We came to see Chicago the musical and it was so fun! This venue is gorgeous and every seat had a…read moregreat view. The inside was ornate and special and the seats were comfy. They had multiple snack and drink bars that were averagely priced - nothing outrageous. The bathroom lines at intermission were organized, with staff trained to keep everyone moving. The show itself was sooo well done and entertaining. There was awesome dancing, singing, acting, and lots of jokes sprinkled throughout for added entertainment. As of last week, you must show a vaccination card at the entrance and wear a mask during the show unless you're eating or drinking.

A really beautiful venue. I went and saw Dynamo here a few weeks back, this was the perfect space…read moreand from the upper balcony we could see everything perfectly on the stage. Lines for snacks and the bathroom can be quite long pre show and during intermission. Very easy to navigate within the venue and the architecture is gorgeous.

Excellent Duo band for wedding ,wedding reception, Restaurants,corporate functions…read moreBirthday Party's, Anniversary's,social clubs..anywhere that would like high class professional music..Amazing Classy Female Vocal and accompanied by Talented keyboard player...they are very,very good.Highly recommended....you can hear them on the web site

I first came into scayles when a friend was planning on buying a guitar. There was a lot to choose…read morefrom (the store seems to specialise in this department) and the staff was eager to assist and advise. They have a good selection of instruments. All are fairly competiively priced. The shop isn't the biggest but they make the most of the space.

Scayles is one of Edinburgh's many music stores, and is perhaps one of the smallest. Selling a huge…read morerange of musical instruments including trumpets, guitars, tamborines and mandolins they will cater to almost your every musical need. We bought one of our guy friends a pink Ukelele from here for his 21st and filled it with condoms. It was only around £20, bargain! I saw a Spongebob Square Pants Ukelele in the window once and was mega impressed. This shop also had a good selection of accessories for a variety of instruments and music books to go with your instrument. There is also a board at the back which musicians use to find a new drummer/singer/whatever so a handy hint of your on the lookout for a band.

Keep an eye out for all sorts of shows by independent performers: comedy, magic, fire, etc.. The…read moreEdinburgh Festival Fringe is a joyous annual event that happens every August. Short street performances are spread throughout the city, particularly centering around the Royal Mile. We were unlucky with the weather in that it was pouring rain the day we visited. And so it was difficult to find shows as well as for the entertainers who had to stall until a large enough crowd had gathered. For the ones that we did stop to watch, they were quite enjoyable.

I happened to be visiting Edinburgh for a college reunion during the time of the Fringe Festival,…read moreso after meeting up with my friends at the airport, we all headed to the Royal Mile (which I fondly started calling the High Mile on account of its elevation and because so many people were high on life, drugs or alcohol!) to soak in the atmosphere. And what an atmosphere it was! Full of buskers, mimes, musicians, and eclectic acts - from Japanese pop to American tap dancing to an Eastern European theatre group performing a moving play about Jewish children interned at a Nazi concentration camp. It was a warm and sunny afternoon and the crowd was out in force, and I could clearly see the shimmering blue waters of the Firth of Forth in the distance. After stopping by for a wonderful meal of haggis and salmon and IPA at the Whiski Bar and Restaurant (different review for that one), we plunged back into the creativity and madness, enjoying the magical experience that's the Fringe!

It was through pure chance that I discovered the Scots Music Group. While perusing the notice…read moreboards in one of my favourite cafés, I saw a small poster that read something like "Music lessons offered. All ages and abilities welcome" with an e-mail address and phone number underneath. Further investigation revealed that this modest note in fact gestured towards a major community initiative, a project dedicated to giving adults the chance to learn traditional instruments, from the fiddle and guitar, to the highland pipes and the mandolin, or even (though not technically an instrument) Scottish step dancing. Due to time and money constraints, I've not been able to take any lessons yet, but a good friend of mine has, and tells me that the classes are well taught, warm and non-judgemental, placing emphasis on learning and playing together and developing your own sense of the instrument, rather than adhering to prescriptive methods or books. I went to see her perform in her first concert, and felt like a proud parent watching her scrape away on her fiddle alongside a group whose ages probably ranged from 20 to 60. It's somehow very pleasing to know that every Thursday night hundreds of people from across Edinburgh return to the classroom to engage in the innocent past-time of music lessons, and if you've ever harboured a secret desire yourself to take up a new instrument, Scots Music Group might be able to help you out.

From the owner: We have classes in accordion, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, melodeon, moothie, Scottish smallpipes,…read morewhistle and song, as well as mixed instrument groups. We support our members to gain the skills to take their music out into the local community. Come and join our members doing what they do best...building links, spreading goodwill, and involving people round about in the joy of traditional music, song and dance...

With a gloriously old fashioned sign, I was enticed into Varsity for the variety of instruments…read moredisplayed in the window, and the promise of low prices. Vasity have been supplying the Edinburgh musical community with good quality instruments for over 30 years. Although they primarily specialise in selling and repairing beautiful pianos, they also have an impressive brass collection, with flutes selling for as low as under £200. They also have a number of affordable, good quality electric guitars that would be good for beginners like myself wanting to get a handle on things. For aspiring musicians and people wanting to teach themselves scores, they have a number of song books at the back along with some classical sheet music. A perfectly adequate music store with numerous services, Varsity is good for people in high school playing instruments to professionals who are in need of good equipment or repairs. The staff are friendly and great at pointing you in the right direction.

Situated on the bustling Nicholson Street, Varsity Music is in a great location for catching any…read moremusic fans as they pass through. They aim to specialise in pianos and seem to have a good range, but they also offer brass instruments, a wide selection of bass, acoustic and electric guitars and even accordions. I'm no good at music myself, but the staff in here are friendly and keen to lend a helping hand to anyone looking to into an instrument. They sell plenty of instructional books and DVDs for all the instruments they sell along with sheet music. Whether you're looking for a new instrument to take up or just a renewal, Varsity Music is the place.

