West End Festival 2013

by Roz

The West End Festival kicks off today and runs until 30th June.  I'm always amazed at the sheer number of events that are scheduled literally on my doorstep.  This is the 18th year of the festival and according to the official programme there are over 400 events!  Here's a few of the events that take my fancy for this year.

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Mardi Gras Parade - Sunday 9th June

The parade returns this year, starting at The Botanic Gardens at 3pm, the whole of Byres Road is closed and the street turns into party central!  There are food and drink stalls, entertainment and the parade complete with samba bands.  Awesome, fingers crossed the sun shines :)

Walk with me

There are over 20 different walks, most of them are free and so many of them sound interesting.  Erm does that make me officially old??  Most of them are linked to the architecture or history of a certain part of the West End, I'm sure that the Greek Thomson walk on Wednesday 12 June will be very popular given the beautiful buildings Glasgow has thanks to Alexander Thomson and of course the Greek Steps.

Red Raw at The Stand

Every Tuesday is newbies night at The Stand comedy club and £2 buys you a good few hours of entertainment from around 6-8 comedians.  Brilliant.  Although not unique to the festival, we only discovered how good this night can be at last year's West End festival so newbies night always reminds me of the festival.

Bard in the Botanics

I cannot recommend these events strongly enough.  We went to see The Merchant of Venice a number of years ago and it was excellent and then last year we went to see Romeo and Juliet which was so fantastic.  I love live theatre and have been to a number of plays but our experience of Romeo and Juliet will forever be one of my favourites, the cast were fantastic, the modern music set to the age old story and being literally in the middle of the action.  Go see this, you will not regret it!  This year's performances are Othello which runs from 19th - 29th June (during the festival) Much Ado about Nothing 12th - 27th July and Julius Caesar 11th - 27th July.

Outdoor cinema

The Grosvenor cinema is hosting two special 'Bring Your Own Seat Cinema' nights on Friday 21st and Friday 28th of June.  The venue has not yet been revealed but the idea, as the name suggests, is for the audience to bring their own seats to watch a classic movie.  Tickets cost just £1 with all proceeds going to Yorkhill Children's Hospital, a fantastic local charity.  The movies have not yet been selected, so get over to the Grosvenor's Facebook page to vote for the one's you want to see!

Okay I'm going to stop there as I could add many more items to this list, there are so many brilliant events on, I can't wait for it to kick off :)

Roz xx