RE:SOUND popped along to Scotland’s biggest music festival TRNSMT last Saturday and Sunday to check out some promising young bands and a few old favourites under the blazing hot sun.
SATURDAY
The Glasgow Green festival is a bit of an advocate for showcasing Scottish emerging talent and Glasgow-based rapper Jubemi Iyiku aka Bemz kicks things off on the River Stage with Bando 2 Studio. Awarded BBC Introducing’s Scottish Act of the Year in April, Bemz soon has the crowd warmed up and he’s down in amongst them with his Scotland flag before long. But that’s only the start of his TRNSMT appearances. Before Whitburn favourites The Snuts take to the Main Stage, drummer Jordan Mackay promises surprises on their “biggest production yet”, and he’s not wrong. Bemz joins them for 2020’s Elephants, bounding around the stage as he brings some rap to the indie-heavy Scottish music scene before frontman Jack Cochrane cries “give it up for big f***ing Benz!”
The Snuts are one of the biggest hits of the day, blazing through a flawless set which opens with the anthemic ‘La la la la la la la, olé’ of latest single The Rodeo from forthcoming album Burn The Empire. The Rodeo, which was last week’s Radio X ‘Record of the Week’ and premiered on Radio 1 as the ‘Hottest Record In The World’, is more proof that these guys can do no wrong at the moment and there’s no doubt that they could be headlining TRNSMT very soon. After missing last year’s festival due to you know what, they certainly make up for it this year, Joe McGillveray earlier telling me “because I was so geared up for playing last year’s show and it got taken away from us, this one feels extra special”. They’ve said before that they write their songs with the audience in mind and at TRNSMT it’s definitely all about the crowd interaction, with flares tinting the already colourful air, which is rich with chants of ‘F*** the Tories”. Scotland flags are held high when not protecting bare backs from the fiery rays of the sun as the crowd sings along to Glasgow. The unabashed swagger of All Your Friends whips the crowd up into a frenzy and another guest spot sees an emotive appearance from Rachel Chinouriri who features on End Of The Road, from the upcoming album. Ending with the pulsing groove of Fatboy Slim, they’re clearly blown away by the response to their set, Cochrane saying “You’ll see lots of people today walking up here like it’s nothing, but for us it’s everything”. And he’s right, we do see that later on and welcome the way The Snuts embrace the audience, taking nothing for granted. Lets hope they keep it that way!
Away from the Main Stage, Edinburgh outfit Retro Video Club get a great reception on the King Tut’s Stage with their vigorous blast of heartfelt indie. They soar through Youth, laden with tuneful angst while the anthemic Chemistry’s driving melody echoes early Biffy Clyro and Idlewild.
Over on the River Stage, a hotspot for budding musicians, Medicine Cabinet illustrate what the country has to offer, hailing from all over Scotland’s central belt. The quirky quintet is led by vocalist Anna Acquroff, who struts around the stage with a sense of defiant mischief, helped in part by the cartoon cheek of her blonde Liberty spikes, proving that the old punk spirit is still alive and kicking. She enticed us to “come a lot closer, we don’t bite unless you ask us nicely”. And that’s certainly what we get, biting indie-pop laced with a contagious free-spirit. They showcase latest single The Signs, an infectious jangle of synth-infused rock-pop with echos of The Primitives late ‘80s sound building to soaring cries of ‘I said’. Acquroff reminds us that this number is the only music they have out there so if we want to check them out, this is pretty much it. Hopefully that will change very, very soon.
The underground pop of Perthshire six-piece Parliamo demonstrates more self-assured swagger with some top notch humour in their lyrics to boot while Edinburgh’s woozy indie stars Swim School take up the vacant King Tut’s spot after Wet Leg are moved to the main stage due to Years & Years‘ last minute call off.
On the subject of Wet Leg, the much dreaded portaloos aren’t nearly as awful as I anticipated, at least earlier in the day when queues are bearable. As for the band, I catch a bit of their set which had earlier blasted through my chat with The Snut’s lads. Wet Leg are definitely in the right place out there on the Main Stage, their popularity currently soaring like the temperature in Glasgow Green. Their wry take on life is perfect mid-afternoon entertainment, shaking off the remnants of any TRNSMT day one hangovers with the lengthy shrills on Ur Mum and dance-inducing chorus of set closer Chaise Longue.
Meanwhile, over on King Tut’s, America’s KennyHoopla spirals his way though a relentless pop-punk set with plenty crowd interaction. The punchy Hollywood Sucks echoes that early noughties MTV2 vibe, How Will I Rest In Peace If I’m Buried By A Highway entices top moshing and pit plunging, while fan favourite Estalla sees him propelling around the stage like a rogue firework. Jumpin’!
The site’s compact nature makes it easy to catch a couple of bands in the same time slot, allowing me to squeeze in some sparkling indie-pop from Dutch quartet Pip Blom. Pip Blom are one of those bands who take their performance to a new level live, with a powerful zest and vibrancy they don’t always capture on record. They’re a joy to watch, Pip’s vocals at times reminiscent of both Wet Leg and The Cardigans. Highlight for me is the bass driven Ruby from 2019’s Boat. Pip Blom will be back in Glasgow supporting Maximo Park at the Barrowlands in October.
