TRNSMT Festival – Day One
Glasgow Green, Glasgow
12th July 2024
Friday at TRNSMT brings some great music old and new; rising stars, Glaswegian icons and a talented tribute act.
It’s mid afternoon in a warm sunny Glasgow and the main stage looks busy. Anglo Canadian viral sensation Lauren Spencer Smith walks on stage to the accompaniment of thousands of shrieking teenage girls. So welcome to TRNSMT, Scotland’s premier Tik Tok festival – more on that later. Lauren treats us to thirty minutes of teenage angst and heartbreak. Lyrically she’s often downbeat but her music has an uplifting, and at times, yearning quality. She’s also got a great emotive voice. It’s an unexpectedly good start to the weekend.
From one twenty year old to another, young Scot Ben Walker and his band are tearing up the small River Stage with their guitar-driven melodic indie rock. There’s a real urgency and chemistry here that readily connects with the crowd; probably the largest to grace the stage all weekend. Clearly the word is out in Scotland, and if there’s any justice he’s a name we’ll be hearing a lot more of.
Unsurprisingly, England does youthful talent too. Nieve Ella brings us jangly guitar based indie pop with plenty of angst and darker grungy touches. Her set on King Tut’s Stage draws a small but enthusiastic crowd, with many clearly familiar with standout track Sugarcoated.
Back on the Main Stage Declan McKenna draws a large but fairly lifeless crowd for his quirky pop. Fortunately there’s far more interesting fare elsewhere and Heartworms are a real find. I’ve never heard of them. Dark, goth inspired post punk doesn’t really do them justice but it’s as near as I can come with a description. The singer’s simply mesmerising and she’s an accomplished guitarist too. A second guitarist replete with strange hat and odd stare just adds to their visual appeal. It’s such a pity that so few are here to witness them but it’s a world away from what’s going down on the Main Stage where some sugary soul pop trio, who were big twenty years ago and hate photographers are wowing the multitudes.
It’s great when festivals throw up surprises. I’m told that there’s a secret set in the aptly named Secret Garden. I’ve no idea who but approaching the secluded stage, Fran Healy’s dubious orange barnet gives them away. Glaswegian icons Travis treat us to an all too brief greatest hits set on the tiniest of stages. Up close and personal, it’s one of special performances that come along all too rarely.
Hype in the music business is nothing new. Too often reality doesn’t match the promo, but The Last Dinner Party have talent to burn. Having first seen them two years ago and thinking they had something special, they’ve just got better and better. Flamboyant and theatrical, there’s no doubt they owe debts to Bowie, to Sparks, and obviously to Kate Bush, but they’re developing a growing arsenal of songs too. The sight and sound of crowds singing back, “And I will f**k you like nothing matters” to five women on stage is quite something. Anyone who saw their Glasto performance will attest to that.
They’re probably “The” band of the moment so surely the 10,000 capacity King Tut’s field is rammed. Well no, it’s barely half full. So where is everyone? They’re all watching The Snuts. The TRNSMT audience clearly prefers a diet of wholesome mince and tatties to exotic fruits…
Heading back to the Main Stage is akin to battling through of human tsunami. There’s a mass exodus underway. ’90s alt rock pioneers Garbage are tonight’s penultimate Main Stage act and Glaswegian Shirley Manson has hinted it might be the band’s final hometown gig for her. They deliver a great performance; for me easily the best on the Main Stage today. Manson’s lost none of her venom and vitriol. She’s pissed off too; the field’s half empty, thousands have rushed to see Example play his old bangers at King Tut’s. Those who remain look bored and bemused with many seemingly just keeping their places for tonight’s headliner. A few songs in and Shirley’s had enough. “Do any of you people even know who the f**k we are?” There’s no response; most don’t seem to be even listening.
As for the music, of course we get the classics: Stupid Girl, I Think I’m Paranoid, and Only Happy When It Rains, but this is no heritage trip. We get impressive new stuff too with The Men Who Rule The World and Godhead railing against a male dominated world. It’s all lost on this crowd though, so all too soon the band are gone.
And so to tonight’s headline act; an Oasis tribute band fronted by ex-Oasis singer Liam Gallagher. It’s a celebration of his former band’s first album with a few non album Oasis tracks thrown in too. They open with Rock’n’Roll Star. It’s very apt; Gallagher has just flown in on a private jet. There’s little need for a blow by blow account, we’re all very familiar with most of these songs. But is the performance any good? Like all the best tribute bands the answer’s yes. Gallagher’s Mancunian whine is pretty intact and his arrogance comes as a given. The band are good too, but they should be with nine musicians on stage. Now, how many people were in Oasis?
So we get ninety minutes of Liam milking his brother’s songwriting talents and then he’s gone, into the night sky. There’s a great mid-Seventies song by The Steve Miller Band, Take the Money And Run, that neatly sums things up. But hey, I’m being churlish and I shouldn’t. Tonight, 50,000 Gen Z’s have had a the time of their lives re living their parent’s youth.
TRNSMT Festival festival can be followed on Facebook and their website
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Words and photos by Trev Eales. More work by Trev on Louder Than War can be found at his author’s profile. His photography portfolio is here
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