Find Live comedy

Add a listing

Live Comedy in London |
Manchester | Scotland

Fringe shows hit by major power blackout | Multiple performances stop... or continue in the street © Roland Saunders

Fringe shows hit by major power blackout

Multiple performances stop... or continue in the street

Blackouts struck central Edinburgh today, forcing multiple Fringe shows to be cancelled – or continued into the street.

Underbelly’s iconic purple cow venue also partially deflated as the power cuts hit hub venues in Bristo Square and George Square as well as the  Pear Tree, from about 4pm to 6pm. 

SP Energy Networks apologised for the disruption, which they said was caused by a cable fault

Olaf Falafal told BBC Scotland that ‘everything shut off’ about 20  minutes into his show. 

‘I had about 90 folk in and everything went pitch black. There’s a lot of multimedia and video in it too.’

He carried on by the lights of the audience’s phones, and used his iPad to play his video clips.

He told the BBC it was ‘one of the most interesting and emotional shows’ he had ever done.’

Other comics affected included Sallyanne Fellows and James Barr, who said on X: ‘The Edinburgh power cut might cancel my show today, this ABUSIVE Blackout won’t silence me.’

Barr and Fellows outside their Underbelly venue
Roland Saunders

Ollie Horn took his show Not My Audience  into the street:

The KC and The Sunshine band musical Who Do You Love? entertained punters in George Square when their show in Assembly was blacked out:

And another musical, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, posted on social media that they were only two numbers into their performance at TheSpace@Surgeons’ Hall when they had to abandon their show.

Bars also had to close as the pumps and tills lost their power, and traffic signals were taken out of action.

A second power cut hit the west of the city at about 7pm.

Thanks for reading. If you find Chortle’s coverage of the comedy scene useful or interesting, please consider supporting us with a monthly or one-off ko-fi donation.
Any money you contribute will directly fund more reviews, interviews and features – the sort of in-depth coverage that is increasingly difficult to fund from ever-squeezed advertising income, but which we think the UK’s vibrant comedy scene deserves.

Published: 2 Aug 2024

Live comedy picks

We see you are using AdBlocker software. Chortle relies on advertisers to fund this website so it’s free for you, so we would ask that you disable it for this site. Our ads are non-intrusive and relevant. Help keep Chortle viable.