Has it really been almost a year since thousands of music fans basked in the thirty degrees sunshine during TRNSMT 2025? Sadly we didn’t get a repeat of last year’s weather on day one when it rained continuously for six hours but this did nothing to dampen the spirits of those that braved the weather to see some major acts take to the stage as well as a ‘no Scotland no party’ event later tonight.
Fifer Cammy Barnes opened TRNSMT 2026 on the Main Stage, Cammy is known for a successful appearance on Britain’s Got Talent in 2023 and this has opened up a whole new world for the talented singer/songwriter. Whiskey Roll and latest single Let Me Down are the standouts for us and Cammy even turns his hand to the bagpipes as he will do later tonight as he opens the stage before Scotland take on Morocco in their second World Cup match. Yes it was raining but the enthusiasm emitting from the small crowd more than made up for that. 7/10
Cork indie rockers Cliffords made their TRNSMT debut in 2025 down at the BBC Introducing Stage and have been promoted to opening the King Tut’s Stage this year and deservedly so, the crowd response to the set last year was memorable. Vocalist Iona Lynch tells us that she is half Scottish and wishes the country well in the World Cup, there is something about the music of Cliffords that grabs you immediately, whether that be the haunting vocals from Iona Lynch who is classically trained or just the collective music of the band the rain soaked crowd are loving it. The set is a mixture of old and new music mostly taken from their two EP releases Strawberry Scented (2024) and Salt Of The Lee (2025), Bittersweet and Sleeping With Ghosts have such an enormous pull and we are sure that Cliffords have gained more than a few new fans after today’s performance. 9/10
A short walk back to the Main Stage has the ever popular Scottish folk act Beluga Lagoon raise the spirits of the fans, there really is a great buzz in pen two now as they work the crowd so well during tracks such as Neverland, Isla and the bands biggest release to date The Glen with latest release Mesolithic also sounding great. The music of Beluga Lagoon is inspired by the Scottish landscape, in fact the brains behind the project is wildlife cameraman and filmmaker Andrew O’Donnell who has did a great job of the screen imagery. Folk music is a massive attraction for TRNSMT 2026 with bands such as Madra Salach and Brogeal showcasing the rise of this genre of music. 8/10
Mercy Girl are a band we have been waiting to catch live for a while now and the day has finally arrived! The BBC Introducing Stage has attracted a fair sized crowd down for the Glasgow-based band’s set, they have a reputation for putting on a great live show and they don’t disappoint. Vocalist Daisy Miles has a great stage presence and comments before playing the song Choke “the BBC probably won’t broadcast this one!”. She is right about that as the song is expletive ridden from start to finish but the fans are really enjoying the set more importantly, maybe standing among the trees is helping to keep the rain off for a half hour at least. We caught twenty-five minutes of the set and they definitely left a good impression on the crowd, the electronic backed Heaven and No Sound had a section of the crowd dancing along, we will be watching Mercy Girl with interest. 8/10
A quick run over to the Main Stage has Earlestown indie rockers The K’s just taking to the stage, they played over on the King Tut’s stage last year and have had a deserved upgrade to the bigger stage this year after the release of album number two Pretty On The Internet last summer, we watched on as the BBC presented them the number one album award at Kendal Calling in July. Jamie Boyle & Ryan Breslin lead the band through a set filled with anthem after anthem kicking off with the brilliant Chancer and Gravestone followed by our personal favourite from the latest album The Bends (Here We Go Again), there is a decent sized crowd in for this one and deservedly so. The rain pelts down non stop during the set but getting to hear Hoping Maybe and last track Sarajevo live is always a pleasure not matter the weather. 9/10
Apparently the sun is coming out later! Well it certainly wasn’t during the South Arcade set, a band who are making their TRNSMT debut over at the King Tut’s stage, this band have come on leaps and bounds over the past year and the infectious energy from vocalist Harmony Cavelle makes for a very lively set. We saw South Arcade at SWG3 in November (and a few times before that) and we can confirm that they are the real deal, the raw energy coming from the stage that night was unreal. The Oxford band flew out to the USA for a prolonged tour immediately after this performance before then heading over to Japan and Australia and a UK tour has just been announced for February 2027 with Glasgow’s iconic Barrowland Ballroom being one of the venues. Fresh from playing at the Download Festival the previous weekend they ran through a half hour set filled with crowd pleasing songs Fear Of Heights, 2005 and stone cold summer, this band are going places. 9/10
We raced back over to the Main Stage for the one and only Nile Rodgers & Chic, a small miracle happened right in the middle of this set … the rain went off! This totally lifted the mood in Glasgow Green as they worked through an hour of music filled with hit after hit and Nile Rodgers also walks us through some songs that he has collaborated with other artists including Madonna, he even plays Like A Virgin and Material Girl live, everyone in pen two is singing along young and old, a great collective takeaway moment from the set. The start of the set is a run through the Chic back catalogue including Le Freak, Everybody Dance and I Want Your Love, everyone has their dancing shoes on for this one. The cover of David Bowie track Let’s Dance is a standout moment from the set, this was our first time seeing Nile Rodgers and it won’t be the last. 10/10
