Arguably the ultimate authority on British music, Jo Whiley is bringing a brand new show to Edinburgh this spring.
This May, at the O2 Academy, the legendary DJ will host Jo Whiley’s 90s Anthems in the capital.
And as the definitive voice of fresh, exciting new music, who introduced us all to so many incredible emerging bands and global superstars through her generational Radio 1 show, noone is better qualified to take us on an aural retrospective of the 90s than Jo.
Starting out in local radio before landing a job as band booker for infamous TV show The Word, she brought Nirvana and Rage Against The Machine to the UK’s screens for the first time. Jo then made the move to Radio 1 in 1993 and hosted The Evening Session with Steve Lamacq, a weekday role she maintained for 16 years before moving to weekends.
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She will forever remain the iconic face and voice of Glastonbury too, fronting coverage on Radio1, BBC and Channel 4, while she now hosts the 7-9pm weekday slot on Radio 2. Still on the cutting edge of new music, Jo can be considered a national treasure.
Her new tour will see the queen of the decade of mayhem, magic and misty memories delve into her archives to showcase her friends and favourites from Oasis and Blur to the Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy.
And ahead of the May 13 gig, she told us what it means to return to Edinburgh and her love for the city.
She said: "Edinburgh's wonderful, amazing, really good. I’m just thinking of it now. I didn't mention I did the Edinburgh festival when I was doing drive time and that was the first time that I have spent a few days in Edinburgh and I loved it.
"I am really excited about coming back.
"I took my daughter to the Edinburgh Festival before and we came away going oh my god I just love Edinburgh.
"So when we come up we are going to stay a few days and make sure that we stay over and get to do a bit more exploring. We are super excited about coming to Edinburgh, in particular I just want to enjoy the architecture and be a tourist."
Jo also spoke about Scotland and how it continues to produce some of the best musical talent across the UK and why bands and artists always look forward to playing up here in favour of our cities across the country.
She added: "It is just always been incredibly important and extraordinarily prolific - the amount of talent that has came out of Scotland is phenomenal and the passion that comes out of Scotland in terms of musicians who are there.
"I can guarantee whenever I interview bands and ask where are your favourite places to play they say Scotland. The crowd is just one of the most rewarding receptions on stage because the audience goes absolutely crazy and sing along.
"Why is that? I have no answers about how wonderful it is what happens.
"It's become such a cliche because when bands do press here they say this is the best crowd in the world and people don't believe it, but it’s true people genuinely mean it and say it all the time.
"There is just such a raw emotion that comes out in the crowds and the passion for music in Scotland and the impression for all the bands that play there is quite something, it says it all."
Looking forward to the 90's Anthem date in the middle of next month, Jo also explained why that decade in particular made such a mark on UK culture.
She said: "It was such a rich time, not just for music but for film and everything else that was going on in society.
"It was a great time to live through. My kids keep saying to me god I really wish we lived through the 90’s and I kept saying every decade is great and then the more I thought about it I thought I've been reliving it and appreciating how great it really was."
Jo's 90's Anthem's night takes place at the O2 Academy on May 13. For tickets to the 90's Anthems event and for more info, you can visit via TicketMaster here.
