Tone Up: Nae Instruments Needed – Ed Fringe 2026

Tone Up: Nae Instruments Needed: Upper Theatre at theSpace @ Niddry St

17th August 2026

★★★★

Freshly crowned Scottish champions at The International Championships of Collegiate A Cappella, Tone Up the Edinburgh University a cappella group celebrates their 10-year anniversary with their debut Fringe show. Billed as being proudly local and unapologetically vocal, they bring award-winning arrangements, choreography and vocal percussion to the stage. Featuring hits from RAYE, Michael Jackson, Bruno Mars, NSYNC and Rihanna, expect bold harmonies, big moves and absolutely nae instruments.

For their debut show, this is a fun 45 minutes. The songs are diverse with some of the lesser known songs actually being the most memorable. The harmonies are very good and the arrangements are performed well. The group are confident in front of an audience and, most of all, look like they are having fun.

Of course there are a few Scottish songs thrown in including The Proclaimers ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)’ which also includes some audience participation and also a gorgeous song by Robert Burns called ‘A Fond Kiss’ which is performed beautifully.

A lot of a capella groups try to go for a theme or subplot which can be very hit and miss. Tone Up have stuck to just focusing on the music which definitely works in their favour. Without the gimmicks and wasted time on dialogue, the audience gets a full show of well executed songs. The choreography is quite standard for these style of shows but is performed with confidence. Unfortunately, there are times when the lyrics can be hard to understand but overall this is a fantastic debut for Edinburgh’s home-grown a capella group.

For more information and tickets click here.

AD – PR invite in exchange for a honest review.