Skinny Birthday Roundup

The Glasgow Black Birthday, Sat Nov 28, The Art School

Fuelled by Jagermeister The Skinny had an amazing night of live music interspersed with some quality mixes, the night finishing with banging DJ sets both upstairs and down. Bands The Low Miffs and Unkle Bob rocked the crowd with melodious tunes while headliners The Needles blew things apart with the sort of sound usually reserved for bigger bands on much larger stages.

Before the bands kicked off, Satellite Dub put a quickly building crowd in the mood with a mash-up of intense sounds that set the tone for the night. Between bands Pretty Ugly kept things rolling with a fun selection of tracks, and Dolly Mixture eased the crowd through the gap between Uncle Bob and The Needles.

Devine kept the crowd jiving on the retro chequered floor right up until close, aided by the advice of Teenage Fanclub's Gerry Love, while upstairs Bad Robot slid into control after the bands with beats that kept the crowd enthralled.

Special thanks go to: all the acts, sound and lighting engineers, Art School bar staff, security; and especially to Alice, the Jagermeister girls and everyone who helped out on the night.

The Edinburgh Black Birthday, Sat Nov 21, The Liquid Room

The crowds piled in as soon as the doors opened at 9am, and kept things busy from beginning to end. Kicking off at 9.30pm didn't deter the crowd from thrashing about to the revolutionary sounds of the best looking band in Edinburgh, The Vivians. After a short DJ set from the most immaculately attired man I'd ever seen behind the decks, Gregor Laird, hip-hop act Great Ezcape charged on stage with a full band and took over with some amazing beats and intense rhymes.

DJ Papillon then span some quality indie before the Beastie Drummers of Beltane invaded and mesmerised the entire crowd with a powerful drumming exhibition. Next up Project:Venhell played an unforgiving session of heavy tunes that had metal-heads nodding away.

Last up O.B.E played an amazing set that will no doubt go down in Skinny folklore. DJ Ibrahim and Ian Brandon then tagged teamed on the decks, trapping the crowd on the dancefloor with a set that kept the intensity up until close.

Special thanks to: all the acts, sound and lighting engineers, Liquid Room bar staff, security and especially Kath, the Jagermeister girls and everyone else who helped out.