Do Not Miss: Mark Lanegan Band @ O2 ABC, 9 March

Having cut a record with everyone but your mother (actually, better check that), modern bluesman Mark Lanegan returns – band in tow – to show off the fruits of his first ‘solo’ venture in eight years. Full of the soul and grit we’ve come to expect from the man, new record Blues Funeral also wafts of Lanegan’s time recently served on his more electronic, synth-driven work with Soulsavers.

Whether as a Soulsaver, Gutter Twin, Twilight Singer, Screaming Tree, Queen of the Stone Age, Master of Reality or simply in his own right, Lanegan has been playing here since the late 80s; so what does he really make of our beloved homeland? “Over the last six or seven years I’ve been to Scotland a lot because of working with Isobel [Campbell],” he tells us. “It’s still one of my favourite places. The audiences have always been really receptive and warm, the people remind me a little bit of the people from where I’m from.” So if you see him scowling down at you from the ABC stage, remember it's nothing but love.