1 PJ Harvey
As the fringe fills the city’s venues with laughter and frivolity, PJ Harvey brings songs about global poverty and the horrors of war to Edinburgh international festival. Performing her 2016 album The Hope Six Demolition Project, as well as material from her formidable back catalogue, she and her nine-piece band deliver stormy socio-political storytelling to the city.
Edinburgh Playhouse theatre, 7-8 August
2 Visions festival
Boasting a lineup that looks like the scribblings of an overworked psychotherapist – Shame, Liars, Happyness, Sorry – this indie playlist-shuffle of a festival takes over Hackney’s finest venues for the day. As well as live music, it also hosts screen print sessions, punk rock karaoke and a dog show. One avocado-rolling competition off full hipster bingo.
Various venues, mostly E8, 5 August
3 B*witched, Big Brovaz & Blazin’ Squad
Irish pop moppets! A Brixton hip-pop collective! The British Bone Thugs-n-Harmony! Go back to the early 00s with this chintzy one-off nostalgia-fest, featuring a fraught combination of erstwhile chart stars.
O2 Ritz, Manchester, 6 August
4 Benjamin Clementine
His elegantly lurching vocals were last heard on the Gorillaz’s dystopian party anthem Hallelujah Money. Now, 2015’s Mercury prize winner returns with his new album I Tell A Fly, an exploration into the experiences of migrants and strangers – and his own general feeling of otherness – set in the myopic modern world.
Edinburgh Festival theatre, 10 August
5 Bat and Ball
Following in the long tradition of Goldsmiths students turned art-pop stars – Blur, James Blake and John Cale – this brother-sister duo mix minimalist post-xx angst with noirish romance. Confined to the upstairs room of a shabby east London pub, this shadowy show is the ultimate antithesis of summery jubilance.
The Old Blue Last, EC2, 8 August
