Fife guitarist in new rock opera with masked musicians at Edinburgh Fringe
Fife musician Willie Logan is already well known for his guitar based solo shows blending standards with innovative compositions - I previously saw him in Cut The Cake covers band where they would transform events and weddings into concerts.
His latest project with the band Beldon Haigh sees him play the Edinburgh Fringe in a new venue in George Street and these dates follow acclaimed previews in Falkirk ahead of the current melee.
Dystopia: The Rock Opera, written by Justin Skelton, is no ordinary Fringe musical. The humour, anarchy, visuals, spectacle and musical anthems they cram into one hour 15 minutes deserves a huge audience, and I suspect will attract a cult following as the news spreads.
Where else would you see realistic masked musicians like Polonium Putin on drums, Touchy Trump on bass and Kim Yong Elvis on live lead guitar. They are joined by President Blame (Dru Baker) on keys, sax and flute, Justin himself on guitar and vocals and Fiona Lynch as Helen Raiser sharing vocals with a rock voice that soars to the highest level. They are the prison band for crimes against the state.
The story in three acts is packed with rock anthems, all original and with Orwellian overtones showing political rising and redemption from the epic Airwaves and Elected - not the Alice Cooper song - to the contrasting ballad Million Flowers performed with touching sentiment. Along the way we can follow the graphics on screen, wonderfully comically retro like the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers did in the late 196’s. All the nuggets are there from ‘Make dystopia great again’ to the DBC news anchor amid a story of corruption, hypocrisy and billionaire rulers.
Last year at Fringe time we heard songs from this show to limited audiences at Whistlebinkies but this year in a cool comfy central venue the escapism is complete and fully formed as we wonder what next for this cutting production.
> Dystopia: The Rock Opera, Braw Venues @ Grand Lodge until August 16 at 5:20pm