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September theatre »

Wed 24 Sep 2008

Gareth K Vile: In last month’s editorial, I suggested that while performance might not be damaging to the social structure, it is, at best, morally neutral. This position could be seen to undermine the purpose of art - after all, if it is just pretty shapes and sou...

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I kissed plenty of girls but I never thought to capitalise on it »

Mon 22 Sep 2008

Nine: In case you’re not familiar yet with Katy Perry’s I Kissed A Girl, here’s a quick summary of the lyrics: “I kissed a girl and it was nice, but don’t worry, I have a boyfriend, so it’s not like there’s a major lifes...

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Connect 2008 Episode XII: The Epilogue »

Mon 01 Sep 2008

Sigur Ros

Nick Mitchell: Hydro Connect is officially over for another year. The revellers have gone home to warm showers and washing machines, leaving the event staff to clear the discarded tents from the mud-splattered campsite. But instead of grimly contemplating the forthcomin...

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Connect 2008 Episode XI: Karl Bartos »

Sun 31 Aug 2008

Karl Bartos

Ally Brown: Despite seeing the very good Camera Obscura and We Were Promised Jetpacks since my last post, I simply have to finish tonight with a shout-out for Kraftwerk man Karl Bartos. There could only have been about a hundred people in the Unknown Pleasures tent wh...

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Connect 2008 Episode X: Young Knives and Santogold try to warm us up »

Sun 31 Aug 2008

Santi White, aka Santogold

Nick Mitchell: Ally's already bemoaned today's conditions, so I'll refrain from any further mentions of 'rain', 'mud' or 'cesspool' - for the duration of this post anyway. The first act I caught today was Young Knives, who bounded out on to the Oyster Stage dressed for ...

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Connect 2008 Episode IX: Frightened Rabbit »

Sun 31 Aug 2008

Frightened Rabbit@ T In The Park 08

Ally Brown: The Skinny's seen worse than the mud here today, but it's still difficult to keep spirits high when you're soaking wet with no central heating in sight. Those still holding out without wellies are struggling to walk anywhere without falling on their bahook...

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Connect 2008 Episode VIII: Glasvegas win over the doubters »

Sun 31 Aug 2008

Glasvegas

Ally Brown: Everything's been going pretty fast for Glasvegas recently. From a spot by Alan McGee, to a profile in The Skinny (the turning point, of course), to the cover of the NME, the hype's been building towards the release of their debut self-titled album next Mo...

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Connect 2008 Episode VII: Errors make no mistakes »

Sun 31 Aug 2008

Errors

Nick Mitchell: It's Sunday lunchtime, it has been raining solidly for much of the night, the campsite has gone from a mudbath to a mudpool, so it's time to reminisce of a (slightly) drier time: last night. With the drizzle gently descending, Glasgow's Errors played a bl...

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Connect 2008 Episode VI: The art of destruction »

Sat 30 Aug 2008

Grinderman

Nick Mitchell: One of the most highly anticipated sets of this year's Connect is surely Spiritualized. They've toured their Acoustic Mainlines show to death, and prior to this frontman Jason Pierce very nearly worked himself to death. So it is with some excitement that w...

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Connect 2008 Episode V: Late of the Pier live up to their name »

Sat 30 Aug 2008

Friendly Fires

Nick Mitchell: After much setting of alarm clocks, brushing of teeth and donning of wellies, we were left with much checking of watches in the field before the Oyster Stage early this afternoon. A steward (or someone articulate enough to do the job) could have told us th...

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Connect 2008 Episode IV: Broken Records n 'at »

Sat 30 Aug 2008

Broken Records @ Hydro Connect

Ally Brown: I got to Hyrdo Connect this morning, dumped backstage by a coach driver who didn't really know where he was going. Oh, there's Kele Okereke. Was he on the bus? The trip here was absolutely stunning. It's easy to forget, living in the city, why so many thou...

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Connect 2008 Episode III: A musical threesome of Kasabian, Mercury Rev and Sparks »

Sat 30 Aug 2008

Sparks

Nick Mitchell: When it came to Friday's headliners, The Skinny acted like a typical man and failed to commit to anyone, instead attempting to sample a bit of a threesome - and almost succeeding. First up is Kasabian on the Oyster Stage (the big one). The music and the s...

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Connect 2008 Episode II: Manics cover Rihanna »

Fri 29 Aug 2008

Manic Street Preachers

Nick Mitchell: Yep, you read that right. Tonight, Welsh Britpop survivors Manic Street Preachers played a cover version of Rihanna's number one hit Umbrella. James Dean Bradfield offered no explanation, simply saying the word 'umbrella', before launching straight into a ...

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Connect 2008 Episode I: Ladytron's first Scottish festival »

Fri 29 Aug 2008

Ladytron

Nick Mitchell: After Ladytron's first song, Glasgow-born singer Helen Marnie says that this is - incredibly - their first Scottish festival appearance. But then again, when you take a mental tally of what Ladytron amount to, it's perhaps not so surprising. Dressed unifor...

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The theatre of participation »

Wed 27 Aug 2008

Gareth K Vile: Watching art does not make us better people. If it did, art historians would be renowned for their compassion and sensitivity, dance critics would not go into ferocious rages and, thanks to its comprehensive programme of drama, Glasgow would have a tiny cr...

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On the new Ingleby Gallery »

Wed 27 Aug 2008

Rosamund West: I can’t say, in all honesty, that I’m devastated to wave goodbye to August... A month of slow-walking crowds and over-excited thespians transforms me into one of those sour, proud-local types who can’t be doing with all this festival mala...

