If you are looking to book a show during the remainder of the Fringe, our critics have been busy dashing between performances to give you the inside scoop on what’s worth your time.
These are 10 of the music and cabaret shows that have received a four or five star review from the Scotsman – and what our arts experts had to say about them.
1. Charlie Wood: The Memphis Music Story
"Incongruous though it may seem, ensconced comfortably in a cellar bar in a douce corner of Marchmont is the burly figure and even burlier voice of Memphis-born veteran singer and pianist Charlie Wood. He may be resident in London these days, married to singer Jacqui Dankworth MBE and a professor at the Guildhall, but this engaging one-man show suggests that, in spirit, Wood has never left Memphis". Jim Gilchrist on Charlie Wood: The Memphis Music Story (Argyle Cellar Bar (Venue 293) until 28 August) Photo: Contributed
2. Saved
"One could be unkind and describe Saved as a triumph of the mundane – its few, sub-Ivor Cutler songs about shopping or finding a sock flag after a while, but it is Leak’s quaint yet ingeniously deployed array of pre-digital technology that fascinates: not quite hand-knitted, though one wouldn’t be too surprised for the Clangers to appear amid its cheerfully bleeping and blooping keyboards." Jim Gilchrist on Saved (ZOO Southside Studio (Venue 82), until 28 August) Photo: Contributed
3. Stevensongs
"A French electro-pop duo obsessed by the writings of Robert Louis Stevenson may sound unlikely, but the results are startling when Fergessen – David Mignonneau and Michaëla Chariau – manifest their passion for Scotland’s most charismatic literary exile." Jim Gilchrist on Stevensongs (French Institute in Scotland (Venue 168), until 27 August). Photo: Contributed
4. 1933 – Prohibition Ends! Long Live Bessie Smith and the Blues Queens
"By the time the show ends with that aforementioned pig’s foot request, with Affleck channelling Bessie Smith, Steele circling the stage, dancers gyrating and the joint proverbially jumping, we are steeped in the music and ambience of another time and place." Jim Gilchrist on 1933 – Prohibition Ends! Long Live Bessie Smith and the Blues Queens (theSpace@Venue45 (venue 45) until 20 August). Photo: Contributed