Iona Fyfe starts five minutes late, but frankly it’s a miracle she makes it at all. Tonight she’s battling the full Edinburgh triple-threat: gridlocked Festival traffic, AC/DC roaring Murrayfield to the ground, and a Hibs European tie at Easter Road shutting down the last approach. Yet within moments she’s there — calm, unflustered, a quick soundcheck, a nod to the crowd, and straight into it. Consummate professional doesn’t quite cover it.

The set is a blend of tradition, reinvention, and political edge. Follow the Heron opens things warmly before Baltic Street and Northern Lights show off her storytelling clarity. McPherson’s Lament takes the mood darker, before the air stills completely for Lady Finella — delivered unaccompanied, every syllable carrying centuries of history.

Fyfe also has a knack for folding in the unexpected. Nick Cave’s The Ship Song shimmers with aching restraint, while Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right becomes both homage and reclamation. The Alford Cattle Show brings humour, only to be undercut by a devastatingly poignant Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream — framed in light of Ukraine, it hits harder than ever.

The international blends with the rooted: Banks of the Tigris sits alongside Jock of Hazeldean, pulled from Walter Scott’s verse, then Jean Ritchie’s Swing and Turn swings across the Atlantic, before the evening closes on home turf with Bonny Glenshee.

What strikes you is the balance: Fyfe is scholar, interpreter, and performer all in one. She honours tradition without embalming it, makes protest feel like poetry, and never lets the set slip into the academic. Even on a night when half of Edinburgh seemed determined to keep her from the stage, she delivers a show that proves why she’s one of Scotland’s great voices of the moment.

And then, almost as quickly as she appeared, she’s gone — slipping out before the crush of exit traffic from AC/DC, Hibs and the Fringe. It feels strangely fitting: a lightning strike of a set, brief, brilliant, and leaving you wanting more.

****

Reviewed by Steve H

Venue : Ukrainian Community Centre

Time 20.45

Until date 24th Aug