glasgow

It's been ten years since Washington D.C trio Animals As Leaders released their self-titled debut album and to celebrate it this they've headed out on a 10 year anniversary tour. With support coming from Cryptodira and Rolo Tomassi we knew we couldn't miss out on this line-up and headed to The Garage show in Glasgow.

Jamie Lenman took his Road To Lenmania to Saint Luke's in Glasgow for an evening of live music which saw him performing two special live sets. One of these an acoustic set pre-supports and then a full-on triumphant headlining set to round off an incredibly special night.

The Barrowlands is a legendary venue. Easily Glasgow’s best, and though it’s criminally underused these days, when a band books there it tends to be a sign of “we know we’re on top form and we need a venue that can handle that.” What tonight proves is that there’s an exception to every rule.

Booking the cavernous O2 Academy in Glasgow is a bold move for Fatherson. The band have long had a dedicated cult size following, packing out smaller venues all around the country, but this is a seriously big room. It’s a real statement of intent for this band, a sign they want to be on those bigger stages, and if this show is anything to go by they’re liable to get there.

There’s something happening with Holding Absence. Something that isn't necessarily big, but something that’s genuine and authentic. In years to come, people will be trying to tell you they were at this run of shows. They probably weren’t, but everyone who caught Holding Absence on this tour knows they saw the start of something really, really special. Long may it last.

People say if you form a band, play the music you love. Or they tell you do what’s cool for the money. Blood Youth are only listening to those first people. Well...that and a whole lot of turn of the century post-hardcore and nu-metal. We went down to the Glasgow leg of the band's recent tour, where they were joined by Palm Reader and Lotus Eater.

While She Sleeps seem as if they’ve undergone a transformation since taking control of their own destiny with their previous album 'You Are We'. It’s a preconception that does this band a disservice. Shows like this aren’t born out of being the hot thing right now. They come from lighting a burning fire in the heart of your fans. 'SO WHAT?' is just the latest piece of fuel used to fan the flame, and we celebrated with the band on the Glasgow leg of their tour.

Enter Shikari are objectively one of the best bands at being a great band in the UK. Possibly the world. They have been for a long time, and it doesn’t seem set to change anytime soon.

These kind of shows have been a long time coming for Bury Tomorrow. The band’s sincerity and passion has never been in doubt, and yet it’s been a consistently bumpy ride to success for them. Perhaps that’s part of why this current run of show feels so triumphant: Bury Tomorrow got here through sheer perseverance and being better than their peers. No gimmicks, no lucky timing, not really any haircuts to speak of. Just pure graft.

The cult status of A Perfect Circle is only enhanced by the band’s detached attitude to their fans. You can come to see them if you want, but if you didn’t they wouldn’t care and they’d still play a great show all the same. Which is probably true. Despite the band’s rare periods of activity, this is a band whose class and musicianship puts most other bands to shame.