Hardrock Cafe Edinburgh celebrated its 15th birthday this year. Officially opened by pop icon Finley Quaye on the 28th of March 1998, The Hardrock Cafe has played host to a huge variety of live music events and VIP parties. Bands such as The Courteeners, Ocean Colour Scene, El Presidente and KT Tunstall have all took their place on the in-house stage. The 200 capacity restaurant in the heart of the capital city has brought people from all over the world get together and will forever go down in history as one of the true Rock ‘n’ Roll hotspots.
The Cafe celebrates its birthdays in style. The guest list being an invite only event was a melting pot of big-wigs and industry gurus. Walking in from the snow, Tenement TV pace through the Cafe trying to gather sight of the place, we are pushed in the direction of the small yet convenient Stilo Bar in the corner, it didn’t take long to realise doubles were on the house.
Putting aside the free rum and bar, the freshly made gourmet mini snack foods, and of course birthday cakes made it obvious why the Edinburgh Hardrock Cafe is such a success.
Tenement TV took a look around the legendary establishment, which was in no need of refurb in our opinion. We witnessed rock history in the flesh. Random heirlooms starting from Elvis Presley’s sombrero to Slash’s T shirt, and the eye catching signed Iron Maiden guitar-quoting an old admirer “No Stairway to heaven please” – the Cafe is jewelled with some of the most famous artists possessions. The in-house DJ spun classics fitting for a rock n roll venue.
With a roaring introduction – Hardrock’s Rita sat down with Tenement TV at the evening. Rita is a true Hardrocker as she explains her history with the brand: “Well I opened Edinburgh’s venue in The Gardens 15 years ago. I’ve opened all the Hardrock Cafes, all 177 of them!
I was the first person they hired back in 1971, I was 29 at the time and I’m now 72 so that’s 50 years of the rock!
Rita continued: “The Edinburgh Hard Rock opening was amazing, we had the grand opening in the Edinburgh Gardens and we had fireworks coming down from the castle. It was a real bad night weather-wise as well but it didn’t dampen the spirits of the Hardrock, we just rocked Edinburgh. It was fantastic.”
Tenement TV is based in the heart of Glasgow, so it was in our interests to probe for a Glasgow opening:
“We’re gonna go to Glasgow. When we opened this, people asked why aren’t you here in Glasgow. So tell them we’re on our way.
“Music is the medicine of the life and we’re the rock the world stands on.”
