Gigs in Glasgow

Our Merchant City Festival tours kick off this Sunday, each ending with a free gig in Mono. We’ve decided to take the opportunity to try and raise some funds for the excellent Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy in Scotland. We have some lovely donations for a raffle — a selection pictured below — from our friends and musical partners in the…

Only a few days to go until our Merchant City Festival tours begin, and we are very excited. Starting off at the Old Fruitmarket, the four tours are a two-hour swing through the musical past and present of the Merchant City and East End. From the dung-flinging audiences of the Panopticon to the Barrowland’s more romantic stories, the tours bring some…

Less than a week to go until our Merchant City Festival tours begin and we are very excited. Starting off at the Old Fruitmarket, the four tours are a two hour swing through the musical past and present of the Merchant City and East End. From the dung-flinging audiences of the Panopticon to the Barrowland’s more romantic stories, the tours bring…

In our earlier blog, we rattled on about the The Clash tribute gig taking place at Duke’s Bar on Old Dumbarton Road tonight. The event is being held to celebrate the time that The Clash played in the West End bar back in 1985. Thanks to the magic of Twitter, we came across the following eyewitness blog…

As AC/DC limber up to play Hampden Park on Sunday night, writer and founder of Glasgow Music City Tours, Jonathan Trew, goes all misty-eyed as he recalls falling for the band as a teenager.   Recently, a friend was ribbing me for playing Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, one of AC/DC’s earlier albums. His charges were that the lyrics had a teenager’s sense of humour; the music was basic rock ‘n’ roll and that the guitarist, Glasgow-born Angus Young, still dressed as a schoolboy at the age of 60. Guilty as charged, m’lud, but nothing to apologise for. You might not want to try and justify many of AC/DC’s more crude lyrics before, say, your Mum but the band’s absurd sense of fun and unswerving commitment to simple but effective blues rock are exactly what have made them one of the biggest…

Tonight, Tony Visconti and Woody Woodmansey’s group Holy Holy and Glenn Gregory perform Bowie’s classic The Man Who Sold The World album and a new set of other Bowie songs from 1969-73 at the 02 ABC in Glasgow. Rock critic for The Scotsman and founding member of Glasgow Music City Tours, Fiona Shepherd, caught up with Tony Visconti recently…

A very warm welcome to our guest blogger this week: the legendary Mr. Stewart Cruickshank, with memories of one of the gigs that led him into a life in music – seeing Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd (and more!) in Glasgow’s Green’s Playhouse in 1967.   For those who might not recognise his name, Stewart…

This weekend Mogwai celebrate twenty years of dynamic noisemongering with two sold out hometown shows at Barrowland. They have asked fans to bring along donations for local food banks – more information on that here. We will be taking our dried/tinned goods and ear plugs along just like everyone else but, in the meantime, let’s take…

Our congratulations to Kathryn Joseph, winner of the 2015 SAY award for her album, Bones You Have Thrown Me And Blood I’ve Spilled. Kathryn seemed quite overwhelmed by her win and was particularly delighted to receive her quilt: shortlisted nominees were presented with a beautifully designed quilt by Vanessa Hindshaw, a recent graduate of Glasgow…

Oh, be still our fluttering hearts. Tomorrow is a big day for those of us who believe that the only thing better than a Franz Ferdinand gig or a date with Sparks is the smooshing together of the four Franz boys and the Mael brothers in the exquisite meeting of hearts, minds, musical talent and…