The weather forecast was really promising for the TRNSMT Festival this year as 50,000 eager music fans turned up to see what day one would bring. SIIGHTS opened the festival on the King Tut’s stage as the fans trickled into the park, the alternative pop duo are Toni Etherson and Mia Fitz (from Glasgow and Dublin respectively) they provided a decent half hour to get everyone in the party mood. They had played at the River Stage last year so this was a step up for them, the younger audience members were delighted to hear a cover of Harry Styles Watermelon Sugar allowing everyone the chance to join in the first singalong of the weekend. SIIGHTS released an EP in March, Through Thick and Thin and we got to hear a few from that alongside their biggest tracks Never Gonna Regret U and Blue Skies. 8/10. A quick dash down to the River Stage for Fiona-Lee was well worth it as she ran through tracks from the upcoming EP including the only release to date Mother, a song written around a bad experience while living in London, Fiona-Lee herself describing it as “The single Mother is my revenge on a man in the music industry who thought he owned me”. A very emotional moment for the talented Glaswegian solo artist. 8/10.
The King Tut’s stage would prove to be the most popular for us across the weekend, Dublin band The Scratch have a reputation for putting on very interactive live shows, their sound can one minute be folk based and then explosively move into metal! The crowd were right behind them after first song Cheeky Bastard, vocalist Jordan O’Leary had everyone dancing and laughing from the off, while co-vocalist and percussionist Daniel Lang wowed the crowd with his very unique percussion techniques. Last song of the set Another Round set the place on fire, the energy levels from the crowd were memorable as everyone joined in with the chorus, everyone left with big smiles on their faces, that’s what these festivals are all about after all, definitely a band to see again 10/10. This year was definitely the ‘year of the Irish’ at TRNSMT, with no less than a dozen bands from the emerald isle playing over the weekend, Picture This being the most popular going by the big crowd they attracted to the Main Stage; Here are a band that have over 450 million streams of their songs alongside the fact that they sold out Dublin’s 3Arena for five nights in a row. The County Kildare lads provided a half hour of indie-pop tunes including four tracks from the April 2024 album Parked Car Conversations, vocalist Ryan Hennessy looked very relaxed in the sunshine as the fans sang the songs back to him. 7/10
Lauren Spencer-Smith has gained in popularity after going viral on TikTok in 2022 when debut single Fingers Crossed was released so it’s no wonder that she is playing the main stage today! UK born but hailing from the remote Vancouver Island she has build a massive following since the release of the Mirror album a year ago, The two front pens are full of screaming angst-ridden teenage girls mainly, we suppose that’s the beauty of a festival, there is something for everyone. You only need to look at the stats around Lauren’s music to realise her popularity: over 5 million monthly listens on Spotify with Fingers Crossed taking almost 450 million of those, very impressive indeed. 7/10. A quick dash back over to the King Tut’s stage saw the talented Nieve Ella ripping it up, this young English woman has came on leaps and bounds since appearing at TRNSMT last year on the smaller River Stage as we could see from the large crowd that had amassed. Latest release Sugarcoated goes down well with Nieve’s dedicated fanbase, the half hour of indie-pop music goes by really quickly during the eight-track set, Girlfriend and His Sofa were the other standout tracks, the best act of the day so far for us. 9/10.
