THE TWILIGHT SAD capped off a short UK tour to mark the release of sixth album ‘It’s The Long Goodbye’ with back-to-back nights at the iconic Barrowlands Ballroom in Glasgow.
Every once in a while a song or an album makes the listener stop in their tracks. Something demands their attention and prompts an immediate re-listen. It might be a musical hook, a riff or a beat, or maybe a lyric that resonates. Such was the case with the latest LP from Scottish post-punks THE TWILIGHT SAD. The one-off appearance at SOUTH FACING FESTIVAL in support of label mates MOGWAI had offered a glimpse into what may be to come with new song titles such as ‘Dealing in the Dark‘ and ‘Waiting for the Phone Call’ making their first appearances in the setlist.
But it wasn’t until the full release in March this year with the accompanying media releases revealing the album being made against the dark backdrop of singer James Graham balancing the progressive loss of his mother to dementia whilst becoming a new father to two boys himself, that the full picture became apparent. In a world where people, men in particular, shy away from addressing and revealing their emotions or discussing death and grief, it is a starkly brave piece of art that resonates in the hearts of mind of anyone with an ounce of empathy, but all the more so for anyone that has trodden a parallel path. It’d be fair to question whether such subject matter makes for an enjoyable night out, but never let it be said that fans of THE SAD aren’t made from stern stuff.
And so it is, that well before opening a buzzing queue is stretching up the street under the famous flashing BARROWLANDS sign. waiting to head up the stairs to gather under the familiar star specked ceiling. Friends meet, past gig acquaintances reconvene, and strangers in the real world meet those only known previously online, and its a busy room that welcomes the first support.
Having all relocated to Glasgow, it’s practically a hometown gig for openers THEO BLEAK. Regular readers of RESOUND will already know of Katie Lynch et al whose folk tinged indie (or indie tinged folk if you prefer, though ask the band about playing a folk festival once and they will shudder at the memory) offers a perfect start to proceedings. Opener ‘NJ Transit’ lays out the stall with the gentle strum of an acoustic over gentle keys giving a foundation for Lynch’s haunting vocal. With a setlist drawing from last year’s excellent ‘Bargaining’ LP and ‘Bad Luck is Two Yellow Flowers’ EP, the band navigate playing the large room with aplomb and it is a set well received,
A deep wash of blue light and dry ice offers an ethereal almost Nephilim-esque backdrop for DEARY. The shoegazers from the south coast have an expanded line-up to mark the release of their own new album, debut release ‘Birding’, and it is immediately clear that this offers a much fuller sound to the older more familiar material such as ‘The Drift‘ . But it is on the newer songs that the likes of ‘Smile’ and ‘Seabird’ that the band really take flight and show they are fulfilling the potential so often hinted at over the past few years. Founding members Dottie Cockram and Ben Easton should be justly proud of where their musical journey is taking them and after tonight plenty more will be accompanying them in the future.
And so to the headliners. A squall of guitars from Andy MacFarlane signals opener ‘Dead Flowers’, the drums of Cat Myers and bass of Simone Marie Butler joining as the intro unwraps itself. A long dark brooding song and fan favourite from the new album, it sets a marker for what is to follow with the triple whammy of ‘Designed to Lose’, ‘Attempt a Crash Landing’ (a retitled ‘Dealing in the Dark’ with singer James Graham’s plaintive howl to the fore) and ‘Waiting for the Phone Call’. The claustrophobic anxiety-ridden throbbing pulse of the latter catching those endless devastating moments of awaiting a conversation that you know will remove ones very foundations.
It speaks volumes of the strength of the new songs that four are unleashed upfront, before the ever mighty ‘VTr’ fills the room, its chorus of “There’s no love too small” coming back towards the stage from the packed room. For all the darkness in the material, THE SAD leave the door ajar for light and hope to be found. And its undoubted that the energy from the crowd feeds the four on stage. MacFarlane, stage right, a static presence in front of his amps taking pleasure in unleashing tidal waves of sound that echo to the deepest depths of this hallowed venue; Butler, a leather clad presence stage left, Catwomanesque on bass duties engaging with the front row when they catch her eye; Myers doing Cat Myers things smashing the drums with a precision that sounds immense in driving the songs forward (whoever put those two together as a rhythm section got it bang on); and to the fore, centre stage, singer James Graham, a man digging into the depths of his soul to give life to his lyrics, exorcising the memories as he prowls the stage.
As the set unrolls, a well considered balance is maintained, the excellent ‘INHOSPITABLE/HOSPITAL’ sitting alongside older cuts such as ‘There’s a Girl in the Corner’. But the underlying essence of the new album and the dark times lived through in it’s writing are never far from the surface, none more so than ‘Back to Fourteen’. That feeling of wishing to go back to childhood when the burdens of adulthood remain distant in the future and realising that burden in turn awaits those we love who follow, cuts to the core. Quite how Graham delivers such songs across a seventeen song set almost defies belief. Carried onwards by a backing chorus of a packed Barrowlands through ‘And She Would Darken the Memory’, the singer is nevertheless spent as the closing notes of the last song ring out around him and his bandmates leave the stage with him on his knees, tears on his cheeks looking out into the room.
As gigs go, this was up there with the best of them. The new line-up more than delivers with the old material sounding never better, but its the new songs from arguably the best TWILIGHT SAD album to date, nine of which get played in the set, that carry the night. It is an album that will undoubtedly be an important one for those who find it, its humanity and vulnerability to the fore – a rarity in the abrasive society of 2026. In a world with Andrew Tates, I’d much prefer my boys to grow up to be James Graham.
THE TWILIGHT SAD play festival dates in the UK and Europe throughout the summer including two with THE CURE before ending the year with a headline show at Usher Hall, Edinburgh in December https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/the-twilight-sad-edinburgh-06-12-2026/event/360064A6F18A7C4D
New album ‘It’s The Long Goodbye’ is out now on ROCK ACTION RECORDS available online and at all good record stores https://rockaction.scot/products/its-the-long-goodbye
Words and pictures: Geoff Shaw https://www.instagram.com/gsmusicphotos/