The first TT since before lockdown saw a total of eight venues in use, from Van Winkle’s pizza joint on the Gallowgate to the Barrowlands just across the road.
BM lost count of the number of bands playing but let’s just say it was well over 50, so for the ticket price there was a lot of choice, starting from 2pm and ending well after midnight, with most venues a mere 5-10 minute hike from each other.
The event looked pretty well-attended, with several long queues even in the afternoon (so no Pizza Crunch for BM this time around) and some lively, in fact at times pretty mental, audiences. BM did not catch quite as many acts as was originally planned but the highlights of the day, IHHO:
Barras Art and Design is a great space with plenty of light through the roof during the day and it was a good place for Australian five-piece Little Quirks to give us their upbeat and melodic indie-pop. Blessed with two great female vocalists and slightly quirky (!) KT Tunstall meets Florence and the Machine musical sensibility, they played current and new songs to an appreciate crowd.
Over at The Winged Ox (the bar/restaurant adjacent to St Lukes) the punky four-piece Isabella Strange gave a rumbling, passionate and punky set, not necessarily what the afternoon pizza-munchers were expecting but a glorious noise nonetheless.
Back at BAAD one of the Scottish bands of the moment Dead Pony delivered a rousing set, channelling both Nirvana and Garbage, and provoking some moshpit activity as well. This lot are making inroads and winning new fans and BM could see some larger headlining shows by 2023.
Following on from this, Man of Moon made a welcome return with their first show since before lockdown. Frontman Chris was joined by an unnamed and quite possibly brand new drummer, playing tracks old and new, that guitar and drums combination driven to new heights tonight on some melodic but trippy grooves, working to a crescendo of feedback and clattering percussion as the set ended.
Vistas effectively headlined the festival, last band on at the Barras, although other acts played later in the smaller venues. BM has kind of missed out on their rise to this level but was pleasantly surprised by their take on indie-rock, mainstream enough to appeal to a wider audience (and they got the customary “here we f###### go” nod of approval from the crowd tonight). They are however for BM still quite understated and maybe don’t have the X factor in their DNA that will convert her into a fan – who knows however, in the future; maybe.
Anyway that was enough for BM’s increasingly aged bones – no doubt them youngsters partied further into the night at McChuill’s and other places – in all a good festival day…