It was back to the main stage next for old-timers Sugababes, it didn’t go without notice the size of the crowd they attracted at Glastonbury this year and this performance was no different, the front pens were full to capacity. We have to admit it’s not really our usual choice of music but managed to suffer twenty minutes of it before making a run for the River Stage where Heartworms were just about to start and so glad we did as they provided a half hour of what can only be described as goth-punk music with added electropop as lead singer Jojo Orme got the crowd onside straight away with her unique style of dancing and guitar playing, it pulled us in anyway and would be happy to see Heartworms play a headline show in the near future. Standout tracks were new single Jacked, Consistent Dedication and Retributions of an awful life, a very lively performance from the English band, definitely the surprise act of the day for us. 10/10
Declan McKenna attracted a large crowd for his set on the main stage but the atmosphere was somewhat subdued, our theory being that many were just claiming their spot for The Snuts, who were next up on the main stage. McKenna’s performance was outstanding as he played tracks from his three albums including five from 2024 release What Happened To The Beach?, this young man is such a talented musician, his guitar playing during Brazil and British Bombs were the standouts of the eleven track setlist. 10/10. The River Stage is where you get to see any up and coming bands and at 5.15pm Falkirk-based band Brogeal brought the energy and quite a large crowd as they played some tracks from their self-titled EP released in May, their music can be described as folk music infused with punk and rock, it works perfectly here and gets the crowd moving and even a small mosh pit opens up to add to the atmosphere. You’ll Be Mine is their biggest song to date and along with Girl From NYC were the best of the set. We’re looking forward to seeing them during their upcoming Glasgow Saint Luke’s show in September. 9/10
It turned out the Glass Onion band that were playing at The Hangout were none other than Glasgow band Travis who surprised everyone with an acoustic set on the same day that their latest album L.A.Times came out, we were really disappointed to have missed out on this one! Craig David also made an appearance with a secret set, there was so much going on that it’s easy to overlook the smaller areas. We caught the last ten minutes of the Wunderhorse set before heading back to the main stage for West Lothian’s finest, The Snuts, who delighted the massive crowd by opening with their most popular song Glasgow amid wild scenes, Glasgow Green was rocking to its core here! The independently released Millennials album earlier this year was a brave move but it has worked out perfectly for them as singer Jack Cochrane revealed in a recent interview that the band have made more money since the release of the album six months ago than they did the whole time with the record company. We got to hear five tracks from the Millennials album and five from Burn The Empire. Standout tracks for us were Always, Knuckles, Burn The Empire and the final song of the fifteen track set, Gloria. The crowd reaction to this track was incredible to end the hour long set, The Snuts also announced their biggest show to date at the OVO Hydro on 6th December, one not to be missed. 10/10.
The band of the moment, The Last Dinner Party, were playing over at King Tut’s stage, we thought it would be worthwhile to catch the last twenty minutes of their set, having not had the chance to see them live yet, and they lived up to expectations and more. To prove that they are a far-reaching band they travelled to Australia after this performance to play some festivals over there. We managed to catch the last five songs of their set, including a new one Killers, Mirror and Nothing Matters were memorable as singer Abigail Morris commanded the stage to the delight of the large crowd. 9/10
Garbage were the surprise announcement for TRMSNT this year, having never played the festival before now. The twelve track setlist was outstanding with all the big hits in there: I Think I’m Paranoid, Stupid Girl and Only Happy When It Rains. Shirley Manson tried her best to get the crowd moving but to be honest the crowd dynamics were terrible, being made up of teenagers waiting for Liam Gallagher’s performance, listening to songs that they had probably never even heard before but we would bet their mums or dads would! Manson commented at one point “Do any of you even know who the fuck we are?” unfortunately no would have been the definite answer to that question. Cities In The Dust was the surprise of the set, a cover of an old Siouxie and the Banshees track which Manson says influenced her music style as a youngster. 10/10
EXAMPLE was well through his set by the time we arrived back at King Tut’s, we heard that actor Martin Compston made an appearance on stage perhaps a little inebriated, oh well it is a festival after all. The twenty minutes that we saw went by really quickly and before we settled down it was time to head back for the final act of the night, the one and only Liam Gallagher who had a very successful UK tour last month with most shows sold out as he brought the Oasis debut album Definitely Maybe back to life thirty years later. We were lucky enough to review his show at the OVO Hydro so we knew what to expect from today’s performance as the younger members of the crowd lived out their mum and dads (and even grandparents) youths. As normal Gallagher began with Rock ‘n’ Roll Star as the young crowd enthusiastically sang back the words to him, the best was left to last as he ran through some of the big hitters from the Definitely Maybe album, Supersonic, Slide Away and Live Forever being the songs, before an encore of Beatles song I Am The Walrus ends the eighteen track set. This was the fourth time Liam has played Glasgow this year, he commented that “We’ll soon be sick of the sight of each other”. Who’s up for a What’s The Story (Morning Glory) 30th anniversary tour next year then? 9/10
Summing up day one: The crowd dynamics were very poor with barely any atmosphere during some of the sets. The organisers could have had EXAMPLE on the main stage before Liam Gallagher and Garbage on the King Tut’s stage meaning everyone gets to see what they REALLY want to see.
Written by: Alan Brown
