EdFringe Talk: The Jive Aces: Feelin’ Happy

Posted in *EdFestivals 2025, *Written Interviews by

“Everyone is in the same boat, everyone has to hustle and get those flyers out there and promote like crazy.”

WHO: Ruolin Lei

WHAT: “Be uplifted with positive vibes from Britain’s Got Talent semi-finalists! Packed with real music and entertainment from rhythm and blues to rock and roll roots, the Jive Aces deliver an action-packed show! Together for nearly 30 years, the band is renowned for its high-energy performances in over 40 countries. Having played for HM the Queen, serenaded HM King Charles, sold out the Royal Albert Hall and become the first band to reach Britain’s Got Talent finals, they’re the UK’s No.1 Jive and Swing band!”

WHERE: Bramley at Gilded Balloon at Appleton Tower (Venue 140) 

WHEN: 12:00 (60 min)

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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

No it’s not our first Fringe (that should be used instead of “not my first rodeo” from now on).

We first performed in venues around the edges of the Fringe around the year 2000. We were the fringe of the Fringe! We would play at the Hard Rock Cafe, the Why Not Club and Vegas Scotland and soak in the fringe experience and atmosphere and meet lots of other artists and watch lots of different shows.

Then we started doing official venues including with Assembly and Gilded Balloon as well as some independant promoters and have been coming back almost every year since, other than the pando period, of course.

What’s great about the festival is that it is simply the biggest and most diverse arts festival I know of, and the longest – so it becomes a way of life rather than a visit.

It’s almost a sort of equaliser for acts. Everyone is in the same boat, everyone has to hustle and get those flyers out there and promote like crazy. By necessity everyone becomes gregarious or has a difficult time.

Nowhere else do you see everything from celebrities and Shakespearean characters to Marilyn Monroe and acrobatic doctors walking the streets with no one even batting an eye.
Most of the festivals we do are music festivals, from jazz festivals to Glastonbury but there is nothing like the Fringe. Walking the streets day and night and ending off with vegan haggis at the City Restaurant and taking stock of the day’s adventures.

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2024 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

I think one of the main things I learned last year was when you have one day off after non-stop shows, walking and promoting with little sleep (but much coffee), don’t spend it playing laser quest…
The other is to go out of your way to see other shows. Not just to enjoy them but also to get an idea of all the diverse talent there is, both the large shows and the small. This year I’ll go through and make note of who I want to see and when, rather than trust to luck and remembering.

The other thing, is just to always enjoy it and the experience, no matter how it is going because it always ends up being great!

Tell us about your show.

This show is put together by the whole band. It will be a musical journey of the roots of rock ‘n’ roll from the rhythm & blues and gospel beginnings to Jump jive and the dawn of rock itself.

We asked people what they wanted most from the show and funnily enough they answered that they wanted to be happy, so this is “Feelin’ Happy” and celebrating the ebullient music of the early 1950s!

We aim to hone the show, which will be debuting at the fringe, and take it on the road next year to regional theatres.

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

Ali Affleck is a local jazz singer and washboard player and has about half a dozen different themed shows during the Fringe, she is always worth seeing.

Then there’s Jon Ritchie and That Swing Sensation, you can’t beat a full sized big band blasting away!
Although we don’t know them personally, Pitchblenders: Bootleg Blues looks like a great show as does the Tenement Jazz Band’s “Red Hot Roots of Jazz” show.

And there is Bluebell Swing who we have played together with at Stramash on previous trips to Edinburgh, always a fun show!

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