Gigs in Glasgow and Edinburgh: 1-7 May

Our guide to the best gigs in Scotland this week, featuring an Adam Stafford album launch and the 2018 edition of Stag & Dagger festival

Preview by Music Team | 01 May 2018

Gigs in Edinburgh this week

Shonen Knife @ Summerhall, 1 May
The word prolific gets bandied around a lot but when it comes to Shonen Knife, there’s no better word to describe them. The Osaka punk trio, who were once endorsed by none other than Kurt Cobain, return to Summerhall following their 35th anniversary tour and release of their twentieth studio album Adventure last year.

Ed Schrader’s Music Beat / Moaning @ Sneaky Pete’s, 1 May
It’s a cracker of a double headline show tonight at Sneaky’s, as a pair of UK tours fortuitously collide in Edinburgh. Ed Schrader’s Music Beat have refined their gnarly minimal post-punk on their Dan Deacon-produced new album; Moaning’s debut record for Sub Pop is loaded with shoegaze-indie bangers.

Blanco White @ Mash House, 2 May
American folk meets flamenco in the sound of Blanco White, who studied music in Bolivia and Spain in the course of meshing the two worlds together. Catch him tonight in Edinburgh; he also plays Stereo in Glasgow on 1 May. 

Zoë Bestel @ Voodoo Rooms, 4 May
Bestel's new record Transience is the latest release on the trailblazing subscription record label Last Night From Glasgow. Tonight in Edinburgh she’s joined by labelmate Annie Booth – who you’ll find at our Kelburn Garden Party stage this summer – and new Olive Grove records signing Jared Celosse.


Scottish Gig of the Week

Adam Stafford @ Summerhall, Edinburgh, 3 May
The inimitable Adam Stafford’s latest album Fire Behind the Curtain, as you’ll see from our glowing review, is our sublime album of the month, and it’s out on 4 May via Edinburgh label Song, by Toad. To celebrate its release, Staffy’s got a couple of shows on this week, including this one tonight at Edinburgh’s Summerhall, and Glasgow’s Hug & Pint on 4 May. You can also catch him in all his looping wonder at The Lemon Tree in Aberdeen on 12 May. Photo: Iona Spence


Gigs in Glasgow this week

N /\ L /\ @ Bloc, 2 May
A night of exciting and intriguing sounds is headlined by the 'sad dance music' of Leeds-based electronic composer Holly Readman, aka N /\ L /\. Also on the bill are Julie Fern Crawford's genre-hopping Monkoora project, and Glaswegian newcomers Neon Seas.

Jungle @ O2 ABC, 3 May
Expect falsetto vocals aplenty, piles of instrumentation, more catchy hooks than a fishing supplies store, and wall-to-wall Adidas tracksuits as Jungle return with their undeniably catchy neo-soul sound. Support, somewhat oddly, comes in the form of the folk-pop songwriting of Rae Morris.

Drenge @ The Art School, 3 May
Sheffield alt-rock trio Drenge pitch up at The Art School as part of their UK tour; be sure to get down early to catch a support slot from noisy Nottingham trio Kagoule.

Duds @ Mono, 5 May
The fine folks of Freakender bring the sprawling, bass-inflected and thoroughly radge punk sound of Manchester outfit Duds back to Glasgow. Support comes from Glasgow’s own Kapputt, made up of members of Spinning Coin, Breakfast Muff and The Bellybuttons.

Outland Glasgow: Synthwave Fest @ The Classic Grand, 5 May
Do you like synths? Are you a fan of the 1980s? Is your favourite kind of song 'the electro-synthwave banger'? Outland Glasgow pulls together a host of the best synthwave artists on the scene for a bumper night at The Classic Grand – here's a Spotify playlist from Outland to get you ready for an evening of driving bass and amazing keyboard sounds.  

Kamasi Washington @ QMU, 5 May
The jazz titan has left us hanging on the full-length follow-up to his 2015 opus The Epic, but Heaven and Earth drops next month. Get a flavour of what’s to come – and lose yourself in Washington’s outrageous saxophone-playing – as he returns to the QMU.

Tectonics Glasgow @ City Halls, 5 & 6 May
Curated by Ilan Volkov and Alasdair Campbell, and proudly presented by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Tectonics Glasgow is a weekend festival where the world's of classical and experimental music collide through a combination of workshops, sessions and live performances.

The Herbaliser @ Oran Mor, 6 May
After a five year hiatus, The Herbaliser returned to the limelight back in February with new album Bring Out the Sound. It’s a hip-hop record of many faces – find out how it translates to a live setting, and fits in with material from across their two decade career, at Oran Mor tonight.

Stag & Dagger @ Various venues, 6 May
The all-dayer returns for 2018 with a bumper line-up spilling out across Sauchiehall Street. Among the bands to set your alarms for are sardonic Detroit post-punks Protomartyr at The Art School (8.30pm), the CCA pairing of Edwin Organ’s wonky electronica (6.15pm) and Solareye’s blistering hip-hop (9.15pm), and all-action Leeds noisemongers Pulled Apart By Horses in the Garage’s G2 room (10.15pm).

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