Scottish Live Music Highlights: March 2024

Kicking things off in Stirling this month, we’re excited about the New Noise series at Tolbooth which dominates Fridays. Throughout the month you'll find folk artists Fidra (1 Mar), scrappy electro punks Brenda (8 Mar), supreme singer-songwriter Alice Faye (15 Mar) and Lost Map's melodic Sulka (22 Mar). With grand plans across Tolbooth and the city’s Albert Halls venue, Stirling is one to watch for new music.

International Women’s Day is officially on 8 March, but we don’t want to limit celebrating women to only one day, so here's a whole host of local events to check out through the month. On 2 March, be sure to catch LVRA performing as part of King Tut's Halo night which showcases the best producers and DJs from Scotland. On the 6th, singer-songwriter-rapper EYVE launches her debut EP Sista! Beyond the sky isn’t the limit at The Old Hairdresser’s, while you can catch the aforementioned Brenda at Tolbooth on the 8th. On 9 March, in Edinburgh head for Summerhall’s Dissection Room to catch the Rebecca Vasmant Live Ensemble, or to the basement of The Safari Lounge for Thundermoon who perform at Supper Club. 

If you find yourself in Galashiels on the same day, be sure to head for MacArts where you can catch Swim School and Her Picture, while on the 22nd in Glasgow, head for Stereo’s She/Her Live night celebrating International Women’s Day with a night showcasing female and female identifying artists across live music, magic(!) and dance, with all proceeds going to Women’s Aid, or catch the Martha Ffion-fronted Former Champ at The Rum Shack.

When it comes to all-dayers, March is bookended by two in Edinburgh with Fuzz Bat’s St Vincent’s Spring All Dayer in Stockbridge (2 Mar) with live sets from Adam Stafford, Bell Lungs, Gaze Is Ghost, Ali Sha Sha and loads more, while Edinburgh Psych Fest bring Cave Wave to The Caves on Easter Sunday (31 Mar) with Scaler (fka Scalping), PVA, Eyes of Others, Pearling and Ebbb all set to play. On 9 March, EHFM is celebrating experimental music with a whole daytime broadcast dedicated to exactly that, rounded off with an evening of live performances at Embassy called Works In Progress: Live. 

If immersive audiovisual performance is more your thing, head for Sean Logan’s Collide at CCA (7 Mar), hosted by Cryptic in partnership with the National Autistic Society Scotland. Back in Edinburgh, AMPLIFI returns to The Queen’s Hall (20 Mar) with a trio of local hip-hop talent as Conscious Route, Jurnalist and P CASO get set to rock the venue’s cafe, while you’ll also find a whole host of touring artists across the Central Belt this month including Gilla Band (The Caves, 3 Mar), bdrmm (Beat Generator Live!, 7 Mar), Say She She (Assembly Rooms, 11 Mar), 1-800 GIRLS (live) (Sneaky Pete's, 13 Mar), Yard Act (O2 Academy Glasgow, 15 Mar), Griff (Barrowlands, 30 Mar) and Fatima Yamaha (SWG3, 31 Mar).