curated festival in the way that something like the Flux Festival did years ago, with gigs like Nick Cave in Princes Street Gardens, which was really special.

I think they can still go for quality and not quantity in the future if they can get the right bands.

• Fiona Shepherd is The Scotsman’s pop and rock music critic

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