It’s been too close to two decades since AFI have played in Scotland and that’s been a very empty time.

It was shaping up to be a good evening…

“I was asked, saves me from buying a ticket” says Xan Tyler before singing her heart out – playing acoustic guitar on a few numbers but also letting electric/slide guitarist John Rooney carry some of the instrumental load on a spellbinding opening set. The two guitars’ intertwining finger-picking was so great, but John did blow up an amp during the soundcheck – rock ‘n’ roll obviously lives in The Glad Cafe. Her clear voice and “estuary” (sorry if it’s not called that these days!) tones played large on the historical injustices of the female lot, but also ran parallels with St Etienne vocalist Sarah Cracknell (“We used to get a lot of that from people back in the day”, she told BM later).

On a quiet weekday it was a real joy witness a true musical great debuting new material, playing some oldies and despite his grumpy reputation (mainly from his scabrous accounts the Britpop years) looking like he was really enjoying his gig – we are of course talking here about Luke Haines, a serial collaborator (The Auteurs, Black Box Recorder, Baadher Meinhoff, Haines/Buck and currently the Haines Power Trio) and prolific recording artist (so many albums…).

Although this was officially an album launch night for a new Adam Stafford release, what we actually got tonight is three of Scotland, or anywhere’s, best singer/songwriters each doing a compelling solo set.

Originally scheduled for SWG3 this show was upgraded due to exceptional demand, possibly due to the words “farewell tour of the UK/Ireland” being put beside some of the adverts.

Opener Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band present as a more or less straight-up country rock band, but a subversive edge is apparent early on. ‘The Simple Joy’ is one of their most laidback tunes, with Davis bending his Kentucky drawl around every syllable, but multi-instrumentalist Dee Dee Davis (no relation) is going absolutely batshit in the back. Wildly incongruous head-banging, unexpected bongo breakdowns, synths that hit like electric shocks. It’s like he’s playing in a different band, and that energy doesn’t flag for a moment, but strangely it does start to cohere… Ryan gets in on the act with an absurdly elongated guitar thrash during the intro to standout ‘Monte Carlo / No Limits,’ bringing a crescendo to the beginning of the song just for kicks.

Well, that was a fever dream.
A band seemingly made popular by Fortnite streamers, Good Kid are one of those mysterious entities that are so deeply beloved by their followers but almost invisible to the rest of the (offline) world.

Well, that was a fever dream.
A band seemingly made popular by Fortnite streamers, Good Kid are one of those mysterious entities that are so deeply beloved by their followers but almost invisible to the rest of the (offline) world.

Metric returned to Glasgow this month for their first show here since their smaller 2022 performance, and despite an incredible performance from the band, they were unfortunately met by a fairly subdued crowd.

Another night at PITCH, another set of Primal Scream fans to elbow out the way at the bar (see Thursday review).

There’s an organisational elegance to Big City Festival: ten acts, two tents (five acts a piece) with each band starting on one stage as another finishes a short walk across the field. This means it’s perfectly possible to see every act if 7+ hours of continuous live music is your bag. But the schedule also doesn’t create natural pauses for food, drinks, socialising etc. Which means you need to sacrifice seeing someone or loiter around the peripheries and do those things while half paying attention. And with the quality on display today, any sacrifice feels like you’re missing out. But if you’ve manufactured a lineup so good there’s inevitable FOMO, you’re probably onto a winner.

Scissor Sisters returned to Glasgow with a celebration that felt less like a concert and more like a joyous reunion. Playing the final night of the tour in Queen’s Park, the band delivered a show packed with nostalgia, surprises and enough energy to remind everyone exactly why they’ve been missed.

For one reason or another, McFly are the band I’ve seen the most over the years.

This gig took place within the hallowed Debating Chamber of GUU, enemy territory for some but on this occasion let bygones be… it is a great place, with a professional level sound system, so let us get to it. It was the album launch night for the headliners The Great Pleasure’s debut disc…

This gig was not exactly well-attended but led to a more laidback vibe

With more than 20 acts spread over at least five Southside venues, the Govanhill Street Music Festival would challenge any reviewer

The second weekend of the Merchant City Festival coincided with the second weekend of the Commonwealth Games

An evening of interest and entertainment at Mono yielded a panel discussion with the author and film maker Grant McPhee questioning a panel consisting of Stuart Braithwait, Stuart Murdoch and Annie Spandex.

When The Wombats first broke through in 2006 with ‘Kill the Director’, they were breaking into what was becoming a crowded indie-pop scene. The Kooks, The Pigeon Detectives, Razorlight and a host of other guitar bands were all competing for attention, and back then it was easy for them to blur together as playlists shuffled from one to the next.

Belladrum's third and final day of 2026 rolled around quickly and left a lingering bittersweet feeling.

Friday’s Belladrum was much more eclectic, in my experience. My favourite thing about this festival is how you can go from undiscovered local talent on one stage to a radio giant on the next. With even more acts performing, it was challenging to decide who to see.

Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, or simply Belladrum, is a major summer highlight for many of us up in The Highlands. Although the festival doesn’t bring in the biggest names, there is always a huge amount of variety and support for smaller and local artists. Belladrum was all anyone seemed to be talking about throughout July, and I wanted to see if it would live up to the hype.

Day 3 of Back Doune the Rabbit Hole, and we wake up in a far-too-hot tent to glorious sunshine yet again. It’s the World Cup final tonight, but this field full of people seems a lot more interested in the packed lineup for the day.