TRNSMT 2024 Day 1

Goodness, is it July already? – then it must be time for TRNSMT… The festival has a certain reputation but also some unexpectedly civilised corners and this is what BM set out to find on Day 1.

Before any big names or massed singalong chants the site is actually fairly quiet, as was the case last year. The first notes played live were on the King Tut’s stage, in front of around 20 people by Siights, a Scottish/Irish duo playing today as a four-piece. Their catchy, slightly country-ish tunes soon drew a larger crowd and there was a bit of audience participation.

Dublin band The Scratch played a rousing set on the King Tut’s stage – imagine something like The Pogues vs Rage Against The Machine. With a fearsome drum sound and several vocalists alternating between tracks, the crowd soon got the message that this was a party band, and more high octane numbers followed, some quite acoustic but some sounding more like Slayer…

Nieve Ella played the River Stage last year and went down pretty well, hence presumably a promotion to King Tut’s stage. Playing as a four-piece, she performed melodic indie-rock with quite a hard edge to the guitars, slightly Wolf Alice-esque maybe.

Sugababes have the hits, and more, and BM doesn’t think they have performed in Glasgow for quite some time so they drew a sizeable crowd on the main stage. Minor complaint, but they ruined their best sample (‘Are Friends Electric’ on ‘Freak Like Me’) using a brass section, oh dear… Vocals sounded alright (this was the original Buchanan/Buena/Donaghy lineup) and there was a generally good reaction to further tracks like ‘Hole in the Head’. They always had a certain edge compared to some other girl groups of the ’90s but this didn’t exactly show through today – never mind…

Heartworms played the River Stage around mid-afternoon and put up quite a guitar-shredding show, with some slightly goth/emo edges to the sound. Instigator and frontwoman JoJo looked and sounded quite Siouxsie-esque in her slightly militaristic getup, and tracks like ‘Jacked’ were pretty strong.

Brogeal are Scottish (Falkirk in fact) and went through a fairly rip-roaring set on the River Stage, to the obvious delight of some of their longer term fans. Mere whippersnappers themselves, they could vie for a tag as the “next Pogues” but competition for that crown has been quite intense, even this weekend…

The last act BM saw on day 1 was The Last Dinner Party – don’t get me wrong, they are talented and can play their instruments but the music, well let’s just say it sounds a bit forced, overblown and like a female version of Queen. And the band name, oh dear – designed to appeal to Saltburn refugees? Apparently there’s a Scottish TLDP tribute act called The Last Dinner School, or was it The Last Fish Supper…?