Tiger Lillies @ Usher Hall

Vaudeville smeared with grease paint? Gypsy folk dragged through the gutters picking up disease ravaged whores and sexual perversions which include the insertion of hamsters, carnie freaks and cosmic existentialism? That'll be the Tiger Lillies, then. The festival favourites and cult London trio piss on the gravestone of tradition and bring their own inimitable brand of theatrical cabaret once more to the Scottish capital. This summer they follow on from such magnificently depraved productions of Punch and Judy and HP Lovecraft's Mountains of Madness with a tribute "of sorts" to the enchanting vocal music and baroque madrigals of Claudio Monteverdi. Deftly combining jaw dropping virtuosity with Bible-black comedy, the Tiger Lillies are truly an unmissable live act, albeit definitely not for the faint of heart or easily offended. Now graduated onto the International Festival and teaming up with Concerto Caledonia, this makes for an experience "of sorts" to witness. [Ali Maloney]