Great Gig, Shame About The Indian Food

Image: BBC Online

I spent a long day in the office yesterday—really long. Same hours as normal but the final drag up to 5pm seemed to go on forever. I was just so tired from the night before I felt exhausted at the thought of going out. But I did and I’m glad I did.

I met my sister, Binny, to go and see The Stranglers. They were playing at the Picture House as part of the newly fangled Edge Festival (previously known as ‘T on the Fringe’.

Before hand we went for an Indian meal at 9 Cellars Indian restaurant. It’s situated on the corner of York Place, right next to The Stand comedy club, and having walked passed it may times I’d often wanted to have a meal there. Having now been, I wished I hadn’t.

The staff were friendly and attentive and the prices reasonable. But it was the food that let the experience down. It was quite simply very poor cooking. The main course was where it all fell down; too much sauce, not enough herbs or spices, bland flavours, and not enough meat to feed a chicken. I won’t be returning.

After the meal we walked through St Andrews Square and along George Street, passing the ever growing resurrection of the Book Festival. There are now several white tents and walkways laid out, and a big sign displaying “8 Days To Go”. How exciting.

We popped into Shakespeare’s for a drink—warm beer; always nice—then into the venue. I never gave The Stranglers credit for having such a passionate following, nor for having such an impressive backlog of punk rock songs. They played all their most popular hits within the first half hour and it worried me at the time, needlessly as it turned out.

Being sober at a gig can often be a tricky predicament, but I have to say The Stranglers were a superb live act. They played with confidence, precision, and a delightful twinge of arrogance, which is really something when you consider their drummer, Joe Black, is 71 years old!!!

I walked my sister to the train station, and was then after waiting at the bus stop back to Leith, was delighted to see my bus soar passed me, the driver gazing blankly at me as me and several other people were left stranded in the west end of Edinburgh. Too tired to even complain about it, I jumped into a taxi and forked out the cash to get home.

I battered together my review of the gig before I went to bed, then this morning, polished it up and sent it off. My normal editor is on holiday so hopefully it will get through in time for publication on line tomorrow.

Right now, I’m off up town! I need new shoes for work, a quiet coffee, and have a couple of other small errands to do. Later on, reading and writing.