On a wet Remembrance Day, we headed up to the Oran Mor at the top of Byres Road in Glasgow’s West End for a band that have had a very successful 2025 so far: Sunday (1994). Having missed their previous visit to the city back in May at King Tut’s due to a double booking we are excited to finally see them perform especially after the recently released Devotion EP adding more songs to the back catalogue. Paige Turner and husband Lee Newell have been producing most of their music from home until now.
Did you hear the one about the Frenchman and Scotsman? Well that is YES AND MAYBE, one is French (YES) and the other Glaswegian (MAYBE) and they are the support tonight. We have seen them twice already in 2025, firstly at King Tut’s as part of the Road To The Great Escape all-dayer and then supporting Simple Minds at Bellahouston Park as part of Summer Sessions. They gained more than a few new fans that day! They describe themselves as “two wandering souls on a train to nowhere”, with Train To Nowhere being the title of their upcoming debut album in early 2026. There are technical issues at times during the set but they plod on with a mix of old and new tracks with the set ending with recent release Bloody Madness, a song inspired by early-2000s music and written about the cost of living. Technical hitches aside this was a fun set where both band members shone through with their bubbly personalities. 7/10
The first thing we notice as Sunday (1994) take to the stage is the change of bass player and drummer with Lola being replaced by Christine on bass and Puma making way for LA drummer Georgie. The music of Sunday (1994) can be considered dream-pop or alternative-pop, whatever category they are put into there is no denying that they provide something completely different from your average indie-pop or rock band. Whether that be the beautiful vocals from Paige or the quirky melancholic lyrics that can be found in every song they played tonight, is it any wonder that they have risen through the ranks of the UK indie scene so quickly?
Most of the songs on the set tonight are from the self-titled debut EP released in 2024, it’s more of an album really with nine tracks on the deluxe edition whilst the other six are from the recent release Devotion. Vocalist Paige Turner usually wears a choice of a black or white dress and tonight it is a white one. We notice a few young girls in the audience are wearing the same, it looks like Paige is developing a fan club already! The two openers, Our Troubles and Softly are from their debut EP, the crowd respond to every move that Paige is making on the stage while she poses for the photographers during the first three songs. Guitarist Lee Newell is excellent throughout the set providing some slow melodies … that’s the thing about Sunday (1994) their songs are mostly slow paced and laid back, we feel this allows the fans to connect more to the music. Doomsday is utterly connective to the crowd and one of the best of the night as the melancholic lyrics begin, “I hear church bells at a nearby funeral/and now I’m picturing you six feet underground” or how about these lines from Devotion? “My eyes got a squint, cause the gin, oh, it tastes like petrol/as the bar choir sings, God save our gracious King”. This is the point where Lee Newell gives a thumbs down and this is met with an enthusiastic cheer from the crowd. Next up are two of our personal favourites in TV Car Chase and Blonde, the response to both these songs is decent from the three hundred or so that are in the room.
Paige tells us that they love Scotland but hate the weather … don’t we all! To be completely honest this band don’t have a bad song with every one offering something different, whether it be the upbeat Silver Ford from the Devotion EP or The Loneliness Of The Long Flight Home that offers some of the best song lyrics we’ve heard for a while. Or how about a song written about Mascara? Only Sunday (1994) would dare to come up with such a song. Other highlights of the set were Rain and Picking Flowers, another of the new ones that has a very easy chorus for the fans to join in with. This was definitely not the mosh pit/crowd surfing type of show but instead it offered such a connective experience for everyone to get involved with.
As we move towards the end of the set, Blossom has Paige return to the stage with a sign with the words “Here we Fucking go”, this entices the fans to sing back the usual Glasgow chant to the stage but it is Tired Boy that ends the fifteen-track set. This was the first song the band ever released in February 2024 and gets a crowd response to match, the opening lines of this one always has us laughing out loud, “You painted your nails, just to look like a rockstar/you sing in a band and your voice is like nails on a chalkboard”, they could be referring to any of the so-called ‘pop stars’ that fill the charts these days! For those that are lyrically challenged go have a listen to Sunday (1994), you won’t regret it. The UK tour ends at the Electric Ballroom in London on 20th November, we are 100% sure that Sunday (1994) will be playing much bigger stages on the next tour. 10/10
Written by: Alan Brown
