Last night saw a spectacular end to this year's Edinburgh Festival with the annual fireworks
concert. Two hundred and fifty thousand people packed into the city centre to see the show which
saw colour blasted in to the sky from 17 different platforms around the castle.
In the skies above Scotland's most famous landmark, 100,000 fireworks went off in perfect
time to a programme of Transylvanian music.
Specially selected silent sequences were sparked to accompany the more subtle passages, loud
bangs were fired 600 feet into the air during the dramatic pieces. It went without a hitch leaving
the huge crowds roaring with approval.
It was a fitting finale to the most successful Edinburgh Festival ever.
Joanna Baker from the Edinburgh International Festival said: "It was a fantastic evening,
probably the best fireworks concert I've ever seen and I've seen quite a few now! And it was a very
successful festival, we took more money at the box office than ever and we saw an increase in
overseas visitors, about 3% up which is pleasing given there's all the doom and gloom around at the
moment about visitors and the economy. So a good year for artists and audiences."
The real bonus for those who went into town for the event was that despite forecasts of
possible thunderstorms, it stayed dry and mild. Perfect viewing conditions for this dazzling
display.
