Hidden Door Festival has a helpful habit of rounding up tantalisingly talented performers. They’re the kind of artists you’d have come across anyway if you knew where to look, but with so much to filter through these days, sometimes it’s hard to know where to look.
You might have gone to the festival loving one singer on the program but having never heard of any of the spoken word artists for example, or having never delved into a particular genre of music or a particular corner of art simply because, well, you never knew it was there.
If you do go to Hidden Door for one performance, we can guarantee that you’ll end up staying for the show.
Jumping between the stages and corners of the festival over the past few days has been like jumping between sparks of electricity filling up a small courtyard in Edinburgh, with more energy, creativity and authenticity than you’d probably find throughout the rest of the city combined.
You might have gone to the festival loving one singer on the program but having never heard of any of the spoken word artists for example, or having never delved into a particular genre of music or a particular corner of art simply because, well, you never knew it was there.
If you do go to Hidden Door for one performance, we can guarantee that you’ll end up staying for the show.
Jumping between the stages and corners of the festival over the past few days has been like jumping between sparks of electricity filling up a small courtyard in Edinburgh, with more energy, creativity and authenticity than you’d probably find throughout the rest of the city combined.
On 2 June 2016, eloquent R&B singer Rosie Lowe took to the stage to end a titillating Thursday night in the capital. Having seen Rosie a couple of years before at an ‘Annie Mac Presents Collected’ night in London – always trust in Annie Mac – it was Rosie’s name who originally drew our gaze towards the festival.
Her performance was at the opposite end of the spectrum from both Louie and the Lochbacks and Miss Irenie Rose who had impressed decisively in their own right in previous days, with raw, brutal honesty (L&L) and delicate beauty (IR) respectively. Lowe delivered articulate vocals which floated through the Long Room Stage like a breeze piercing the soft electronic backdrop it flew through.
Before Lowe hit the stage, Nimmo, another Annie Mac-endorsed act, had got the crowd bouncing like a headline act. Synths and bouncy keyboard rhythms packed the room and powered over a crowd who couldn’t stand still while vocals from Dianne Nimmo brought it full circle. Accessible electronic pop with a creative 80s undertone.
Glaswegian HQFU, the electro alias of musician Sarah J Stanley had impressed before Nimmo, with soft vocals complimenting edgy, minimalistic yet playful backing tracks.
Her performance was at the opposite end of the spectrum from both Louie and the Lochbacks and Miss Irenie Rose who had impressed decisively in their own right in previous days, with raw, brutal honesty (L&L) and delicate beauty (IR) respectively. Lowe delivered articulate vocals which floated through the Long Room Stage like a breeze piercing the soft electronic backdrop it flew through.
Before Lowe hit the stage, Nimmo, another Annie Mac-endorsed act, had got the crowd bouncing like a headline act. Synths and bouncy keyboard rhythms packed the room and powered over a crowd who couldn’t stand still while vocals from Dianne Nimmo brought it full circle. Accessible electronic pop with a creative 80s undertone.
Glaswegian HQFU, the electro alias of musician Sarah J Stanley had impressed before Nimmo, with soft vocals complimenting edgy, minimalistic yet playful backing tracks.
A short trip upstairs meanwhile would’ve taken you completely away from the music. In the “Mini Theatre”, a cutting, brilliantly original piece of art saw you walk through the memories, painful and confused, of someone suffering with mental health issues.
A guide was provided to read through as you entered the room, directing you and creating a world around the art, cartoons and flipcharts scattered throughout; a real life board game taking you inside the mind, with emotive undertones touching all parts of the brain.
It’s that diversity on show; always looking outside of the box while never settling for mediocrity that really makes Hidden Door festival so special. Highlighting what often goes unnoticed and bringing the best, often subdued originality and genius to the forefront, and literally giving it a stage.
A guide was provided to read through as you entered the room, directing you and creating a world around the art, cartoons and flipcharts scattered throughout; a real life board game taking you inside the mind, with emotive undertones touching all parts of the brain.
It’s that diversity on show; always looking outside of the box while never settling for mediocrity that really makes Hidden Door festival so special. Highlighting what often goes unnoticed and bringing the best, often subdued originality and genius to the forefront, and literally giving it a stage.
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