The forecast is wall to wall sunshine today as we head down nice and early to see Kerr Mercer perform on the main stage, he was due on at 12.30pm but has already started his set when we arrived just before then. Kerr played last year and attracted a decent crowd to the King Tut’s stage, today there are maybe a few hundred as he works through an energy filled set with his debut single Alcohol being kept to the very end and three newly released tracks in between namely Terrified, Love Me Twice and Stop Me Dead, all sounding great in the sun, Kerr Mercer is showing great promise. 7/10
As Kerr Mercer finished earlier than expected it gave us a chance to catch half the Vida set over at King Tut’s, the Clackmannanshire band are familiar to us, the first time we saw them was supporting Andrew Cushin at Saint Luke’s a few years ago and they have come on leaps and bounds since then. We must say right away that the band have been releasing music since 2016 with the excellent single Fade Away, there have been a few line-up changes with vocalist Jamie Pollock and Nathan Evans on guitar being mainstays, New single You & Me is sounding great with the sunshine making such a difference already, this was a really enjoyable half-hour. 8/10
After a nice twenty minute rest lying under the shade of a tree it was time for Finn Forster, the Middlesbrough singer/songwriter has been very busy over the past year supporting bands such as Stereophonics as well as playing most of the major UK festivals. Montreal will be Finn’s next single, the keyboards on this track are a standout while new single Strangers tugs on the heart strings and has summer vibes as well as great vocals, Can’t Back Down is another highlight. 7/10
It was now time for something completely different and a break from the music as The Stand comedy takes over The Hangout. Rosco McClelland is the headline act, a chap who has toured all over the world with his comedy sets, this is definitely an eighteen plus zone as the comedians we saw are very off the cuff, the audience seemed to enjoy themselves especially when they were handing out free concert tickets at the end! As we awaited Westside Cowboy a first trip of the day down to BBC Introducing has Blair Davie on stage, this young lad has a very unique voice and a large crowd have gathered for this one, Blair will release EP You Like Ugly, Don’t You Babe? in September and we would get a chance to hear a few songs from that release. 7/10
Westside Cowboy have risen through the ranks at a fair pace over this past year so we think it was the right time for them to make their TRNSMT debut. Their debut album It Goes On is due for release on 21st August and we are looking forward to that one so much. The music of Westside Cowboy can be described as a mixture of indie-rock and folk, the duo vocals from Jimmy Bradbury and Aoife Anson O’Connell are a standout as they run through a set with new songs such as Kick Stones (The Boys) and Pin Up Boys and others such as Don’t Throw Rocks. Paddy Murphy puts in a shift on the drums, in fact so much so that the equipment engineer is on and off the stage tightening then up constantly! Watch Westside Cowboy rise during 2026. 9/10
We recall seeing Birmingham indie rockers Overpass down at the River Stage as it was called at the time in 2024 perform in front of a massive crowd and after the debut album Elsewhere, Always which was released on 5th June they are back to play old and new tracks on the King Tut’s stage. It was basically a toss up between Two Door Cinema Club on the main stage or Overpass, we chose Overpass as we had yet to hear the songs from the debut album … they didn’t disappoint. 3AM and Take It Or Leave It get a decent reaction from the knowledgeable crowd as they are two of their most established songs but the new material is what we are here to listen to and we can confirm that every song sounded great live. Opener Union Station and Fall In Love have been easily slotted into the Overpass set, a European tour in September is followed by a headline UK tour and with the first UK date being in Glasgow we are so looking forward to that one at SWG3 on 28th October. 9/10
Ellur (Ella McNamara) is another new name for us making their TRNSMT debut this year, the singer/songwriter is the daughter of Embrace guitarist Richard McNamara and shows some great song-writing abilities during the half-hour set especially with God Help Me Now as the opening lines prove “I think too much, I’m all out of fucks/the world’s on fire, I’m just getting drunk”. Ellur released debut album At Home In My Mind earlier this year and most of the tracks are on there although upcoming release False Start shows great promise for future music. 8/10
Red Rum Club played a massive show in Glasgow at SWG3 last year and that no doubt swayed the TRNSMT folk to sign them up for this years festival, unfortunately we had to miss that aforementioned show but today more than makes up for it! On the King Tut’s stage where they worked through a ten-track set kicking off with the singalong Vibrate, this one just NEEDS to be chanted back to the stage with the chorus “I’m sorry that I missed your call, I lost my phone/and it was on vibrate, picked it up with ten missed calls”, vocalist Fran Doran should be more careful with that phone in future! The trumpet-infused Kids Addicted is another top class track as Fran sings about the addiction of social media & mobile phones while American Nights & English Mornings stand out for us as a pick of the bunch, the Liverpool band are the real deal and the only way is up for them. The last three songs of the set are memorable with Would You Rather Be Lonely? Angeline and Vanilla. 9/10
CMAT (Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson) is already on the main stage as we head over after the Red Rum Club, as expected there is a massive crowd in comparison to when CMAT last played in 2024, all the band members are wearing yellow outfits with black spots and CMAT compares herself to a can of Tennents lager at one point, her bubbly personality shines through as usual. When we saw the band play at Barrowland a few years ago we knew they were going to become a special band and that they have, the fanbase is growing with every tour. From leading the large crowd into a two step dance during I Wanna Be A Cowboy to telling us the back story to the song Take A Sexy Picture Of Me when people were nasty about her on social media it is certainly a very lively set that ends with CMAT in the crowd dancing with the fans during last song Stay For Something, a personal favourite. The cover of the ever-popular Dougie MacLean song Caledonia was a nice singalong moment for the crowd too. 9/10
Amy MacDonald is no stranger to a Glasgow crowd, in fact she played a secret set at TRNSMT last year at The Hangout and is now back on the main stage where she has drawn an impressive crowd, ok the younger ones begin to filter out towards the end of the set as Skye Newman is playing over on the King Tut’s Stage but we hung around for the full set that began with Is This What You’ve Been Waiting For? the title track from last year’s album. Amy sold out two nights at the OVO Hydro in December proving how relevant her music still is, the cover of Beluga Lagoon song The Glen was a real treat for the fans while the usual big hitters steal the show with Mr Rock & Roll, Poison Prince and Let’s Start A Band end the set on a high, Mrs Rock & Roll has lost none of that talent for sure, Amy was heading to Miami for the Scotland v Brazil World Cup match after this performance, we all know what happened next so lets move on quickly! 10/10
Lewis Capaldi last headlined TRNSMT back in 2022 when he replaced Snow Patrol after they had to pull out, after a lengthy career break Lewis is now back in top form as he walks us through tracks mainly from the albums Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent and Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent. We stayed for an hour of the set as the last train back home was fast approaching, what we did see from Capaldi was very entertaining with Wish You The Best, Bruises and Before You Go all standing out. Lewis has a very busy summer ahead after this performance with most of his shows sold out. 8/10
That wraps up TRNSMT for another year, yes the weather didn’t behave at times but overall this didn’t take anything away from some of the performances we saw, we are looking forward to 2027 already.
Check out our review of Friday and Saturday.
Written by: Alan Brown
