Scottish Live Music Highlights: April 2022

It’s only right that the month of our music festivals special should be bookended by two very good ones – Glasgow’s experimental Counterflows (31 Mar-2 Apr), and Stag & Dagger which takes over a multitude of venues in Edinburgh on 30 April, landing in Glasgow the following day (1 May).

In between all that, The Twilight Sad’s rescheduled shows are finally set to happen at the Barrowlands, kicking off the month with a quadrophonic bang on 1 and 2 April; on the same nights, in both Edinburgh and Glasgow, you’ll find Future Islands at Usher Hall and the O2 Academy respectively, with support from the wall-of-hugs lovin’ Dan Deacon. You’ll also find eight-piece jazz and Afrobeat fusion outfit Kokoroko at The Queen’s Hall (1 Apr), Edinburgh-based rapper Conscious Route at Sneaky Pete’s (2 Apr), while London octet caroline bring their gorgeous sounds to Summerhall (3 Apr).

Also at Summerhall this month you'll find Rachel Sermanni on 6 April, with Lizzie Reid in tow, Pictish Trail the following night, with Savage Mansion on support duties (they also headline their own show at Sneaky Pete’s on 17 April), before Honeyblood’s Stina Marie Claire performs with a string section and full band featuring Laura Wilkie on fiddle and Carla J. Easton on synth, plus support from Katherine Aly (16 Apr). Towards the end of the month Jamie Sutherland (Broken Records) and Rick Redbeard (The Phantom Band) stop by (28 Apr) as part of their Scottish co-headline tour, which also sees them play dates throughout the course of the month in Galashiels (1 Apr), Stirling (2 Apr), Inverness (3 Apr), Aberdeen (16 Apr) and Glasgow (30 Apr).

Elsewhere in Edinburgh, AMPLIFI returns to The Queen's Hall (6 Apr) with Bemz, AiiTee, Clarissa Woods and Washington; catch Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul (11 Apr) and Advance Base (16 Apr) at Sneaky Pete’s, Wet Leg at The Mash House (17 Apr), Foals at Usher Hall (21 and 22 Apr), Kae Tempest at Assembly Rooms (23 Apr) and Tae Sup wi’ a Queen at The Queen's Hall (27 Apr) with performances from Kinbrae & Clare Archibald, Liz Lochhead & Andrew Wasylyk and James Yorkston’s electronic-ish alter ego, J Wright Presents.

In Glasgow, Ibibio Sound Machine celebrate their latest record, the exceptional Hot Chip-produced Electricity, at St Luke’s (8 Apr), before Alex Cameron brings his latest, Oxy Music, to the same spot a few nights later (11 Apr), while on the same night in the city centre you’ll find BBC Radio 1’s Sound of 2022 poll winner Pinkpantheress at Stereo.

After a cancelled tour in 2020, which resulted in some inspired 'Fuck 2020' merch, Canada’s Holy Fuck are finally coming to Glasgow this month as they bring Deleter to Broadcast on 20 April; Metronomy tour their latest, Small World, stopping by the Barrowlands on 22 April, before Mitski touches down at the same venue with support from SASAMI on the 23rd, while the following night sees Dua Lipa bringing her massive Future Nostalgia Tour to the OVO Hydro. As if all that's not enough, Record Store Day returns this year on 23 April – support your local vinyl dealer!