The Magnets

Stylish all-male English a cappella sextet The Magnets barely require an introduction at the Fringe, to which they return this year—their popularity greater than ever—for what will surely be yet another sell-out run. If their genre-spanning mix of music—done in a super-slick and exceptionally-skilful 21^st century barbershop ensemble style without an instrument in sight—is your bag, you won’t be disappointed. But it’s difficult to give a glowing review to a show that essentially just delivers a slightly updated version of an established format.

Blur’s ‘Girls and Boys’, a mash-up of Fatboy Slim’s ‘Weapon of Choice’ with Lenny Kravitz’s ‘Are You Gonna Go My Way?’ and Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin' on a Prayer’ given a bossa-nova makeover are all established favourites and firmly impressive. Fresher material comes in the form of a stomping take on Adele’s ‘Rolling in the Deep’ – replete with a human beatbox interlude from Andy Frost that’s tongue-twisting enough to rival Michael Winslow.

The sharp-suited six piece joke that, frankly, that they “couldn’t be bothered” to come up with a new spin on their A to Z finale routine this year. Accordingly, they let the audience choose which of the pair of versions debuted at the last two Fringes—A to Z of bands and A to Z of films respectively—they’d like to hear again. The former gets comfortably the biggest cheer, prompting a flawless 26-stage race from AC/DC through to The Zutons which, much like the rest of the show, comfortably ticks all the boxes without taking The Magnets anywhere especially new.