Blog

” A fascinating and witty look at Edinburgh’s music history. An excellent read” – Bruce Findlay Our sister organisation Edinburgh Music Tours in partnership with Edinburgh Music Lovers is celebrating the publication of  Edinburgh’s Greatest Hits  an eye-opening guide to the city’s musical milestones, famous gigs, infamous incidents and colourful characters. With a foreword from…

We’d like to thank Alastair McKay for his brilliant guest blog and playlist for his forthcoming book  Alternatives To Valium: How Punk Rock Saved A Shy Boy’s Life   published by Birlinn on April 7th. Over on our Facebook page we have 2 copies up for grabs and we can highly recommend it, it’s a hugely…

We are big fans and admirers of Barbara Dickson here at Glasgow Music City Tours and reckon she is one of Scotland’s greatest but also most underappreciated singers, who is equally at home with the folk ballads she grew up on, the melodic pop hits for which she is best known and the storytelling of…

The pandemic has been a game-changer for many musicians, in both negative and positive ways. While the loss of gig income was devastating, it has been inspiring to witness artists finding new ways of connecting and directing their talents. Glasgow-based musician Tamara Schlesinger, former frontwoman of 6 Day Riot who now records as MALKA, responded…

We can’t wait to get along to Kirsty Matheson’s new exhibition currently running at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall as part of Celtic Connections 2022. We’re delighted to highlight Kirsty’s fascinating work, don’t miss her talking about it on January 30th, details below… ‘I want you to see what I hear’ Kirsty Matheson will be…

To celebrate the forthcoming publication of Themes For Great Cities: A New History of Simple Minds by Graeme Thomson  (published by Constable on 27 January) we’re delighted that the author has penned a brilliant guest blog for us. We also have a one copy for one lucky winner in a giveaway, lookout for details coming…

Once again we are delighted to be able to offer our Celtic Connections Trad Trail guests a complimentary dram of whisky at the start of our tours. For the last few years, Tomatin have generously provided bottles of their Legacy single malt which we have enjoyed sharing with our guests. This year, in addition to…

The Stobcross Crane and OVO Hydro arena: Clydeside’s past and present . We have teamed up with Mharsanta Scottish restaurant to run Shipyard Bards, Tall Tales, Whisky and Dinner, a musical celebration of Glasgow’s shipbuilding heritage taking place in January 2022. For more than a century, the Clyde’s shipbuilding industry was not just a byword…

As you can’t have failed to notice, Glasgow is hosting COP26. This got us thinking about the role music can play in promoting sustainability, and about how music links in with environmental and wellbeing themes. A good local example of this is one of our favourite stops on the tour, Barrowland Park, currently designated a…

As the city gears up for COP26, we, along with many of our colleagues, have signed Music Declares Emergency. Over the next couple of weeks our blog will highlight some of the events taking place around Glasgow to keep minds focused on the climate emergency. Lynnie Carson Singer/ songwriter Lynnie Carson has penned a song…

Our co-founder and lead guide, Fiona Shepherd is one of the award nominators for this year’s Scottish Alternative Music Awards (SAMA). Their 12th annual awards ceremony will be taking place at Glasgow’s Saint Lukes on Sat 27th November 2021 — after last year’s virtual awards ceremony, SAMA’s return to a bricks-and-mortar venue feels like a…

Synth pop pioneers Soft Cell will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of  Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret with a series of UK live shows starting 10th November at Glasgow Academy.  Soft Cell will perform the classic album in full for the first time at the shows, as well as debuting material from their first new album in…