The Main Stage also sees knock out sets from Fontaines DC and Foals. Irish post-punk outfit Fontaines DC send icy chills through the blistering heat with the hypnotic gloom of A Lucid Dream. Vocalist Grian Chatten strolls the stage with effortless cool, delivering no-frills verse in a faded black vest, juxtaposed against the vintage finery of his bandmates. The delicious melancholy of Televised Mind and poetic perfection of A Hero’s Death reminds us that life certainly ain’t always empty. They reel in the crowds with favourites from their latest album Skinty Fia such as Jackie Down The Line, finishing with the brooding I Love You, and I find myself wishing we were transported to a small, darkened venue for a few moments. Love you too, awesome!
Foals wow the crowd, frontman Yannis Philippakis getting itchy feet again as they showcase numbers from their more dance-driven new album Life Is Yours. He wanders out into the pit like a wayward child, before heading for the crowd and getting walloped in the face by a tower of paper cups. Later on he’s at it again, inadvertently getting up close and personal with some unsuspecting photographers who find themselves unwittingly gifted with a couple seconds of fame on the BBC’s coverage. Rock ’n’ roll.
Maximo Park drum up a huge audience as they take proceedings into the evening on the King Tut’s Stage with an astounding set, mixing old favourites with newer numbers from last year’s album Nature Always Wins and latest single Great Art, which is currently albumless. Vocalist Paul Smith tells me earlier that this orphan inspired the idea for their upcoming tour, aptly named The Singular Tour which is basically a singles night, of the record type of course. The again, who’s to say you won’t meet the love of your life at one of these gigs, with two nights at the city’s Barrowlands coming up in October.
Flanked by original guitarist Duncan Lloyd and drummer Tommy English, the band’s energetic, hook-driven indie sees ever-daper Smith still sporting his trademark trilby, which remains firmly on his head despite all those high kicks. A rousing performance of Girls Who Play Guitars, from 2007’s Our Earthly Pleasures kicks off the set. As Smith explains the idea behind Great Art, saying it’s about “trying to not wish ill on the people who are running the country that you don’t see eye to eye with”, he’s careful not to mention the word we use to describe our esteemed leaders in case the “BBC just get rid of it”. Hmm what gives him that idea? You’ve probably guessed what’s resonating around Glasgow Green at this moment, yes, that ole favourite, “F*** the Tories”. From the opening synth-swirls of Our Velocity, Smith’s well and truly up for it, indeed everyone is is, and is that a scissor jump? Whatever it is, he lands on his feet in those big monochrome beetle crushers. They finish up with explosive fan favourite Apply Some Pressure, second single from A Certain Trigger, the audience singing along to some straight forward advice with ‘What happens when you lose everything / You just start again, you start all over again’, truly the perfect end to the perfect set.
Headlining the River Stage is Glasgow’s post-punk act Baby Strange. Newly released album World Below offers up a post-pandemic take on their sound, the trio’s old punk vibe melding with a regenerated dark and abrasive electro-dance ambiance. I caught up with lead singer/guitarist Johnny Madden and drummer Connaire McCann earlier in the day, Madden saying that the new sound “has opened up a new demographic for us, we really pushed ourselves to think outside the box” and this seems to be paying off. Tonight we get a bit of everything, from 2015’s Jesus and Mary Chain-esque California Sun to World Below’s title track with echoes of Depeche Mode in its vocal and surging synth before the dance-driven chorus takes it to another level. They close with the racing groove of Midnight, a song drenched in angst and self-pity, an anthem for bored teenagers everywhere, before no doubt heading off to check out Jimmy Eat World and The Strokes, both great influences on the band.
Jimmy Eat World rocks the King Tut’s stage with their catchy pop-punk, Bleed America and The Middle old favourites which churn up early noughties memories when a poke of chips and curry sauce would give you some change from a tenner. Apparently some folk are even ‘doing the slosh’. Jimmy rocks!
Finally The Strokes take up Saturday’s headliner slot, setting the mood with Is This It. Lead singer Julian Casablancas ambles across the stage and settles languidly on the furthest left edge, wittering on in his droll drawl to the audience he describes as “Glasgow Children’s Choir”. There’re quite a few disgruntled souls around after this comment but take it with a pinch of salt and remember that a cantankerous old rock star gets more headlines that a mild mannered sweetie. Just saying…
So moving onto the music, with Casablancas keen to “keep this sweet train on the tracks” they rattle through old favourites like The Modern Age and Reptilia while newer numbers go down well too. Factions of fans in the outer reaches of the Main Stage gather to dance, arms aloft in unison. The show chugs along a bit with some technical issues but there’re some crackers in there too. As darkness finally begins to descend, they end with biggest hit, Last Nite “just for the f*** of it”. What can I say? The Strokes’ sweet train manages to outrun Scotrail, picking up a few more fans again just in the nick of time.
More on our chats with The Snuts, Maximo Park, Baby Strange and Crawlers coming soon.
TRNSMT is back at Glasgow Green 7 – 9 July 2023.
Read our thoughts on Sunday at TRNSMT ››
Words: Shirley Mack @musingsbymarie
Pictures: Calum Mackintosh @ayecandyphotography