The temperatures were predicted to tip thirty degrees today as we headed straight over to the main stage for Glasgow indie-rock band Lucia and the Best Boys who opened the festival for the day. We were thinking on the way over that their song Summertime would have been an appropriate opener but in the end they didn’t even play that one, So Sweet I Could Die was still a great way to start the day though. Vocalist Lucia Fairfull tells the crowd that this is their only festival appearance of the summer and also drops a hint when she says, “we have been away making something special”, we reckon it could be album number two… New song Big Romance sounded great live while Angels Cry Too and Perfectly Untrue were also highlights. The set ends with one of the best cover versions we have ever heard of Fleetwood Mac song The Chain, vocally and musically it fired the crowd up, what a start to the day! They also announced that they would be playing a headline show at Barrowland on 29th May 2026. 9/10
Malaysian born Chloe Qisha attracted a decent crowd over at the King Tut’s stage, she has released two EPs now with the most recent being Modern Romance in May. Chloe’s music has really summery vibes as the set kicks off with 21st Century Cool Girl, the band behind the singer are decent too with the keyboard player easily swapping to guitar. Sex, Drugs & Extensible Dread sounded great as did new track Internet Crush while I Lied, I’m Sorry ends a perfect half-hour of indie-pop. 9/10
Up and coming indie songwriter Alex Spencer hails from Manchester, a city where he was still busking only two years ago at sixteen years of age, we have been lucky enough to catch Alex and his band three years on the trot at Liverpool’s Sound City and have watched him grow as a musician each time. He played at King Tut’s earlier in the year and that may be partly why such a large crowd congregated down at the BBC Introducing Stage, word of mouth is sometimes the best way to recommend new bands. Alex is just finished touring with The Black Keys and this shows how highly he is regarded, Waiting For The Change is the first song he ever wrote and is sounding great today alongside Nightmares and Cloudy Thinking from his recent EP. This is an artist to keep your eye on over the next year. 9/10
A quick dash back to the King Tut’s stage has Hotwax just beginning their set with She’s Got A Problem, this is one of the best tracks from their recent debut album Hot Shock, we are singing along excitedly and proudly wearing the HotWax t-shirt that we bought when we first saw them live last year at Stereo, incidentally HotWax were the first band we ever interviewed! The Hastings-Brighton trio are Tallulah Sim-Savage (vocals & guitar), Lola Sam (bass) and Alfie Sayers (drums), the music can be described as post-punk with best friends Tallulah and Lola thrashing it out at the front of the stage. Rip It Out is another standout and it was also a surprise to hear new single Tell Me Everything’s Alright, the set was a little shorter than expected but still very enjoyable. 9/10
When we first came across the music of Fright Years at Broadcast a few years ago they were a completely different band musically … singer Jules Kelly was a shy, laid-back musician but is now someone that commands the stage as she did down at the BBC Introducing Stage today. Their music was more keyboard based in the early days that has now moved on to a perfect indie rock soundscape, the melodic guitar playing from Harrison MacLeod-Bonnar was a standout alongside the vocals from Jules. Most of the track were from February EP release Still Life, they also announced a support slot with Twin Atlantic for the following week. 8/10
We were so disappointed to hear on Friday that Wunderhorse would be unable to play the festival due to illness, a replacement was quickly announced with Miles Kane taking their spot, we’re not really the biggest fan of Miles’ music so Fright Years were the perfect alternative for us.
