Scottish Live Music Highlights: May 2023

There are some absolutely gargantuan shows happening in Scotland this month. Beyoncé, our POP! issue muse, plays Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium on 20 May, before Harry Styles stops by the following week for two nights in the same spot (26 & 27 May). On the same weekend that Harry's in the country, a plethora of pop stars will also flock to Dundee’s Camperdown Park for Radio 1’s Big Weekend, with Arlo Parks, Wet Leg, Anne-Marie, Ashnikko, FLO, Georgia, Romy, Self Esteem and The 1975 all set to play.

Before all of that, the start of the month sees The Road To The Great Escape land in Glasgow. A warm-up run of shows for Brighton’s The Great Escape (10-13 May), on 6 May catch artists set to play the showcase festival at King Tut’s, Nice N Sleazy, The Garage Attic Bar and G2, including Katie Gregson-Macleod, Terra Kin, Humour, LVRA and more. That same weekend in Glasgow, the Melting Pot x Heverlee Springtime Weekender takes place in Queen’s Park with Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul, James Holden and Pleasure Pool all set to play live. 

Image: Caroline Polachek by Aidan Zamiri

As the month rolls on, ahead of releasing Tracey Denim, catch the hypnagogic pop of Londoners bar italia at Edinburgh’s Sneaky Pete’s (11 May). The following week, grunge rockers OSEES will rip it up at Glasgow’s Old Fruitmarket (19 May) and Summerhall’s Dissection Room (20 May). On the same night in Edinburgh, Devo tribute act We Are Not Devo play Voodoo Rooms. Back in Glasgow, Billie Marten brings the dreamy Drop Cherries to Saint Luke’s (24 May), before Caroline Polachek brings her incredible pop pipes and latest album, Desire, I Want to Turn Into You, to SWG3 (25 May), the same night Sam Smith’s rescheduled April show happens at the OVO Hydro. At the end of the month, New Zealand’s The Beths play The Garage (30 May), while the following night brings Alvvays to SWG3 and New York icons Interpol to Edinburgh’s O2 Academy.

May also sees a whole host of local artists celebrating new releases. Post Coal Prom Queen launch Music For First Contact at The Old Hairdresser’s (4 May), Brooke Combe’s Black Is the New Gold mixtape gets an airing at QMU (12 May), Comfort play Dundee (Conroy’s Basement, 12 May), Glasgow (The Old Hairdresser’s, 13 May) and Edinburgh (Leith Depot, 14 May) in honour of What’s Bad Enough? and Slime City launch the addictive Slime City Death Club at Saint Luke’s with a little help from LNFG labelmates Bis and Casual Worker (17 May).