With six of the bands we saw coming from Scotland on day three of TRNSMT it definitely had more of a homely feel about it, the temperatures were also more appealing today, nice but not too hot. Due to the trains finishing early on Sundays we drove up for the final day, an interview with The Lathums had been arranged for 1pm but after a quick chat with their tour manager this was changed to after their performance. This gave us a chance to relax and catch opener Nieve Ella on the main stage and we are glad we did, this was indie-pop at it’s finest from an artist that began by making TikTok videos as many do nowadays. When we first came across Nieve Ella at Sound City a couple of years ago we knew we were watching an artist that would grow and that is exactly what has happened. Ok it wasn’t the biggest crowd down early but the music more than made up for that with songs such as Car Park, The Things We Say and new release Good Grace that was written about “a creep of a guy” keeping the energy high. 8/10
Kerr Mercer was given a support slot for The Snuts’ two night run at Barrowland promoting their album last year and we just knew at the time that this young chap had a big future in the music industry. Since then he has come on leaps and bounds musically and the astonishing thing is that he has yet to release a song! He even sold out The Garage recently through word of mouth and has been touring with Rag’n’Bone Man too, he hinted that his first released single will be Alcohol which he played at the end of the set. The cover of Arctic Monkeys song Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High goes down well with the growing crowd while One In A Million is also a standout. Where Did You Go is a new track written only three weeks ago Kerr tell us, he also shows off his musical abilities by switching to the keyboards for Get To You, we reckon Kerr Mercer could be a star in the making. 10/10
Tom Walker was midway through his set when we reached the main stage, there is a big crowd in for this one, Holy Ghost sounded great in the sun. Tom played a gig in Ireland the night before his TRNSMT show, drove to Dublin to catch a flight and headed straight to the festival this morning without getting any sleep. That’s real dedication!
KuleeAngee were a new act for us down at the BBC Introducing Stage as Duncan Grant (guitar) and Keshav Kanabar (bass) take us on a half-hour journey of trance music playing alongside their skills on the strings. Debut EP Is It Awryt was released only a few weeks ago and most of the tracks today are taken from that EP. Keshav lives locally and comments “it is ideal playing here as I can walk home afterwards”, great performance from the duo, the new BBC Introducing stage is already proving it’s worth. 8/10
Nathan Evans became a TikTok sensation a few years ago with his sea-shanty songs and has now teamed up with Glasgow band Saint PHNX for a very lively show that has sold out around the UK. We caught twenty minutes of the set that was not really something we would normally listen to.
However back down at the BBC Introducing stage there was a TRNSMT debut for “West Lothian’s fourth best band” Dictator as frontman Michael Campbell puts it, they played at King Tut’s on Thursday night as part of the pre-TRNSMT party. A rubik’s cube completed in three minutes? This could only happen at a Dictator show and has become part of their live shows that is a nod to their 2022 debut album titled Rubik’s Cube. They played a few from that particular album with Conquistador being particularly good. HL7 was written about their Celtic hero Henrik Larsson who wore the number seven shirt and glad we went down to catch them. 8/10
We have been following The Lathums music for a few years now and have watched them grow from playing at smaller venues to the O2 Academy and Barrowland where they performed two shows earlier in the year promoting new album Matter Does Not Define, they would play five from that album today. We were extra excited as we would be heading over to interview the band after they performed on the main stage. As the set opened with the excellent Stellar Cast and No Direction from the new album, Say My Name has Alex Moore encouraging the crowd to join in with the chorus while The Great Escape is one of the best of the set here. Down in the front pen there are loads of people singing along happily in the sun, Alex has his cowboy hat on today too! Moore asks the crowd to sing the line, “Make peace not war” during Heartbreaker, newly released single Cobblestones sounded great live but it is the last three songs of the set that grab the crowd. Artificial Screens is sounding class as usual and Fight On is instantly recognisable as the band’s biggest song to date and prompts a mass singalong, it was a great moment from the set. As normal Sad Face Baby ends a very lively set, the crowd join in one last time the chorus. This was easily one of the best sets of the weekend. 10/10
