Rip It Up: Most Iconic Gigs in Scotland

To write the story of music in Scotland from the perspective of the people at the very heart of it, we contacted a few of Scotland's most celebrated musicians and behind-the-scenes influencers to ask them five questions.

Free to answer as few or as many as they wished, we're pleased to report that most of them responded (particularly Shirley Manson, we're really excited about Shirley Manson) answering all of our questions. To make this more manageable, we've broken this down into five features covering the following questions – the question in bold is the one covered here and you can click through to the others easily for continued reading:

1. What Scottish venue played an important and influential role in your musical career and why?
2. What is the most iconic gig you can remember attending in Scotland and what made it stand out?
3. Which Scottish band/artist has been really influential to you/ignited your passion for music and why?
4. What do you think have been the most significant changes in the Scottish music scene since the start of your career?
5. Where do you feel Scottish music fits in on a global scale?

"When my band Garbage played in Princes Street Gardens underneath Edinburgh Castle for the opening celebrations of the first Scottish Parliament in 300 years. It was fucking epic." [Shirley Manson, Garbage]

"That's a really difficult question. I think there's one that really sticks in my mind. I saw Arcade Fire – just as Neon Bible came out – at the Barrowlands. There's never been a buzz like it at the Barrowlands that I can remember because that album was connecting in a really, really deep way. One of those ones where you literally knew everyone at the gig because everyone was buzzing off this record. That's the one that sticks in my mind, but honestly, there's about 20..." [Martin Doherty, CHVRCHES]

"The best gig I've ever seen was at Hampden Park, and it was Beyoncé. It was the closest I've ever came to a religious experience; she ruled us like a goddess. And, as I say, my first ever gig was David Byrne at the Barrowlands, which is still among the best venues in the world." [Aidan Moffat, Arab Strap]

"I would say either dEUS at the Edinburgh Venue in 1994 or Sonic Youth with Pavement supporting at the Barrowlands in 1992. Both those shows hit me at the right time in my life. Two amazing Scottish venues that offered a young music fan the chance to witness these influential and enduring bands in such an electric atmosphere. After both shows I knew that I wanted to play music – I just needed to work out how to go about doing it!" [Roddy Woomble, Idlewild]

"So many to choose from but I’ll always remember my excitement at seeing The Specials/Madness/Selector gig at Tiffany’s Glasgow... Seeing Siouxsie and the Banshees in Edinburgh and then getting to tour with them not long after. The Psychedelic Furs at the Bungalow Bar in Paisley. Ian Dury at the Apollo... I could go on and on. So many magical nights..." [Clare Grogan, Altered Images]

"Throbbing Gristle at the Tramway. Putting this on was literally a dream come true." [JD Twitch, Optimo]

"That award will need to be shared between Vic Goddard at the Citrus Club, a sadly under-used live venue; Cool Kids at the old Embassy club in front of about 20 people; Callum Easter at The Biscuit Factory; Law Holt at The Voodoo Rooms and Young Fathers at the Neu! Reekie! show at Central Hall in 2015." [Tim London, Young Fathers co-producer]

"So many iconic performances, honestly! I think part of what makes shows in Scotland feel so iconic is the fans. We have the best fans on earth and I think that drives the performances and inspires the artists when they’re on stage. If I had to choose one though, I’m going to say Leonard Cohen at Edinburgh Castle. Absolutely amazing show. This man, his voice and songwriting – he just had such a gift. Watching that show on a summer's night with Edinburgh Castle as the backdrop and dusk slowly moving in was so moving. It was years ago and I still think of that show all the time." [Gráinne Braithwaite, Synergy Concerts]

"The Glasgow Barrowlands for me is magical. It’s dancehall history thrills me and I worked there in the early 1970s at weekends then progressed to busking outside it. I’ve seen Bob Dylan there. Second place would be the Beach Ballroom in Aberdeen. We filmed the John Byrne’s Your Cheatin’ Heart there and I got to sing with Guy Mitchell, (my mothers favourite)." [Eddi Reader, Fairground Attraction]

"My good friend Norman Blake and I went to see Ivor Cutler together. I think it was part of MayFest and was possibly at The Pavillion Theatre, but I'm not 100% sure. I can't remember the venue but I can remember his performance and the effect it had on us. He created his own unique world in his songs and poems and invited the audience to visit him in that world. The show started with him requesting the audience to clap at half their normal volume, a request he repeated later. The show contained a perfect mix of humour, poignancy and great entertainment, but he achieved this without compromising who he was or what he did. That was a great lesson for us to see and learn from." [Dugas T. Stewart, BMX Bandits]

"Watching Primal Scream on the XTRMNTR tour, playing at the Barrowlands. That felt special. Kevin Shields had just joined the band and he came out on stage on his own, creating cataclysmic volcanoes of sound from his guitar for ages, before Bobby and the rest piled on, roaring into Swastika Eyes, then Shoot Speed Kill Light. There wasn’t exactly a mosh-pit, so much as the whole fucking room was a mosh-pit – exhilarating stuff, when you’re on that Barras sprung floor." [Johnny Lynch, Pictish Trail & Lost Map Records]

