You have to book well in advance, but tickets are free. Turn up at Edinburgh University's Old College and join a long, snaking queue that gets moved on surprisingly quickly. Indoors, upstairs, and you eventually get allocated to someone with a wheel in front of them. Spin the arrow in the centre and see which 'land' you're off to. As simple as that.
There are ten lands, each with their own theme, and I guess it might be possible to pay a visit to each one within the four hour period when they're running, but I doubt you'd actually see much. Better to see where fortune takes you and if you find something that holds you then stay on.
This time we only got to three of the venues. Our starting point was Insider:Land, in the Potterow Dome, and curated by the Insider Festival. In what we hoped wasn't a sign of things to come we arrived just in time to catch the last half of the last song of Findlay Napier's set - a singer/songwriter I've been hoping to see some time after enjoying his album so much last year. But our disappointment was only temporary as he was succeeded by Edinburgh singer/songwriter Blue Rose Code, aka Ross Wilson. Bouncing with enthusiasm and with an engaging personality, Wilson delivered four very varied songs with Ghosts of Leith the standout number for me.
Moving on we again spun the wheel to see where we headed next. This took us to Light:Land in the Storytelling Centre on the High Street. On this occasion our timing was excellent and within minutes we were down in the theatre to see top Scottish Folk band Malinky perform for over half an hour. Some great traditional material, beautifully played and sung, with a bit of a singalong included.
On the move again to what would prove our final destination. There was one band we really wanted to see and we got our way (it helps if, while you're having a chat with the person behind the wheel, your spouse nudges the arrow into the desired location!). Blazin':Land was in the lovely space of Greyfriars Kirk and featured Rachel Sermanni, Adam Holmes and, surprise, surprise, Blazin' Fiddles. We got in just in time to see a short set by each of the aforementioned singer/songwriters (there's a theme here, isn't there....) before the band took to the stage. If you don't know of BF they consist of a very talented guitarist, an equally able keyboard player, and four of the best fiddlers in Scotland. Whilst their virtuoso work is to be admired, what they're most renowned for is a bit of frenzy whipping. Fast, rousing tunes that get an audience bouncing around. A fabulously rowdy set went on well past five o'clock and any post-Hogmanay cobwebs were well and truly blown away.
A great start to the year.
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