LIVE REVIEW: Rosellas, Cosmic Empire, Brittle, Nice n Sleazy, Glasgow, 10/04/2026
We made it home from our Irish trip in plenty of time to catch Manchester indie-rockers Rosellas at Nice n Sleazy on Sauchiehall Street as part of their Shadow Dancing Tour. The band signed to Glasgow-based label First Run Records last summer and released the Every Beautiful Night EP with them, the Shadow Dancing EP has been put back a couple of weeks to the end of May, but will be well worth a listen once it is released.
We got down to the venue for 8pm as Glasgow-based band Brittle were taking to the stage, formerly known as Cameron Ferguson they changed name to Brittle back in February releasing Be Mine as a first single. The band are from different parts of Scotland and can be described as indie-rock/shoegaze and the five piece are playing only their third ever gig tonight and taking that into consideration they put on a very entertaining half-hour show. 7/10
Between sets we had a nice chat with Rosellas frontman & guitarist Drew Selby at the merchandise table, who would have known that we were fellow ‘Munro baggers’! It was soon time for band number two of the night Cosmic Empire, they released a new track Right Time on 28th March and it was sounding great live tonight alongside a few songs from November’s debut EP Nothing Stays The Same. 7/10
The eighty or so souls were all packed in together in anticipation of hearing a few new songs from Rosellas as well as a more from the back catalogue. The band are made up of Drew Selby (vocals & guitar), Euan Mail (rhythm guitar), Ollie Appleby (bass) and Mark Zanker (drums), the fifth member keyboard player Louis Sullivan left the band last year to join The K’s and the last we heard he was touring across the USA with the band, so it will be interesting to see how different Rosellas sound without a keyboard player in the mix. Surrounded By The Light opens the set and is still sounding so fresh and this is followed by a treat as we get to hear newly released track Beautiful Lonely live for the first time. This will be one of the feature songs on the Shadow Dancing EP and the title track from that upcoming release is next up, the crowd falls silent for the new songs but listen to every word and note intensely taking it all in. Rosellas have many musical influences running through their music with bands such as The War On Drugs, The Verve and even Pink Floyd being inspirational for the guys.
Another song from the Every Beautiful Night EP from last August (I’m In Love With A) Songbird is followed on by Is It Any Wonder? And The Same Curse – all three of these tracks sound so good live tonight – Drew Selby on vocals and lead guitar is the standout on these songs. We are delighted to hear another two new songs in Better Love and Who Do You Shine For; a level of maturity can be heard in these two tracks proving that Rosellas have a very bright future ahead of them. Switch Off is one of the best of the thirteen played on the night while it is the songs that we know and love from Rosellas were left right to the end of the thirteen-track set, Born Under A Cloud always gets a great response from the crowd as we all sing the chorus back at them. Penultimate song Damaged has some lovely bursts of guitar that soothe the soul while Common Ground prompts the last mass singalong of the night, the opening guitar chords are instantly recognisable for this knowledgeable crowd. Ok, there was no Before the Storm or Slowdance tonight but it’s always the case that when a band releases new music some numbers have to drop out so no complaints from us! Rosellas head down the road for a few dates before heading back out on tour with Proud Mary in May, we are looking forward to the Glasgow show at the Oran Mor. 9/10
Written by: Alan Brown