"I remember going to Connect festival the year that that was on and just being completely blown away by that line-up. I feel like it was all just such amazing, solid alternative music and I don't know if we've seen the likes of it since to be honest. I think in one weekend I saw M.I.A., Regina Spektor, Beastie Boys, Björk and each of those four shows were things you weren't getting in Scotland anyway. And the fact that we'd go see all those things as part of one festival was pretty crazy." [Lauren Mayberry, CHVRCHES]

"For me, this has to be the 5th birthday of Chemikal Underground held at The Garage in 2000. We had John Peel compering, and a load of the bands on the label playing, including Mogwai, Bis, The Delgados, Magoo, Arab Strap etc. It was a hugely special night for all of us, marking an important milestone in the label’s career. To have John Peel there too was just unforgettable." [Emma Pollock, The Delgados & Chemikal Underground]

"I have to admit, I hardly ever saw any gigs in Scotland because I didn’t have any money when I lived there! But my most memorable music experience was my very first festival – T in the Park in 1996 was fucking AMAZING! I was singing with Kenny Anderson/King Creosote, and I saw Beck, Radiohead, Alanis Morissette, Mazzy Star, Leftfield, The Cocteau Twins AND Keanu Reeves playing bass in Dogstar! It remains one of the best festival line-ups I’ve ever seen. I made a pact with myself I would only ever go to a festival if I managed to get a gig; it took me ten years!" [KT Tunstall]

"Radio 1's Big Weekend in Dundee in 2006. It was pretty surreal. I was only nine-years-old and my favourite artist at the time was Corrine Bailey Rae – I got to meet her and she signed my ticket. I didn't have a camera or a phone at that time so I don't have any evidence but it's an amazing memory. I lived in Dryburgh at the time and it was crazy that artists like Pink and Paolo Nutini were literally playing so close to my house. The View were becoming huge at that time and there was such a buzz about the place. I loved how they were from Dundee and were becoming so successful and that definitely inspired me!" [Charlotte Brimner, Be Charlotte]

"Seeing Big Country in their prime in the mid-eighties was always amazing, but the best single gig I ever saw was The Stranglers at the Edinburgh Playhouse in 1986. For a teenager the bouncers at the venue were absolutely terrifying, but that night they met their match. Although the band had developed what they described as a 'coffee table' sound, their older fans were very much rooted in the punk past and were not about to be intimidated by a bunch of geezers used to dealing with kids. The Stranglers played the classics, the bouncers beat a retreat and it was the first time I ever joined a stage invasion." [Olaf Furniss, Born to Be Wide & Wide Days & Under the Radar]

"Almost impossible to single out one gig but the first time I saw Simple Minds in a tiny basement room of The Grafton Bar in Glasgow. It was 1978, their third gig and you knew you were seeing something extraordinary. The first Clash gig at the Playhouse (The White Riot Tour) in May 1977 was pretty special, but I got thrown out for taking photos on my Kodak Instamatic 77 so only saw three songs – but what songs! Some of the results can be seen in my photobook Teenage Instamatics – available here and on sale from the museum shop at the Rip It Up exhibition." [Ronnie Gurr, Music Industry Manager & Book Publisher & Rip It Up Exhibition Consultant]

"Erk. Bob Dylan at The Barras? My first Randy Newman show at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall? Dexys Midnight Runners at Glasgow Pavillion? Gil Scott-Heron in some forgotten club in Sauchiehall Street? I think I’ll go with Jonathan Richman solo electric on the Renfrew Ferry in May 1992. My first time seeing him. I loved his songs. I was at a table near the front of the stage and the sun was going down over The River Clyde and he kept making eye contact and I don’t think I ever remember feeling so happy at a gig." [Francis Macdonald, Teenage Fanclub]

"I’ve been asked this before and I find it so hard to answer because there are so many amazing gigs in Scotland each week – I mean, it would be hard to pick a winner each month, let alone across all time! That said, I think watching Prince blow the crowd away at the SSE Hydro shortly before his death is a show I will never forget. There are few artists that have been part of my musical journey from childhood but Prince is one of them – what a performer, what a legend, what an amazing human! Additionally, from a career point of view, watching Coldplay from the side of stage at T in the Park in 2003 was the moment I knew that working in music was 100% what I wanted to do. I’ve never spontaneously burst into tears of joy before, and seeing that phenomenal audience singing back to Chris Martin was an absolutely amazing experience – and actually turned me into a Coldplay fan for life!" [Aarti Joshi, DF Concerts]

"When Monotonix played Sneaky Pete's in 2009 they changed my sense of what a gig could be. They started the set with five minutes of feedback and crowdsurfing held aloft ON TOP OF THEIR DRUMS before taking the whole audience out into the street. When they got back into the venue for more crowd-suspended riffing and playing on top of the bar whilst dripping sweat onto the bar staff, I was terrified they would get their long hair caught in the whirling fans above!" [Nick Stewart, Sneaky Pete's]

---

Click the numbers to continue reading the answers to Questions 1, 3, 4 and 5

Photo credits for lead image: Lauren Mayberry by Eoin Carey; Aidan Moffat by LUCUSj Photography; Johnny Lynch by Beth Chalmers; KT Tunstall by Piper Ferguson; Emma Pollock by Jannica Honey; Nick Stewart by Holly Brown; Tracyanne Campbell by Anna Isola Crolla