Hidden Door Launch Party, Edinburgh review: 'reasons to get excited for the main event'

“The power of music will make us warm!” joked Jane Weaver, Friday night headliner at the Hidden Door festival’s latest instalment. Even without the usual excitement of a Hidden Door venue reveal, Weaver’s set was a real treat in its own right, coming on the back of deservedly glowing reviews for her most recent album Love in Constant Spectacle.

She and her band brought a touch of spacey guitar-rock, like Saint Etienne gone prog, to the cavernous main hall of Edinburgh’s former Saica paper and cardboard factory. Her falsetto spiked on Revolution of Supervisions; a swirling electronic riff played over Emotional Components; Romantic Worlds came with a story about cosplaying as a Viking princess for the song’s video.

Weaver also drew a big cheer for her bravery in removing her cosy leopard print coat, because last week’s cold snap made for a chilly time at this two-day venue launch party, ahead of next May’s festival proper. With a new wave of development squeezing decommissioned industrial buildings in the city centre out of existence, Hidden Door needs even greater creativity in taking derelict spaces and opening them up for events filled with art and music.

Between Edinburgh Airport’s perimeter and the Gogar Roundabout, the new venue is in remote, uncharted territory for Hidden Door, which has mostly taken place in locations close to the city centre, but the space itself is exactly what they’re used to. The huge main hall is reminiscent of the old SECC, split by a black curtain and hanging artworks, with one half filled with well-lit pieces from young sculptors and artists.

In the still-massive space left for musicians, electronic artist Exterior, Paige Kennedy and the sparse, solo electric ballads of Trout (not the 1990s Glasgow band) were heard. The musicians sounded and looked great under an impressive lighting rig, yet it would be good to hear what a club artist with real volume could do for the space.

The closest the audience came on Friday was in an antechamber, where lighting designers Tom Sulat and Dave Klitschker lit ominous pieces of machinery a fiery red and Edinburgh’s instrumental mainstays the Sativa Drummers gave a thundering performance around them. It was only a taster session, but it was more than enough of a reason to get excited about next year’s main course.