LIVE REVIEW: better joy, Mel Raeburn, King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, 16/03/2026
After seeing Bria Keely and her better joy band three times during 2025, it was now time to see the Manchester band play a headline show and what better venue for a Manchester band to play than the iconic King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut on St Vincent’s Street. It was where a fellow band from their home city were discovered by Alan McGee all those years ago … yes you guessed it, the one and only Oasis!
The support tonight is from Mel Raeburn, hailing from Crewe she has only one song on streaming platforms and that is a cover of The Verve’s Sonnet. Mel actually won a competition for a John Lewis advert performing that very song. A guitarist completes the duo and we are getting vibes of Olivia Dean during the first song, the vocals are very soulful. Big Lullaby is the pick of the bunch while Table For Two will be Mel’s first single release as she announced tonight. It is sounding great too and makes us wonder how different these songs would sound with a full band performing them. We are treated to a cover of Rihanna track Love On The Brain and the set ends with Serendipity, the crowd were very respectful showing their appreciation after each song. 7/10
King Tut’s isn’t quite sold out tonight but it isn’t far off it, we have one of the best views in the house standing on a bench and looking around we can see that it is a very diverse crowd in tonight with young and older fans mixing collectively. More than a few fans have made the journey up from Manchester for what is the opening night of the UK tour. better joy have had a very busy last few days, two performances at SXSW (South By South West) in Austin, Texas over the weekend followed by a flight home and only landing back in the UK at 3pm just in time for the opening night of the tour, that’s some schedule!
better joy released the At Dusk EP back in October and we would get to hear all six tracks from that release tonight. It is the opening song from that EP, This Part of Town, that opens the hour long set and we can see the crowd getting into the groove already, we can already tell it’s going to be a special night. The energy levels rise for Situations, a high-energy indie rock track that gets a section of the crowd dancing along (including us), Bria has a great vocal range and stage energy, another two from the At Dusk EP follow on with Big Thief and Plugged In being the songs. It is easy to see why better joy are attracting a lot of attention on the UK music scene, they have a very diverse sound filled with great lyrics and guitar riffs, some of the UK shows are sold out too. Bria mentions that she can’t believe how many people have turned up for the show tonight. Commenting that there were only around forty people there for their last Glasgow headline show at the Garage Attic almost a year to the day of this show, proving how much their music has caught on since then. Tour support slots for Somebody’s Child, Amy Macdonald and Bastille has definitely helped take the band’s music to a wider audience too.
Couldn’t Run Forever and Quiet Thing allow lots of audience participation, there is a right buzz about the place tonight as one of our personal favourites Steam Roller grabs hold with a great mix of vocals and guitar riffs … that’s the thing about better joy, no two songs are the same. We are overjoyed with the performance from all four band members so far. So Long is a slow paced track that allows for a quiet moment with the crowd listening intently. Kyle and Jamie leave the stage for a new song being played for the first time tonight, Wahooo is the title as bria asks for fans not to video this one that will appear on the debut album. It may be a work in progress but it is sounding great live. What A Day gets the best reaction of the night with the quirky lyrics only adding more backbone to the song, crowd participation is special for this one. When we first came across the music of better joy at Sound City in Liverpool in May 2025, we knew we were witnessing something different, they were certainly one of the best acts of the weekend for us. Carnival is one of the most instantly recognised songs and gets a great crowd reaction as does Waiting On time. There is so much musical talent coming out of Manchester right now with bands such as Corella, IST IST, The Covasettes and Alex Spencer just a few examples, better joy can now be added to that list, the Glasgow crowd did themselves proud tonight! Dead Plants ends the fourteen-track set that had everyone leaving the venue with big smiles on their faces knowing they had just witnessed a night of passionate, energetic music.
If the queue at the merchandise table at the end of the gig is anything to go by it tells us that better joy have a massive future ahead of them in the music industry, we can’t wait for the album release and next tour now, watch this band go in 2026!
Written by: Alan Brown