Although the original building wasn't designed for it, the Festival Theatre is now the largest…read morestage in Scotland and is the de facto home for opera, ballet and large scale touring musical productions. Seating just a shade under 2,000 people, it also serves as the main showcase venue during the Edinburgh Festival (as you might expect from the name). This location has held a theatre since 1830, and is Edinburgh's oldest theatre site. Resurrected from the old Empire Palace theatre, the restoration involved preservation of the auditorium and not much else. The front of house was replaced by a light, airy glass-fronted façade which, while not exactly sympathetic to the surrounding buildings, is at least an exciting addition to the area. Inside there are spacious foyers, bars, cloakrooms and a cafe area, with a central staircase providing access to all levels. There are plenty of toilets and some function rooms that you can hire for conferences or events.The contrast between this modern structure and the traditional auditorium is quite startling. The backstage area was completely rebuilt from scratch, and the actual stage is enormous - the largest in Scotland - with a side stage and rear scene dock of similar size, enabling it to stage some of the larger European operas that come to the Edinburgh Festival. In 2013 they added a Studio theatre in a new building on Potterrow, providing extra rehearsal space or a smaller performance venue for dance and small companies - a welcome addition and much needed in Edinburgh. Now, a little bit of history for you: The Moss Empires were a chain of theatres around the country, known for their large-capacity wide auditoriums, and many of them still exist, such as the Liverpool and Hackney Empires, and of course there was the infamous (and now sadly vanished) Glasgow Empire. In style they are all quite similar and can seem quite plain architecturally, favouring function over form, compared with some of the smaller more intimate theatres. This particular theatre was originally designed by the renowned (and prolific) theatre architect Frank Matcham; but you would be hard-pressed to recognise any of the characteristic Matcham features, as the building burned to the ground in a disastrous fire in 1911 during a performance by the famous illusionist, The Great Lafayette. Although the safety curtain was lowered, a piece of set prevented it from coming in fully, causing a draught which fanned the fire into an inferno killing Lafayette, ten members of his company, the lion involved in the illusion he was performing, his horse and some stage crew who were unable to escape the stage as Lafayette had ordered all the doors to the stage locked to prevent unwanted interlopers discovering his secrets. His body was soon found in the wreckage and sent to Glasgow for cremation. Two days later however, workers clearing the debris found an identical body, identified as Lafayette by the fancy rings he wore - the original body found was his secret body double, his means of performing many of his illusions. Or was it? Some say that the first body was the correct one, and that his shade haunts the theatre to this day because of the mix-up... His funeral procession through the streets of Edinburgh attracted an estimated crowd of 250,000 people, and he was laid to rest in Piershill cemetery. Because of this tragic accident, legislation was passed requiring all theatres to drop and/or lift the safety curtain at each performance in sight of the audience, just to prove that it is functioning correctly. So the next time you are at the theatre and see the safety curtain being lowered, spare a thought for The Great Lafayette, a real-life tragedy more dramatic than any play.

A great program of both mainstream theatre and more unusual performances such as circus, ballet and…read moreopera. I'm aiming to see at least one new piece of theatre each month this year so I've been here quite a bit because the programme is so good. The building itself is impressive with a glass front so you can people watch from all levels, my favourite is the first floor bar area. Being a relatively modern building there are a good number of ladies toilets so you don't end up spending the whole interval in the queue and still have time to get ice cream. The seats in the theatre are not that comfortable but are OK for most length performances. If you are planning on going to more than two or three shows a year it's worth while becoming a 'friend' of the festival and kings theatre for £39. You get 2 for 1 tickets on most opening nights plus 20% off other performances and discounts in various nearby restaurants. Plus you can book in advance so with some careful planning you can book 18 months of theatre with one year's membership.

From the moment you roll up to the swanky York Place address of Stringer's, it's apparent that…read moreyou're in a shop for music professionals. Not really a place to browse, you have to wait for a receptionist to buzz you into the premises, and then are immediately met by solicitous sales staff eager to know your business. The walls are lined with beautiful and shiny stringed instruments in different shades of mahogany and teak, and although I am a strictly amateur musician and simply came in to pick up some rosin for my cello, I could sense that the people here have real expertise, and are used to dealing with players of all levels, from those who play as a hobby to virtuoso performers. This is not the place to pick up a fiddle on the cheap: it is instead somewhere you can depend on for dependable and quality service, whether you're hoping to repair an instrument or acquire something new.

I've played the violin all my life, and when it came for me to get my own it had to be from…read morestringers. Being a musician, I've found that a lot of other musicians (myself not included) tend to have a fairly high opinion of themselves and there is always an air of superiority when I've looked to buy my own violin from other people. But not in stringers. The building is beautiful and as soon as you go in you are greeted with that magnificent smell of polished varnish (...ok maybe it's a violin thing). In the main rooms the walls are lined with beautiful violins, cellos, viola's and a couple double bass. Upstairs is the same but even better...bows and mahogany everywhere. I was quite literally like a kid in a candy shop. I was undecided about which violin I wanted - I had a choice of 3, and whilst I was dithering the staff put the 3 violins away in their cases and just gave them to me for the weekend....they just gave them to me! This gives you an idea of the level of friendliness in this place. There are leaflets everywhere too with details of instructors and concerts as well as leaflets on how to maintain your instrument and how to improve your playing. I was quite lucky in that my violin was being paid for by the BBC via a bursary, otherwise it would have been well outwith my price range. The prices can start from around £200 up to £20,000! But it's a great place, even if you don't play an instrument, just walk around and smell the varnish!