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Comments on homosexuality (Iris Robinson) »

Tue 26 Aug 2008

Nine: When I first heard Iris Robinson’s comments on homosexuality, I felt embarrassed to come from the same part of the world as her. I mean, in this day and age, here’s a Northern Irish politician offering to refer homosexuals to a nice Christian p...

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A Gonzo Guide to the Edinburgh Book Festival »

Mon 11 Aug 2008

Keir Hind: Going into Edinburgh for the first event I’ll see at this Festival, I have set up some goals. These are, obviously, to see a lot of writers talking about their books, and to interview a couple of them too. But a fiend of mine (yes, fiend, not ‘...

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T 2008, Epilogue: Stipe Turns RoboCop, Burgess Goes For Bowl »

Wed 16 Jul 2008

REM @ T in the Park 2008

Johnny Langlands: With an unshakable vision of Tim Burgess’ one man undercut resurrection, another peerless dose of math rockin’ beats from Battles and a mesmerising gig by Toronto electro rock combo Holy Fuck all wedged in the memory as some of the most enterta...

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T 2008, Episode VIII: Doing Justice to The National »

Sun 13 Jul 2008

The National @ T in the Park 2008

Nick Mitchell: The problem with Sunday's impressive T in the Park line-up was always going to be how to condense a normal six month's worth of gig going into the space of eleven hours. Without the benefit of some real-life Sky+ pause and rewind capability (we're only hum...

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T 2008, Episode VII: BJM Delays The Inevitable »

Sun 13 Jul 2008

Delays @ T in the Park 2008

Finbarr Bermingham: As the biggest roar I've heard all weekend goes up over my shoulder heralding the unexpected arrival of her from the ward, Amy Winehouse, I figure it's as good a time as any to supply some festival feedback. As previously reported, last night inevitably be...

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T 2008, Episode VI: Glasvegas have arrived »

Sun 13 Jul 2008

Glasvegas

Ally Brown: Every festival has at least one - a band that blows up just before the weekend arrives so that their stage draw is underestimated - and T in the Park 2008's was Glasvegas. We arrived at the mid-sized Futures Tent for their early evening Saturday show a ful...

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T 2008, Episode V: Bringing angry back »

Sun 13 Jul 2008

Crowd @ Rage against the Machine

Dave Kerr: Rage Against the Machine rolled back the years and brought down the curtain on day two of T in the Park in typically explosive style tonight (Saturday, 11 July). Earlier in the afternoon, a set from Belgian indie rockers dEUS - who, like tomorrow’s...

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T in the Park: the blog o' death episode II »

Sat 12 Jul 2008

The Music

Finbarr Bermingham: The first full day of T In The Park is underway and The Skinny - rested, fed and watered, has had a chance to reflect on the night that went before. After some initial schizophrenic indecision, Mother Nature finally decided to give the rain a night off. Ou...

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T in the Park: the blog o' death episode IV »

Sat 12 Jul 2008

T in the Park Crowd

RJ Thomson: Damian Lazarus (who, despite appearance, name and sonics, isn't French - the man's a broad Cockney) proved a fitting early booking for the Slam tent. His set, which sat comfortably between minimal techno, deep house and electro, was laid-back enough to ser...

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T in the Park: the blog o' death episode III »

Sat 12 Jul 2008

Nick Mitchell: Reggae. Surely the ideal musical genre to kick-start your summer festival. So as soon as I had been slapped with my wristband and directed through the muddy fields, I found myself facing a faded legend of the genre. Eddy Grant, he of Electric Avenue fame, ...

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T in the Park: the blog o' death »

Fri 11 Jul 2008

Ricky Wilson

Ally Brown: It's Friday evening and The Skinny is at T in the Park, along with 70,000 or so Scottish music fans. The bars are just opening, but there's a mile-long queue outside of late arrivals still hoping to set up camp. They'll have to hurry because the bands are ...

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Call of Duty trailer »

Tue 24 Jun 2008

Josh Wilson: Fresh out this morning, a trailer for Call of Duty World at War... ...

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Dancing Together »

Sun 25 May 2008

Gareth K Vile: Possibly due to the approaching Festival and Fringe, the theatres are relatively quiet: there are a few bravura show-stopping musicals, a new version of a classic courtesy of the Scottish Ballet and a stream of Shakespeare in Glasgow’s West End. Into...

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I never mentioned the bizarre love triangle »

Fri 23 May 2008

Nine: “When I was growing up, my mother was a dominatrix,” a friend of mine says, “so we were used to having slaves around the house.” I am very good at nodding and agreeing – yes, of course you were! – but oddly enough my own...

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Turning the tables on classical music »

Wed 14 May 2008

Jonathan Melville: Prepare to have some preconceptions shattered in June as hip-hop and house collide with classical and concert hall for a unique, one-off performance in Glasgow.  Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra has been created by Gabriel Prokofiev, one of ...

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An editor's notes on Deviance »

Mon 28 Apr 2008

RJ Thomson: When talking about sexual orientation, it has become something of a platitude to refer to everyone as being a 'shade of grey'. It is quite literally a dull way to look at the question, but there is certainly some truth in it. I'll back up that 'certainly' ...

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Welcome to theskinny.co.uk »

Fri 25 Apr 2008

RJ Thomson: Hi Everyone, Welcome to the new website for The Skinny magazine, www.theskinny.co.uk. Our site used to be www.skinnymag.co.uk, so we're pleased not least to be into what-we're-actually-called territory. But there's a whole lot of other reasons for us (and...

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Pulling 10p out from behind Lothian Buses' ear »

Fri 18 Apr 2008

the internet: Everyone in Edinburgh is rightfully annoyed about the recent increase of Lothian bus fares to £1.10. Quite rightly. We all know inflation happens, but a bit of common sense would surely have been in order: maybe waiting on £1 a bit longer, then...

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