It’s wall to wall sunshine now as we dash back across to King Tut’s for Galway indie rockers NewDad where Julie Dawson is already delighting the decent sized crowd with tracks from second album Altar. Their biggest releases so far are Blue and Angel and they get a great crowd reaction, they are such a different band than the one we watched opening the Main Stage in 2024, the sound is more punky/grungy helping to establish them a bigger fanbase. The set ends with the punkiest song that NewDad have released – the excellent Roobosh – from the Altar album, we really do love the new direction of NewDad since the small line-up change last year when bassist Cara Joshi left the band. This forty-minute set was one of the highlights of our TRNSMT weekend, we can’t wait for the next UK tour. 10/10
The ever-popular Dylan John Thomas is next up on the Main Stage, this is Dylan’s first show since last May and he would be testing out a couple of new songs on us today, they sounded great. As usual he set begins with the crowd pleasing Jenna, prompting a mass singalong in the sunshine followed by Problems and Wake Up Ma, the last named is always a poignant moment when the crowd falls quiet. A cover of Johnny Cash song Ring of Fire recharges the crowd for an anthemic chorus singalong while Feel The Fire and Nobody Else do pretty much the same. The aforementioned new song Heaven Knows You’re Lonely makes us wonder if Dylan has a new album planned for the near future, that would be one to look forward to. Thinking back to December 2024 when Dylan sold out the OVO Hydro we reckon he could easily do the same again as the set continues with the ska influenced Up In The Air and Get It On. We didn’t quite catch the name of the second new track but Got You On My Mind has slotted in so easily to the setlist already and is sounding like he has been playing it for years. The fifty-minute set flew by and we are hopeful of more new music and a possible tour being announced this year. 10/10
The body is getting tired now as Becky Hill takes the King Tut’s stage by storm by announcing that she won’t be playing all the old hits … instead it’s a set filled mostly with new songs for what she is calling a new era. Yeah, some of the youngsters are disappointed that the big hits such as Crazy What Love Can Do won’t be played today but music moves on right? The band setup has a more metal or goth feel about it, Daddy’s Range Rover is renamed ‘Wetherspoon’s Whitney’ for the day in a dig at comedian Jack Whitehall who had the audacity to call Becky that very name at one of his shows, we can confirm that they are good friends now though! New Songs such as So Boring and What Do I have To Do? are sounding great live, there is even times for the youngsters to have a dance to Wilkinson cover Afterglow and a finale of one of Becky’s most popular tracks Disconnect. This was the most eye opening performance of the weekend, Becky Hill is back with a bang and has gone all rocky on us. 9/10
A food & refreshment break has the penultimate act of the first day Wolf Alice play an hour long set on the Main Stage, we are in pen one for this performance to make a quick exit towards the city centre later to catch a train. Wolf Alice released new album The Clearing last year as well as embarking upon a very successful UK & European arena tour including a monumental show at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro. The set gets off to a flyer with Bloom Baby Bloom from that latest album release and showcases the amazing vocals from Ellie Rowsell, we ended up getting to hear six tracks from The Clearing album so a decent return and every one of them played so well by all band members on the stage, Just Two Girls and The Sofa being two that stick in the memory. Of course there is still plenty of time for the big hits to come out to play with the standouts being the last two of the set The Last Man On Earth and Don’t Delete The Kisses. Guitarist Joff Oddie decides to dedicate a song to the one and only Scott McTominay driving the crowd wild and a collective singalong breaks out with “No Scotland, no party” ringing around Glasgow Green, you can feel the buzz among the crowd as excitement builds towards the Scotland v Morocco World Cup game at 11pm. Overall this was a performance veering on the headline set status, we are sure they will be back soon enough to TRNSMT headlining. 10/10
There is one final act to take to the stage before the football fever can begin: the one and only Richard Ashcroft is a name that trips off the lips for producing hits with The Verve such as Bitter Sweet Symphony and Sonnet. Tonight we would have a mix of Verve classics and solo material focusing mainly on Richard’s solo 2025 album Lovin’ You. It is a Verve song that kicks things off with Weeping Willow from the Urban Hymns album that has to go down as one of the best albums of the 1990s … well in our opinion anyway. Ashcroft is not long off a sold out UK arena tour that had rave reviews proving how popular his music still is especially after the tour with Oasis last summer. An extended version of Music Is Power has the crowd singing along while A Song For The Lovers and Break The Night With Colour both get a great reaction, it has been at least fifteen years since we have seen Richard Ashcroft live, it was well worth the wait though as he electrifies Glasgow Green tonight. Hold On is sandwiched between Verve tracks Velvet Morning and the timeless The Drugs Don’t Work and Lucky Man, these tunes are anthemic as every word is being sang back to the stage around us. C’mon People (We’re Making It Now) starts of acoustically building into the full band on stage as Richard makes a dedication to the Gallagher brothers and also finds time to pay tribute to a few Scottish football legends with Bill Shankly, Jock Stein and Alex Ferguson among those mentioned.
Two Verve songs end the set with Sonnet and the world known Bitter Sweet Symphony creating such an amazing atmosphere among the crowd, Richard Ashcroft has been such a deserving headline act this year, we have waited too long to see him live again. We are hoping for the next two days at TRNSMT to be better weather after the six hours of rain today.
Written by: Alan Brown
