More concerts in the Gardens? They’ve got it covered – Kevin Buckle

Tribute act gigs at the Ross Bandstand are happening at the wrong place and wrong time, writes Kevin Buckle

The number of concerts staged at the Ross Bandstand is a source of ongoing controversy

Just when it seemed that things had quietened down over uses for Princes Street Gardens news broke that more concerts are planned under the banner The Edinburgh Summer Fiesta.

According to Brian Ferguson in this very paper the gigs “will be staged at the Ross Bandstand each July under plans by Glasgow-based promoters who have struck a deal with city council chiefs to use the arena.”

“Tribute acts to Elvis Presley, Queen, The Jam and Status Quo are among the acts lined up for the initial series of shows, which will run for seven and a half hours each day.”

Whatever you might think about cover bands they often have great names and the proposed bands for this year don’t let us down with Mod Life Crisis and Status No to take the stage.

All of this seemed to fly in the face of council consultations and comments but then it transpired this was simply the hire of the Ross Bandstand in a way anybody can and needed no further discussions. What was even odder was that it turns out that the capacity of the Bandstand area is three thousand people which is clearly no small event if used to its full capacity.

To quote the organisers “We use cover bands as we honestly think that they offer the quality of the musicianship without the egos of the original bands. The bands are the best in their field and take the music as seriously as if they themselves were members of the original bands.”

This is rather an odd thing to say as I’m not sure many folk care about how egotistical their favourite bands are. While it appears council officials have done nothing wrong in agreeing to the concerts it really does feel that given all that has gone before these concerts are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

T-shirts are the new vinyl

In all my years selling music Avalanche has always sold T-shirts too but never in the quantities they are selling at Waverley Mall. The classic Avalanche logo shirt has now sold more than 12,000 over more than three decades but more recently we have designed our own shirts, gained permission to print others and started stocking more band T-shirts.

I suppose the shirts have everything going for them the way music doesn’t. We even have a range of classic rock T-shirts as part of Armstrongs vintage clothing and our most recent addition from the Brazilian artist Butcher Billy featuring post-punk musicians as superheroes are selling quicker than we can get them.

These days it is possible to have an image reproduced on a huge range of items and somebody did indeed order some Avalanche cushions from a site that we registered our logo with that to be fair looked great so possibly along with our support for artists and vintage and upcycled clothing we may eventually move into our own range of clothing and home furnishings to fill the gap left by music sales.

Meanwhile, good news this week that the highly anticipated and much delayed new Meursault album will be released on June 21. Along with the CD there is a double vinyl with a comic. We are already selling some comics for a customer but generally I can guarantee that this is an area we will leave to others.