Scottish Gig Highlights – August 2016

Just as festival season looked to have rendered August’s gig listings DOA, a few big hitters rock up to provide some last-minute resuscitation.

Preview by Graeme Campbell | 01 Aug 2016

Usually at this time of year we’d begin with some sneering quip about the great Scottish summer that never was, but relative to the norm, 2016’s edition could be considered something of a sizzler (no laughing at the back, there). As we approach the solstice’s end and the big man in the sky exudes his dying embers, there’s plenty here to ensure the long goodbye is a celebration rather than a funeral. So long sunlight, old pal..

Sauntering up with booze to get the party started at The Hug and Pint (2 Aug) are noisers Young Legionnaire, who are comprised of former indie stalwarts Gordon Moakes (Bloc Party) and Paul Mullen (yourcodenameis:milo). If such connotations still evoke mid-00s feelings of dread in the shape of warm Red Stripe, stud belts and terrible haircuts, then North Africa’s finest Imarhan are also in town that night – you can catch their blisteringly hot brand of Algerian desert rock at Broadcast.

As one fifth of orchestral folk homies Admiral Fallow, Sarah Hayes is no stranger to these pages. The composer has been carving something of a name for herself since 2013, with last year's solo effort Woven quite possibly one of the most underrated records of the year. She plays The Hug and Pint (3 Aug) with Olympic Swimmers, while New Jersey punk/pogo doyens The Bouncing Souls spring in from the opposite side of the musical spectrum to hold down (a very bouncy) fort at the ABC on the same date.

Like Hayes, Catherine AD, or The Anchoress as she likes to be called these days, is another who has stepped out from the shadows to forge her own path. She’s first slated to play CCA (5 Aug), before making the short trip east to Summerhall for a very special show with Scottish Album of the Year 2015 winner Kathryn Joseph (6 Aug). That same weekend also marks the opening of the much vaunted Kelvingrove Bandstand series, with home favourites Idlewild kicking off the jamboree (5 Aug), followed by Welsh cosmic projectors Super Furry Animals (6 Aug).


Grandaddy, photo: Neil Jarvie

Since the much-mourned breakup of emo titans My Chemical Romance, music fans around the world have anticipated the members’ next move with bated breath. As the typically understated Gerard Way plots world domination under his solo project ‘Gerard Way’, former guitarist Frank Iero has poured his energies into surprisingly-not-awful digital hardcore group Death Spells. Iero played to a sold out SECC when he was last here, and so the cosy surroundings of Broadcast (9 Aug) will no doubt take some getting used to, but at least he won’t be alone on that front as former NWA superstar turntabalist DJ Yella jets in for an intimate night at St Luke's (11 Aug) the same week.

Things in Glasgow then take a quiet turn, giving you a good week to get ready for the onslaught of hardcore vets The Bronx when they take over King Tut's for two nights (18-19 Aug). Fashion icon and Kanye West protégé Travis Scott is another who’s garnered a reputation for his wild live shows, so what better excuse to don your best Raf Simons and Moncler gladrags when he comes to the ABC (23 Aug)? If such fayre is too ostentatious for your tastes, however, then pensive folk rocker Kevin Morby will be on hand to bring the brood at Broadcast (23 Aug) and then Summerhall (24 Aug).

On the final stretch of our Glasgow coverage we have Eagles of Death Metal at Barrowlands (25 Aug), and then there’s a very, extra, super special chance to catch electronica legends Silver Apples at The Hug and Pint (26 Aug). The perennially under-the- radar Karl Blau is then on hand to provide a plaintive summer farewell at the same venue five days later (31 Aug).

Save for the Fringe, there’s still plenty going on in Edinburgh to whet the proverbial appetite, starting with cracked-blues enigma Willis Earl Beal and Myles Manley at Summerhall (11 Aug). At the same venue, and keeping on the theme of appetite, there are certain things that are made for each other: if WHITE and Bossy Love were food items, we reckon they’d go together like ice cream and apple pie. You can treat that joint headline (13 Aug) show as a dessert, but make sure you save enough room for arguably two of the biggest performances of the year when Sigur Rós (15-16 Aug) and Anohni (17-18 Aug) hit the Playhouse as part of the stramash of theatre and pavement rage that is the International Festival.

Since reforming in 2012, Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle has repeatedly teased a new album – the band's first in 11 years – with an early 2017 release date said to be mooted. That’s still at least four months away, but there’s a chance you can grab a sneak peek of what they have in store at Summerhall (22 Aug). If you miss out on tickets then fear not, for the brilliant Julianna Barwick is at Electric Circus that same eve. Jeffrey Lewis and his Los Bolts eschew the big two in favour of a show at Dundee’s Beat Generator (23 Aug) the following day, before Emma Pollock (The Hub, 25 Aug), then Mogwai and Mark Cousins' moving flashback of the nuclear age (Atomic; Playhouse, 27-28 Aug) bring this year's Festival to a close.

DO NOT MISS: Young Fathers, The Hub, 14–15 Aug

Given their cultural sapience, penchant for confrontation and unswerving political stance, Young Fathers represent everything a music act at an arts festival should. By this point, Drylaw’s favourite sons need no introduction, and yes, there are probably less heralded acts deserving of our 'gig of the month' spotlight, but having watched the group ascend from a promising rap crew in their teens (as 3style) to world domination, we’d be liars if we refuted any charges of nepotism. 

That’s not to say they’re here without merit, however. As a live proposition, Young Fathers’ bite is, impressively, even worse than their bark. Twisting in and out of sonics to the point where genre labels feel redundant, the trio’s all or nothing approach onstage with Massive Attack recently saw them labelled 'revelatory' on these very pages. If you’re yet to experience the divinity, then what better way to do so than in the intimate confides of The Hub? Playing two nights at the prestigious 400-capacity venue, this is a homecoming that promises to be extra special. See you down the front.