Eddi Reader Queen's Hall Edinburgh 19th April 2026 Review
Eddi Reader was at the Queen's Hall Edinburgh tonight, a stop off date in her current tour celebrating over 40 years as a live performer. The past 40 plus years have seen Eddi Reader achieve not only huge career success, but also her earning a place in the hearts of audiences that few performers ever achieve.
Trying to choose a set list for tonight's show, which had a performance time of around 90 minutes, must have been a challenge as there is simply so much that could be there. Still, with this set list including songs from Fairground Attraction, solo career, songs of Robert Burns, plus a few surprises, everything worked, even if there was often that feeling of on-stage anarchy about things. Eddi Reader has earned that right to move set-lists around, go off at times on tangents, and her audiences, like the one tonight, simply love her for it.
To be able to be as fluid as this on-stage, you of course have to have musicians on stage with you who have the ability to constantly adapt and be just as fluid with the music too. As it has been for some time now, that band was made up of John Douglas, Kevin McGuire, Alan Kelly and Boo Hewerdine.
Some of tonight's songs just had to be on this set list, and those included "Perfect" (with a little tribute to Elvis Presley in there too), and "Patience of Angels". Having "Patience of Angels" writer Boo Hewerdine on stage with Eddi Reader for this song was one of the highlights of this evening for me.
As always, "Wild Mountainside" was a popular song choice too, and the fact that this was written for Eddi by her husband (and also The Trashcan Sinatra’s group member), John Douglas, always makes this one a little bit special, proving that sometimes the song does get the girl.
For many years now, Eddi Reader has firmly established herself as one of the best contemporary interpreters of Robert Burns songs, and a rousing rendition of “Charlie is My Darlin”, was exactly what this audience wanted to hear.
Over the years, taking a trip down memory lane with Eddi to her old family home in Maryhill at one of their seemingly endless sing-a-long nights has become a staple of shows and there we get to meet her mother, father, uncles and aunts, and anyone else who happened to be around. This is always a fun moment and the sainted Elvis Presley is never far away from the party. I cannot honestly think of any other performer who would be able to put this segment into a show and make it work so well, and it is that special relationship that Eddi Reader has with her audience that really allows this to work. I suspect many people simply wish that they had been invited to these parties in Maryhill.
Opening tonight’s show was Miwa Nagato-Apthorp, an artist who is attracting a lot of attention on the Scottish Folk Music scene. Miwa Nagato-Apthorp has a warm, friendly and when required humorous approach to making an audience feel comfortable with her and her music, and coming from Hawick, that music is often rooted in the traditions of that area. Here though is a singer songwriter who also fuses this with her own Japanese / Scottish heritage and a song about bonded land workers in the Borders of Scotland (wives of working men) "The Bonded One", and a Japanese lullaby just fitted seamlessly together here.
Review by Tom King (c) 2026
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Trying to choose a set list for tonight's show, which had a performance time of around 90 minutes, must have been a challenge as there is simply so much that could be there. Still, with this set list including songs from Fairground Attraction, solo career, songs of Robert Burns, plus a few surprises, everything worked, even if there was often that feeling of on-stage anarchy about things. Eddi Reader has earned that right to move set-lists around, go off at times on tangents, and her audiences, like the one tonight, simply love her for it.
To be able to be as fluid as this on-stage, you of course have to have musicians on stage with you who have the ability to constantly adapt and be just as fluid with the music too. As it has been for some time now, that band was made up of John Douglas, Kevin McGuire, Alan Kelly and Boo Hewerdine.
Some of tonight's songs just had to be on this set list, and those included "Perfect" (with a little tribute to Elvis Presley in there too), and "Patience of Angels". Having "Patience of Angels" writer Boo Hewerdine on stage with Eddi Reader for this song was one of the highlights of this evening for me.
As always, "Wild Mountainside" was a popular song choice too, and the fact that this was written for Eddi by her husband (and also The Trashcan Sinatra’s group member), John Douglas, always makes this one a little bit special, proving that sometimes the song does get the girl.
For many years now, Eddi Reader has firmly established herself as one of the best contemporary interpreters of Robert Burns songs, and a rousing rendition of “Charlie is My Darlin”, was exactly what this audience wanted to hear.
Over the years, taking a trip down memory lane with Eddi to her old family home in Maryhill at one of their seemingly endless sing-a-long nights has become a staple of shows and there we get to meet her mother, father, uncles and aunts, and anyone else who happened to be around. This is always a fun moment and the sainted Elvis Presley is never far away from the party. I cannot honestly think of any other performer who would be able to put this segment into a show and make it work so well, and it is that special relationship that Eddi Reader has with her audience that really allows this to work. I suspect many people simply wish that they had been invited to these parties in Maryhill.
Opening tonight’s show was Miwa Nagato-Apthorp, an artist who is attracting a lot of attention on the Scottish Folk Music scene. Miwa Nagato-Apthorp has a warm, friendly and when required humorous approach to making an audience feel comfortable with her and her music, and coming from Hawick, that music is often rooted in the traditions of that area. Here though is a singer songwriter who also fuses this with her own Japanese / Scottish heritage and a song about bonded land workers in the Borders of Scotland (wives of working men) "The Bonded One", and a Japanese lullaby just fitted seamlessly together here.
Review by Tom King (c) 2026
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
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