Falkirk’s finest Brògeal took to the King Tut’s stage to play a thirty-five minute set in front of a large receptive audience. The band are about to release debut album Tuesday Paper Club on 17th October and is one to look forward to. We have seen these guys live a few times including in Liverpool back in May, frontman Aidan Callaghan has some comical moments including asking the crowd, “have you ever been to Falkirk before?” Yes is the answer before he responds, “Do you want to go back!”, the best one had to be, “Hope everyone is having a happy 12th July, here’s some rebel tunes for you!”, no holding back then. The music of Brògeal could be considered indie-folk alongside traditional folk, whatever it is the crowd are lapping it up in the sun. The pick of the bunch for us would be Girl From NYC, You’ll Be Mine and new track Tuesday Paper Club, looking forward to that album now. 9/10
Norwegian pop sensation Sigrid complained of heat exhaustion after her set on the main stage and no wonder, it was at least thirty degrees out there today. We caught the last twenty minutes of a very lively set, the crowd were having a great time singing back the words to the stage during the last two songs Mirror and Strangers. The baking hot sun was taking it’s toll on us now so a wise decision to buy a Biffy Clyro Futique hat saved the day as we awaited Inhaler taking to the main stage. Eli Hewson (yes he is Bono’s son) took to the stage wearing a green parka in true Liam Gallagher style, it soon came off though as it’s another ‘taps aff’ day in Glasgow Green. They run through a fifty-five minute set playing songs old and new with three from the new album Open Wide, the tracks being Billy (Yeah Yeah Yeah) where Hewson encourages some crowd involvement, X-Ray and Your House being the others from that particular album. He fittingly dedicates the last song My Honest Face to the people of Palestine, Dublin In Ecstasy and It Won’t Always Be Like This were the best moments for us from the very entertaining set. 10/10
The TRNSMT people had been drip-feeding clues as to who would be playing the secret set today, rumours around it being Lewis Capaldi were soon shot down as the biggest clue “It’s Mrs rock n roll” confirms that is is Bishopbriggs singer-songwriter Amy Macdonald who it just so happens released an album the previous day titled Is This What You’ve Been Waiting For? The Hangout is jam-packed with hundreds taking the opportunity to see an artist who will be playing two massive shows at the OVO Hydro in December. The new album title track opens the forty-five minute set as everyone tries to find a spot where they can actually see the stage. The Hudson, Mr Rock & Roll and last song This Is The Life that is by far Amy’s biggest song with no less than six hundred millions streams, she dedicates that one to Jim Gellatly, a music journalist who is in the crowd today, as Amy puts it “Jim played This Is The Life on his radio show even though it was a crap demo”, on the contrary that bold move has led to what her music means to people today. Fantastic set filled with humour and laughter, just the way it should be, we can’t wait for the December shows now. 10/10
Fontaines D.C. could easily have been today’s headliners, the popularity of this band is growing by the day, there are loads of fans wearing Fontaines D.C. t-shirts and also more with Irish flags draped around them, lots of young people have been parking down at the main stage just to see their Irish heroes perform. They take to the stage to the music of Kneecap song It’s Been Ages, the Dublin boys fit in thirteen tracks during the hour-long set that kicks off with Here’s The Thing, Jackie Down The Line, Televised Mind and Boys In The Better Land with the crowd singing every word back to the stage with everything they have. The next section of the set is the standout for us as they play Roman Holiday, Death Kink alongside latest release It’s Amazing To Be Young that has singer Grian Chatten play on acoustic guitar for a song we are hearing live for the first time today as it was released after last year’s OVO Hydro show. Chatten dedicated Favourite to Glasgow “his home from home”, I Love You is memorable as is the final song Starburster, what a performance that was, one of the best of the weekend. 10/10
Glasgow’s own trance-punk act VLURE closed off the BBC Introducing Stage for the day in true VLURE style … mayhem! Early sound problems delayed the set a little while but once they got going the had the crowd onside straight away, rapper Psweatpants joined them on stage for the opener and he then disappears among the crowd to get the party started, encouraging the fans to participate in a mosh pit or two amid chaotic scenes. Hamish Hutcheson and Conor Goldie always try to create a good band-crowd connection and it’s not long until they are in among the crowd for Cut It ripping the place apart. The whole place is bouncing for Shattered Faith and last song This Is Not The End, we didn’t see many mosh pits over the weekend but this performance more than made up for that and sets everyone up nicely for Underworld who were just about the headline the King Tut’s stage, for us though as an Ayrshire man it had to be Biffy Clyro to end the day. 10/10
Ayrshire trio Biffy Clyro bring day two of TRNSMT to an end, both front pens are at capacity so we had to watch this one further back, the performance was breath-taking at times during the loud songs and opens with Captain from the Only Revolutions album from which they would eventually play six songs, the other being Bubbles, Born On A Horse, Many Of Horrors, Mountains and That Golden Rule. Bass player James Johnston dedicates Space to the gingers in the crowd while his twin brother Ben Johnston hammers the drum kit, during the last song of the main set Stingin’ Belle there is an explosion of confetti alongside a bagpiper on the stage to a huge cheer from the crowd. As the encore begins with the excellent Machines where Simon Neil plays acoustic guitar the noise coming from the Underworld set is incredibly loud, Biffy Clyro soon turn things up a notch again with Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies quickly followed by fans favourite Bubbles. This is a more fitting end to the performance and it gets even better with Many Of Horror that is played out amid a spectacular fireworks display ending a day that will live long in the memory. Thanks TRNSMT. 10/10
Check out our review of day one here.
Written by: Alan Brown
