I missed the football for this. While Holland strode to a surprise win over the Italians, City Seemed Eager took the stage for a surprising set. Complete with a new guitarist, they were on fantastic form. [...]

It was set to be an interesting night, with an odd juxtaposition of stylistically different bands all previewing new material and bringing their own brand of Rock and pop sensibilities to the table. [...]

It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen either of these bands play live so I wasn’t going to miss this one for anything. The venue, a compact, cool basement in Glasgow’s Queen Street, seems the perfect venue for tonight’s show, a fairly low-key but well attended gig by two of Scotland’s best kept pop secrets. [...]

Standing watching the Sea Kings’ Glasgow gig at the King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut on Saturday 17th May 2008, I remembered that music would not save the world, particularly not from climate change. I felt cheated, not by Live Earth or Bob Geldof, but by music. [...]

The Captain’s Rest is a cellar - the sound bounces off the walls, the heat cannot rise and there is a spot, about five feet in front of the stage where the sound quality is perfect: anywhere else, it is best to assume that the overwhelming bass echo or mismatched piano are not supposed to be part of the band’s sound. [...]

It’s always refreshing to see a young local band who seem happy to be a bit different, and as singer Stuart Dougan declared half way througout this promising set at Nice and Sleazy’s that it was “trombone time”, it was confirmed that Glasgow’s The French Wives are such a band. [...]

Along with Stockholm resident Ida Maria, Victoria Bergsman’s Taken by Trees project, Tape and of course the two bands on offer tonight - Lykke Li and El Perro Del Mar - Sweden seems at the moment to be reaping another fine crop of bands. [...]

SATURDAY

Entering its third year, the Rock Ness festival on the banks of Loch Ness boasted Fatboy Slim and Razorlight as headliners. Over 30,000 people turned up to enjoy quite agreeable weather and a mix of indie, dance and electronica. [...]

The drummers’ union will be up in arms, but how could a percussionist ever write songs? Keeping the guitarist and singer in time is, surely, the most important function. So, no surprise that in Husker Du’s long career, all the good tunes were written by guitarist Bob Mould. [...]

On how many erstwhile evenings in my student days was the phrase ‘Sauchiehall Crawl’ a little too close to the bone? Well, for the event tonight it’s less of a crawl than a dash, as I attempt to see as many of tonight’s offerings as possible. [...]