OPERA ,, DIE WALKURE

Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Sun 26 Aug coco

Demand for the demanding

Although the opera is set in a magical land of myth, Tim Albery’s direction focuses the troubled relationships of Wagner’s drama so that it is human chords of emotion they reach out to touch. Siegmund and Sieglinde, brilliantly sung and acted by Jan Kyhle and Ursula Fijri-Bernhard, are not only sister and brother but also desperate lovers. 0r there’s Wotan, crazed by thirst for power, and his self-assured wife Fricka, who in Anne Mason’s sure hands bears an uncanny likeness to Christine, wife of Neil, Hamilton. On stage, the set is sparse and lilac, blocks of colour being a recurring feature of Wolfgang Gobbel’s subtle design. Carsten Stabell’s Hunding is a boorish bully, his cottage sitting in the bare wood of Hildegard Bechtler’s modernist vision. Hardly the stuff of Goldilocks, but to one side, a telegraph pole of a tree, its branches bereft of leaves, plays host to

Siegmund’s magic sword.

Next, the stage becomes an en-suite, 70$ chic bedroom, home of the eye-patched Wotan. Matthew Best gives a commanding and powerful

performance here; his interpretation growing in depth even from last year’s

Das Rheingold, the voice rich but never cloying. Taking on the role just days before, Elizabeth Byrne as the favourite leather jacketed valkyrie is initially slightly hesitant, but a source of great wonder as she grows into a

simply stunning Brunnhilde, finally encircled by a ring of real fire. As for the

valkyrie themselves, they are amazingly well suited to their butch, beer- swilling versions in white shirts and leather waistcoats.

As if with gigantic wings attached, the orchestra soars to set the standard for a triumphant and thrilling production. Menacing and with determined bite under conductor Richard Armstrong, the 90-plus

instrumental forces immediately and consistently catch the intense spirit of

this immensely sensual and ultimately exhausting music that brings Wagner's passionate and fabulous score to life. It is music and drama that cannot help but enter every pore of one’s being. (Carol Main)

Gorillaz (‘nm lixcliangc. lidinhurgli. 2-1 Sep.

P.J.Harvey Barrim'land. (ilasgou. 26 Sep.

Reindeer Section QNll'. (ilasgou. 36 Sep. Kevin McDermott chl‘rcw l-‘cri'y. (ilaxgim, 27 Sep.

New Found Glory (iaragc. (ilasgou‘. 28 Sep. S()Ll) ()l'l

Horse Bzii'i'owlziiitl. (ilasgou, 28 Sep.

Saw Doctors Liquid Room. lidinliurgli. 2‘) Sep.

Echobelly King 'l‘ut'x. (ilaxgrm‘. 2‘) Sep; Liquid Room. lidinliui'gh. 3f) Sup.

Spiritualized

Barri)“ land. (ilaxgim, 30 Sep.

*The Orb Liquid Room.

lidinbui‘gli. l ()ct. Mark B 8. Blade

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ROCK POP U2

SECC, Glasgow, Mon 27 Aug

Twenty five years since their first gig, and Bone. clad in leather. still thinks he's the messiah. The Edge still looks like he's waiting for a

particularly late bus.

OK. so they look cool. Thing is. do U2 still have it? Can they. in all seriousness. play a gig where their pompous self—importance of the 8( s sits comfortably next to the knewuig irony of their 90s selves? Or does that shock of

realisation-the conversion which happened somewhere between the overblown mess of Rattle And Hum and the coolly brilliant Ac/itung Baby (still their best albumi-mean that all the old

songs tonight are rendered meaningless?

Some of the new material - Beautiful Day in particular. which is just U2 by indie-rock numbers - might go a way to proVing this. U2 do stili have it. Find a more convincing Rock God than Bone and you're going to be a billionaire in ten year's time: Just four days after burying his Da. he's still possessed V/Illl the kind of intense. extrovert self confidence that he's always had.

A rousing. thunderous Bad has the crowd in rapture: l/V/ie/‘e The Streets Have No Name runs like a juggernaut through a desert town. while Fa/‘ai/vay (So Close; is the closest the cavernous SFCC Will ever come to real intimacy.

It's the closing Bullet The Blue Sky that seals this gig. though: a brutal. scabrous grind. it manages. finally. to unite their two sides. yoking together earnest politicism and fervent musical exi)erimentation.

If U2 can keep that kind of intensity up. then long may they continue. because we still need it as much as Bone ever (lid. (Leon McDermotti

HIP l lOl) ROCK

DISLOCATED STYLES Cathouse, Glasgow, Sat 1 Sep. 0000

Still God after all these years?

Arm thyself with baggy Jeans and a wish to mesh. and Dislocated Styles becomes a source of endless Joy for all. ‘.'/liit great big rebellious anthems. and their very vocal love of all things dope-oriented. A not unusual amalgamatioi‘. of rock and hip hop. embellished with the added luxury of epic-y riffs and the odd Ben Folds Five inspired piano solo. Dislocated Styles live up to their name. The volatile and diverse mix of sounds means the coherence can suffer. but they more than make amends for this by the sheer energy of their live appearance. when they give their all and are ‘.'."()f8llll)l)()(l in return. Expect huge popularity amongst rabid teens. Rage Against The Machine devotees and mesh pit perpetrators. iRowan Martin,

Ticket information: Tickets for most medium/large concerts can be bought from the following:

Glasgow: Virgin, Buchanan Galleries. 332 #10.) - Credit card bookings from: licket l ink: 28? Edinburgh: Virgin - Princes Street. 2213 Ali/".32

Nitin Sawhney ()ltl l‘i‘uitmarkct. (ilasgim, 2 ()L'l.

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Dead Men Walking

33

Liquid Room. Iidinliurgli.

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Lamb Liquid Room. lidinbiii'gli. lb ()ct. Saw Doctors Barron land. (ilaxgim. :7 ()ct.

Air Barron land. (ilaxgim. 28 N 3‘) ()ct. U340 and The Pretenders SIX ‘(‘. (ilaxgou. 3‘) ()L'l. Weezer Barron land. (ilaxgim. l .\'o\. Gong chl'i'c“ l-‘ci'i'y (ilaxgim. 3 Nin; Liquid

Room. lidinhui'gli. 4 Nov

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l \li'V-V'i 1‘1! it: ° Way Ahead {Dioll 33‘.) 83553

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Ash ('orn lixcliangc. lidinhui'gli. 8 Doc. James Sif(‘('. (iliixgmv 9 DOC.

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Harm“ land. (ilaxgou, l-l “CC.

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Guns N’ Roses Sli(‘(‘. (ilaxgim. lfi Dcc. *Travis L\ltCt' llall. lidiiibui'gh. l7 & l8 Doc.

Se: ' THE LIST 47