Into Music : Upcoming Gigs

It’s great to see live music getting back to (a kind of) normality again. There are a few upcoming shows that have caught the attention of Into Creative – hopefully we might see you there…

Concert: Theatre of Hate
Venue: Dunfermline, PJ Molloys
Date: 17 April 2022

PJ Molloys in Dunfermline is a cracking setting for gigs and only recently took part in Independent Venue Week, hosting a special show by Franz Ferdinand and Hamish Hawk. Fast forward a few weeks and the post-punk sounds of Theatre of Hate will grace the stage on Sunday 17 April.

It’s fair to say that lead singer-songwriter Kirk Brandon is one of the most hard working musicians around. Known also for his work with other bands The Pack, Spear of Destiny, Dead Men Walking – see the review of their Nov 21 gig at Glasgow Oran Mor here – and also solo aKoustiK shows, Brandon knows his way round a stage and has a fantastic back catalogue to back it up.

Theatre of Hate initially started in 1980 before splitting – Brandon then establishing Spear of Destiny – and since reforming in the early 2010’s, they continue to release new music and tour across the U.K. and beyond. Joining Kirk will be original band members Stan Stammers (bass) and John Lennard (sax) as well as long time collaborators Adrian Portas (guitar) and Chris Bell (drums).

Early tracks such as Legion, The Hop and Do You Believe In The Westworld? are sure to get an outing but look out for new material which stands up well, particularly from recent albums such as Utsukushi-sa/A Thing Of Beauty, Black Irony and Kinshi.

For tickets and details on other U.K. shows on the A Thing Of Beauty tour head over to Kirk Brandon’s website here.

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Concert: Reef
Venue: Glasgow Queen Margaret Union
Date: 08 April 2022

If you’ve ever scene Reef live, you will know they make an absolute racket -in a good way – and if you haven’t seen them play, then why the hell not? The band burst on to the scene in the mid 1990s, railing against the Britpop explosion of the time and leaving in their wake four albums over a five year period which saw them ranked as one of the best live rocks acts going.

The band split in 2003 by which point they had accumulated an impressive seven U.K. top 20 hits. Fast forward a few years to 2018 and new album Revelation was released which revealed that while the band could certainly still rock, that they had other strings to their bow with tracks steeped in psychedelia and the blues.

Singer Gary Stringer had this to say about getting out and playing live again:

It’s really exciting for me to go out and to play and to look into people’s eyes who are ready to rock already. You get on stage and throw that energy down and it comes right back. That’s how you get an exciting gig. That’s a feeling that’s addictive for a musician. It makes you want to keep going out and giving it your everything and playing hard and rocking out.

With a new album in Shoot Me Your Ace ready to follow in April, it’s an exciting time for the English rockers. Head over to the Reef website here for tickets to the Glasgow show and the wider U.K. tour.

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Concert: Alabama 3
Venue: Edinburgh, The Liquid Room/ Glasgow SWG3
Date: 08 April 2022/ 09 April 2022

The first time I saw Alabama 3 play live was at Falkirk Vibrations Festival, less than a week after the death of founding member Jake Black. In some ways I was surprised the show went ahead, but they used the occasion to rightly celebrate their former friend and member and put on what was a really memorable gig.

Suffice to say they don’t do normal, they don’t play it by numbers and they certainly don’t disappoint. Charismatic, yes. Different, undoubtedly. Magical, that’s Alabama 3.

Rob Spragg a.k.a. Larry Love leads the Brixton collective and the band are out on their Step 13 : The Divine Intervention Tour in support of their 13th album which was released in September 2021. Mixing psychedelia, country, acid, jazz and dance with a smattering of punk attitude they are without doubt one of the best live acts on the circuit today. Take my word for it, you don’t want to miss them when they come to a town near you.

Head on over to the Alabama 3 website here for tickets to their Scottish dates and other U.K. shows.

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Round Up:
Elsewhere Natalie Imbruglia will be coming to Glasgow on Tuesday 18th October for a date at SWG3 in support of the 25th anniversary of her album Left Of The Middle. Tickets can be purchased here.

Primal Scream have announced the support acts for the duo of gigs to celebrate Screamadelica at Glasgow Queens Park (1 & 2 July 2022) which sees Lonelady play both nights, The Mysterines on the Friday and Walt Disco (see the recent interview with Walt Disco here) on the Saturday. Tour details are here.

Teenage Fanclub head off on an extensive European tour and start off at Glasgow SWG3 on Wednesday 6 April and will feature tracks from latest album Endless Arcade as well as some old favourites. Tickets are available here.

Fontaines D.C. have also just announced a headlining tour in support of upcoming album Skinty Fia (due 22nd April) including a date at Glasgow O2 Academy. An absolutely fantastic live band (see the Into Creative review of their recent Barrowland show here) this is one expected to sell out fast. Details here.

John Welsh
@welshjb