26th July and it’s a busy, hot and humid late afternoon in Edinburgh. It’s going to get livelier, quickly. In the course of the next four weeks the population will increase by more than a million people come for the numerous festivals, including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh International Festival, and the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Ticket sales for these events often exceed 3-4 million.
Street performers draw huge crowds on the Royal Mile, colourful posters, city-wide, announce who and what’s on where, in 265 venues. Eyes and ears are entranced by the Castle as home to the spectacular Tattoo, there’ll be astonishing acrobatics, comedy, every kind of music and drama imaginable, millions of meals served, laughter, appreciation and energy in the very air. By way of a sample, one of my favourites last year was the charismatic Camille O’Sullivan, seen here in Reading, whose Loveletters at Edinburgh’s Roxy will be another sell-out. Summer days and nights …
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