Scottish Live Music Highlights: January 2023

Welcome to January 2023! This time last year, things were being cancelled left, right and centre, but at the time of writing this (mid-December 2022) we're feeling a lot more hopeful for 2023, and January is looking pretty braw, with gig series and festivals aplenty taking over Glasgow already – it is a UNESCO city of music after all.

The Hug & Pint kick things off early with their fortnight of First Footing shows (3-18 Jan); our top picks include Edinburgh punks Bikini Body (7 Jan), pop-rock artist Megan Black (13 Jan), angular fuzzy rock outfit The Wife Guys of Reddit (14 Jan) and the return of Posable Action Figures (15 Jan). Across town, the annual King Tut’s New Year’s Revolution is also back (4-28 Jan), with shows from Pinc Wafer (7 Jan), Pretty Preacher’s Club (8 Jan), Rosie H Sullivan (21 Jan) and Swiss Portrait (26 Jan), whose summer-soaked bops are sure to warm up the coldest of winter nights.

Rozi Plain

Celtic Connections returns this month too, celebrating folk, trad and world music effortlessly, not to mention abundantly. Taking place from 19 January, the festival creeps its way into the first week of February too; 20 January is a particularly packed day early in proceedings with performances from Vanives and kitti (St. Luke’s), Lewis McLaughlin and NANI (CCA), CLR Theory (The Glad Cafe) and Fergus McCreadie (The Mackintosh Church) just some of what you can see that day. Later in the run, catch Callum Easter at CCA (27 Jan), Rozi Plain and Terra Kin at Drygate Brewery (29 Jan), The Twilight Sad and Michael Timmons at Old Fruitmarket (29 Jan) and Broken Chanter at The Hug & Pint (31 Jan). The Twilight Sad also perform a special stripped back set as part of Edinburgh’s Burns & Beyond festival in Edinburgh on 28 January at Assembly Rooms, with The Kinnaris Quintet playing the following night with special guests Julie Fowlis and Karine Polwart.

Also in January, there are some glorious early shows happening at Mono, with Florist bringing their sublime self-titled album to the venue on the 5th, while London feminist punk troupe Big Joanie continue to celebrate their latest effort Back Home on the 14th. A week later, risqué Swedish rockers Viagra Boys will show the Barrowlands how it’s done on the 21st, before hometown heroes The Delgados play the same spot on the 25th. In Edinburgh, Glasgow outfit The Joy Hotel play The Mash House (21 Jan), while Welsh pop-punk trio The Bug Club stop by The Voodoo Rooms (25 Jan) before playing Dundee’s Beat Generator Live! (26 Jan), The Tooth and Claw, Inverness (27 Jan) and The Tunnels, Aberdeen (28 Jan). Finally, keep your eyes peeled for show announcements celebrating Independent Venue Week, which this year takes place from 30 January. [Tallah Brash]