Leader comment: EH6 Festival is something worth shouting about

Amid all the gloom about music venues closing down in the city earlier this year, I made two promises on behalf of this newspaper.

Sham 69 will be appearing at the first EH6 Festival. Pic: Yui Mok/PA

The first was that we would be a champion of all the great things that continue to go on in the Edinburgh music scene. There is no doubt that losing venues like Studio 24, the Picture House and the Electric Circus has been a blow - and there are serious concerns about why so many of them are packing up.

But Edinburgh is still a great place to enjoy live music. Besides the star names at the big venues, there are inventive promoters staging some exciting events at some interesting venues across the city. The launch of the EH6 Festival is a great chance for us to deliver on that promise. This celebration of local and international food, drink and music will see the old Dr Bell’s Baths launched as a year-round music venue in Leith. We look forward to bringing you updates on promoter Michael Ward’s exciting plans.

The other promise was to continue highlighting the challenges facing music venues, including the impact of soaring city centre property prices, rising noise complaints and a lack of support from traditional arts funders.