The Edge

Once again, I must admit to being drawn to a band largely on the strength of their name. Carolina Liar - where did that one come from? Well, a little research revealed that lead singer and guitarist - and while we're on the subject of names - the almost impossibly named Chad Wolf, originally hails from Charleson, South Carolina, so we're starting to see a connection here.

They don't do "Shot By Both Sides". There are looks of dismay on certain audience members faces as the lights go up at the end of Magazine's first Edinburgh show in almost thirty years and they haven't played their debut single and most famous song. Clearly, there is no room for nostalgic, ageing punks tonight.

The Indelicates are first on stage tonight and they turn a few heads with their Clash tinted, overtly London accented front-man and stationary, piano playing front-woman. The songs are petulant and self-consciously self-aware

The St Andrew's boys are back from their UK jaunt with a string of Scottish shows. As well as enduring a disappointing appointment with Glasgow depressives My Latest Novel - who seem to have travelled into some sonic backwater since a couple of months ago - the audience were subjected to the worst sound quality, as the hundreds of conversations happening in The Queen's Hall swirled around like nails in a tin mouth.

Rock. And. Roll. That is what you get at a Monotonix gig, of the fiercest and most potently pure strain imaginable.

The Telescopes in 2009 seem like a band out of time. Formed in the late 1980's, they were part of the same musical axis which comprised My Bloody Valentine, Loop and Spacemen 3, all of them offering a quintessentially English take on pulverising psychedelic dreamrock with a side order of dubious medicines.

The briefly Scottish born, American home grown ex Talking Heads singer David Byrne gave a spectacular performance at The Playhouse in Edinburgh as part of The Edge festival.

Support band The Ray Summers are actually going down well, but lead vocalist Andy Ure is under no illusions - " I know you've all come to see The Bluetones, so we won't keep you long."

It's pronounced te-le-pa-thy, and indeed there does seem to be some kind of unspoken link between the Brooklyn duo of Melissa Livaudais and Busy Gangnes, as if they were one being split in two.

There are two branches of opinion on the ex-shelf stacker-come-beat-mogul's appearance at The Edge festival. The uncompromising nature of what has become ‘brand Harris' tends to bring out a definite ‘marmite reaction' in people. But tonight, for the most part, it sways in his favour.

David Byrne, the Stranglers, and The Streets, are among acts appearing at this year's The Edge Festival, the contemporary music festival within the Fringe Festival. Formerly known as T on the Fringe, the music fest marks its tenth anniversary this year.

A generous performer lets you in on part of themselves when they take to the stage. Having been let into Laura Marling's world through her captivating debut album Alas, I Cannot Swim, I was eager to see what more she could bring to top something as truly wonderful as that. To my excitement, I was not let down.

Few cities undergo such a transformation as Scotland's capital city in the month of August.

The normally easy-going, historic city suddenly jolts to life as thousands of actors, artists,

Last August's rockfest within a festival, T On the Fringe, is back this year under a different banner - The Edge.

Video interview with Dave Corbet, promoter of The Edge, which takes place during the Edinburgh Fringe 2008. Programme and ticket details

The Edge music festival will feature 50 gigs over August 2008. Here's the line-up so far. Listen up for announcements in July of further gigs. Gigs are at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange, the Liquid Room, Cabaret Voltaire, and St Cecilia's Hall.