Day three of TRNSMT saw Somebody’s Child open the King Tut’s stage, the weather was still decent but there wasn’t much of a crowd yet to witness a great energetic set from vocalist Cian Godfrey and his band. This was definitely the day of the Irish as no fewer than five bands from the Emerald Isle would take to the stage today and all deservedly so, in fact the first four bands that we saw today are Irish. To try to define the music of Somebody’s Child you would need to take The War On Drugs and mix it up with some 1990s indie bands such as The Verve and out would pop Somebody’s Child (no pun intended). Two tracks stood out in the set, Jungle and We Could Start A War, the latter tracks being very relevant in the current state of the world we live in, the lyrics are very thought provoking and quite emotional to be frank “You know we would start a war/Or we could live in peace/So what the fuck are we fighting for/What are we hoping to achieve?”. These two songs were the perfect end to a lively set. 9/10
A quick dash over to the main stage for another Irish band CMAT (Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson), we knew what to expect from this set as the talented singer-songwriter ran through a half hour set filled with humour and an eclectic mix of country inspired music as well as indie rock. The country song I Wanna Be A Cowboy, Baby! gets the crowd dancing the two step but the highlight of the set as always is Stay For Something as CMAT comes down to greet the crowd, the energy during this set was a great way to get the crowd warmed up for the day ahead. 9/10
Kingfishr had already started their set by the time we ran back across to the King Tut’s stage, we saw five songs including their biggest song to date Eyes Don’t Lie, the week after TRNSMT they released an album Live From Dublin, this is well worth a listen. The last year has been massive for Kingfishr and we look forward to seeing them on bigger stages soon. 9/10
Staying at the King Tut’s stage SPRINTS are yet another Irish band that were on the must see list and they didn’t let us down, showing up with an explosive set filled with garage punk tracks. Vocalist Karla Chubb announced that they all have hangover as they have been out touring with IDLES, you wouldn’t expect anything else as IDLES are known for their wild gigs, the super-charged set included songs such as Heavy, Little Fix and Adore Adore Adore. They have a busy end to the year, heading out on a North American tour before returning for a UK tour in November, afterwards heading out to Europe to end the year on a high. We can’t wait for the SWG3 performance on 28th November. 9/10
Alison Goldfrapp played a mixture of solo tracks and older ones from the 1990s Goldfrapp days but unfortunately the crowd let her down big time, most of them would have not even been born when Goldfrapp were ripping up the dancefloors in the 90s! She tried to get the crowd moving but if you don’t know a band’s songs then that is unlikely to happen, we would bet on a Barrowland show selling out fast but it was just the wrong type of crowd today. Alison was joined on stage by two keyboard players and some dancers bringing the extra energy. The older Goldfrapp songs such as Ooh La La brought back memories from our (ahem) younger days, along with Strict Machine we found the set very enjoyable. 8/10
Blossoms brought ‘Gary the gorilla’ along today, this will be the title of their upcoming album after singer Tom Ogden heard a news story on the radio last year about a gorilla that was stolen from a garden centre in Wishaw, that inspired him to write the title song Gary when he got home, Gary himself was found safe and well at the side of a road, we should point out that Gary is a fake gorilla! Other than that excitement the Stockport indie band played though a lively set attracting a big crowd to the main stage working though tracks such as Getaway which we thought was played perfectly, finishing up with big hit Charlemagne. Blossoms will headline a one day festival at Wythenshawe Park in Manchester on 25th August and will be brining along several support bands. 8/10
Nova Twins describe their music as a clash of ideas from the worlds of punk, rap, pop and rock and it worked well today judging by the crowd reaction, this was honestly one of the best performances of the weekend. Amy Love (vocals/guitar) and Georgia South (bass) have been friends since childhood and it shows on stage, they always seem so connected as they used the full stage during the explosive half hour performance. If anyone needs lessons on how to play a bass then they should look up Georgia South, this was one of the best performances we have ever seen, sometimes psychedelic and always punky and energetic, the foot pedal setup was mesmerising and this alone gets a 10/10 from us, Antagonist, Cleopatra and Choose Your Fighter were the pick of the set. We hope Nova Twins announce another tour soon as this half hour was far too short for such a talented band. 10/10
The Reytons have a motto “No Label, No Backing, All Reytons”. Here is a band that have deliberately avoided the minefield of signing to a record label, everything they do has been off their own backs which is remarkable in todays over marketed music world. An example of this was the Clifton Park gig that they organised the previous weekend, they sold 20,000 for that Rotherham gig, incredible for an ‘unsigned band’. We have been following The Reytons music for a few years now and have been very impressed with the progress of the band over that time, they released album number three in January, Ballad Of A Bystander and we would get to hear five songs from that album alongside some of the biggest hits including Slice Of Lime and Kids Off The Estate, these two songs always get the crowd going and tonight was no different as they ripped it apart on the King Tut’s stage. The crowd brought the high energy to this performance, a lot of the fans travelled up from England especially to see them, that’s the pulling power of The Reytons. At one point singer Johnny Yerrell commented that there were lots of Spanish people in the crowd tonight, as more than a few youngsters showed their patriotic side by sporting Spanish flags, there were quite a few St George’s ones as well to be fair, a nod to the Euros final between England and Spain that was happening tonight, adding to the excitement. It was really good to hear Market Street and Cash In Hand & Fake IDs tonight, two of the best from the forty-five minute set. These guys can do no wrong at the moment. 10/10
After the breath-taking performance from The Reytons it was a choice between Calvin Harris and English Teacher, there was only one winner there as we headed down to the River Stage one last time this weekend to catch Leeds band English Teacher. Vocalist Lily Fontaine kept the crowd entertained with a half-hour set, albeit the crowd was quite small with another counter attraction on the main stage, the band asked the crowd to be as noisy as possible which we tried to do as often as we could. 2024 has been a big year for this band that formed in 2020 after meeting at university, as well as a sold out UK tour they also released a debut album in April, This Could Be Texas, we would get to hear eight tracks from the album tonight starting with their biggest song to date The World’s Biggest Paving Slab, this one went down well with the appreciative crowd, Nearly Daffodils was another highlight of the set. The River Stage plays an important part at TRNSMT showcasing up and coming bands many of whom that have played on this stage have gone on to play on the main stage. 9/10
Enter Shikari closed the King Tut’s stage to end the 2024 TRNSMT Festival sometimes fighting over the racket coming from the main stage (ie. Calvin Harris) but what a performance these four guys put on for us, the set had everything: high energy, singing, dancing, mosh pits, crowd surfing, a perfect end to a perfect weekend. The band members are Rou Reynolds (vocals/keyboards), Chris Batten (bass), Rory Clewlow (guitar) and Rob Rolfe (drums), the performance was almost like a celebration of the recent album launch, Dancing On The Frontline was released just the previous week on 5th July. The set began with System … this one was performed acapella by Rou Reynolds before it burst into … Meltdown getting the crowd moving. During Live Outside the confetti cannons were out to fire up the crowd, not that we need it, the energy down the front was as energetic as we saw all weekend. This was a full-on hour of alternative rock from the band formed in St Albans in 1999 with the most popular tracks left to the end of the set, Sorry, You’re Not A Winner got the crowd surfing started while A Kiss For The Whole World x ended the set on a massive high with what must have been the biggest mosh pit of the weekend. After early doubts on Friday Glasgow still knows how to party! We are looking forward to the Barrowland show later in the year. 10/10
Sunday was the best day of the festival by a long shot, some of the performances today will live long in the memory. See you in 2025 TRNSMT!
Check out our review of Friday HERE and Saturday HERE.
Written by: Alan Brown