After the aforementioned interview, The K’s were just taking to the King Tut’s stage, we have watched this group of lads grow of the past couple of years. They would be releasing their second album not long after the festival titled Pretty On The Internet and we were buzzing to hear it. We arrive just as Gravestone is beginning, this should be one of the standouts on the album from which they already released five songs giving fans a taster of what is to come. Haling from Earlestown, Merseyside they are Jamie Boyle (vocals & guitar), Ryan Breslin (guitar), Dexter Baker (bass), Nathan Peers (drums) and recently employed the services of former Rosellas keyboard player Louis Sullivan. There is a decent crowd in for this one as the set continues with Chancer, a personal favourite and it gets a proper singalong going among the crowd. There is a Girls Just Want To Have Fun intro before they play the always amazing song Hoping Maybe, the guitar riffs during this song are special making you realise how big a band they are going to become. The anthemic Sarajevo gives the crowd one last chance to release any energy they had left. This was another standout performance from day three. 10/10
After a quick food stop at the VIP area it was time for Brooke Combe over at the King Tut’s stage, Brooke released debut album Dancing At The Edge Of The World back in January and would go on to play the majority of the album today. This was nine tracks in total alongside a cover of Seals & Crofts song Summer Breeze. To be honest the only song that was instantly recognisable from the times we have saw Brooke live was Are You With Me?. We wondered where all the tracks we wanted to hear such as A-Game, Miss Me Now and Impress You? were during this set. The crowd reaction isn’t great either with most not familiar with so many new songs, a cover of Yes Sir, I Can Boogie would have definitely got the crowd going for sure! 7/10
A quick walk over to the main stage saw USA star Gracie Abrams perform a set that was very pleasing on the ears, we caught half an hour of this one before heading to see Shed Seven, this would be Gracie’s last show of the summer and the crowd were well up for this one. After a successful tour with Taylor Swift for the Eras tour it has thrown Abrams straight into the spotlight, this talented musician could be the next big thing. Second album The Secret Of Us was released in June 2024 to great acclaim from which we would get to hear eight tracks. Death Wish is her most recent single and the crowd are loving this one, for some of the younger crowd Gracie is today’s headliner. That’s So True has an astonishing 1.2 BILLION streams to date surely proving the potential for being the next big thing, as well as being a great vocalist Abrams also knows her way around a guitar. 9/10
Who remembers Shed Seven? Well the masses of 50-something’s among the crowd for sure, with the resurgence of the indie-rock scene taking centre stage this summer thanks mainly to the Gallagher brothers it was great to see a band we last saw live in the mid-1990s at Barrowland. Rick Witter on vocals was his usual charismatic self while the crowd were very lively for this performance from the word go … Let’s go. Rick tells the crowd that High Hopes should have been a single before they were dropped by their record label Polydor while Going For Gold prompts a mass singalong and Suspicious Minds does the same. There was time for one more cover of The Smiths track There Is A Light That Never Goes Out. A duet with Rowetta of Happy Mondays fame and “the queen of Manchester” as Witter calls them during In Ecstasy and Disco Down helps keep the energy flowing while the best is left to last with Getting Better and Chasing Rainbows. They’re a great band with great crowd. 10/10
Snow Patrol were deserved headliners today playing to a home-from-home crowd and closing the TRNSMT Festival for another year, it has flown by this time. It’s a very relevant start to the fifteen track set with Take Back The City … they definitely did that and more! Some of the Snow Patrol big hitters are out early tonight with Chocolate and Run electrifying the massive crowd, what a start to the ninety-minute set. During Shut Your Eyes vocalist Gary Lightbody asks the crowd to sing back, “shut your eyes and sing to me” starting off very quietly and building up to everyone screaming the lyrics as loud as possible. The sound maybe wouldn’t have reached the International Space Station as Gary wanted but the residents for miles around would have heard it! Chasing Cars was the usual phones out moment for many in the crowd, whilst the main set ends with You’re All I Have. Gary tells us that the encore consists of a slow one and a fast one and kicks off with What If This Is All The Love You Ever Get? and finishes with the excellent Just Say Yes. 10/10
The closing day of TRNSMT was outstanding as was the whole weekend, hopefully see you on the green next year.
Check out our review of day one here and day two here.
Written by: Alan Brown
