A Little Help with the Festivals
Edinburgh’s festival season was born into a time before internet, when programs were all on paper and days were planned weeks in advance. Today’s August experience is very different, with six festivals flowing through hundreds of venues and offering thousands of events, and fascinating flyers pushed into hands can challenge even the most meticulously planned itinerary.
But whether you are a local or a visitor, expert or novice, you will be relieved to discover that the innovations of Edinburgh’s festivals carry on much further than the world-class shows and exhibitions and into incredibly helpful – or just fun – technology.
Navigating the festival best begins with actual navigation, and GPS-enabled apps and map-based guides are available in abundance. The Edinburgh Festivals free app for iPhone covers all the festivals and includes useful features such as locating events close to you and allowing you to keep track of events and plan your festival, as well as finding events near by or starting soon if you are on the go. Simply search 'Edinburgh Festivals' at the app store. If you’re an Android user, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe has an app with similar features, also allowing users to buy tickets online. A great browser-based way to find events at all the festivals near you is Giggle Maps where venues are shown on a map of Edinburgh with information on their next five scheduled shows.
Once you’ve worked out where you are, the next question is what you want to see. This website includes helpful user-generated reviews and the ‘Festival Buzz’ tab will help you keep track of which shows are being most discussed online. A quick Google search will turn up individual websites for most of the festivals and venues, which offer focused views of what’s on and often carry audience reviews as well. If you prefer to hear from the professionals, iFringe is a guide program for iPhone and Android that collects together a diverse number of independent reviewers such as FringeGuru and Edinburgh Spotlight in one place for quick reference. It is also GPS-enabled, making it a good for last-minute research if you find yourself lost in Edinburgh with a spare hour or two on your hands.
The List magazine – available in paper and more extensively online – also offers full festival programs with independent reviews and recommendations.
And still there is more! If you have succeeded in finding the perfect event and find yourself without a similarly inclined friend, FestAfriend will link you up with others interested in the same shows and you can make an evening of it; romantic undertones are entirely optional. Search for events at any of Edinburgh's great festivals, and see if you can meet some new people. If you have already exhausted your daily budget, or are just willing to take a free spin at the festival roulette wheel, Theatre Ninjas will be perfect for you. Available as an iPhone app as well as a website, this great initiative links you up with free tickets to a surprising variety of shows on the day they are playing. Simply pick up the codeword and head to the venue’s box office to try your luck. If you are using the app, it is also GPS-enabled, making choosing a free show even easier.
If you want to find new ways to experience the festivals, SoundsofFringe - website, iPhone and Android enabled – provides a map of Edinburgh complete with sound bites, to which you can add your own. Or test your gullibility at FakeFringe where three real fringe events are pitted against a made-up show for you to choose; your incredulity might lead you to the best and strangest shows of the season. Or why not check out our Festivals Clock or other great festivals tools?
It is hardly necessary to add that new technologies feature extensively within the festivals as well as in the planning around them. Whether you are downloading an entire festival straight to your mp3 player from Virtual Festival or using your smartphone to find the nearest bar, new technology will be everywhere, making your experience of Edinburgh this August more effortless, satisfying and fun.
