IT is the biggest music festival in the country and takes place right in the heart of a city, and yesterday the finishing touches to the TRNSMT site were being made ahead of its start.
Glasgow Green was looking great as the organisers were prepping the Main Stage, where some of the biggest names in music will be playing over the weekend.
Festival boss Geoff Ellis is expecting 50,000 people through the gates.
He said: “We’re pretty much sold out now for Friday and Saturday and completely sold out on Sunday. It’ll be easier to get a ticket for the Wimbledon final than it will be for the Sunday of TRNSMT.”
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Gearing up to host headline acts in front of the iconic People’s Palace, hundreds were working to assemble the festival site for its third year in Glasgow Green.
Opening the Mainstage today is Gus Dapperton and Mabel, with Years & Years, Gerry Cinnamon and Glastonbury favourite Stormzy.
Tomorrow will see Catfish & the Bottlemen, Bastille and Sam Fender, and headlining on Sunday is George Ezra, Emeli Sande and Glasgow favourite Lewis Capaldi.
But Mr Ellis admitted that he cannot pick a personal highlight.
He said: “It’s hard to pick one because there are so many great acts. Stormzy and Gerry Cinnamon are arguably two of the most important people’s poets of the current generation, they’re going to be fantastic. Stormzy was amazing at Glastonbury. It’s really going to kick off when they’re on stage. What’s not to like, really?”
Accompanying the Main Stage is the King Tut’s Stage and Smirnoff Stage, as well as a new addition, Queen Tut’s.
The site is showcasing new initiatives that TRNSMT are striving for this year, including addressing the gender imbalance in the music industry, making the festival as eco-friendly as possible and encouraging young people in Glasgow to engage with music.
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In a move to better showcase new female artists and bands that are at a grassroots level like Lauren Spiteri and ST MARTiiNS, the Queen Tut’s stage is TRNSMT’s vow to reduce the gender gap in the music industry.
Mr Ellis added: “For us, that’s our way of giving a bit of a platform to some fledgling female acts who probably wouldn’t be playing the festival otherwise. It’s unashamedly for female artists, or artists who are female in their make-up.
“Hopefully it’ll encourage more acts to keep together when they see they have a festival opportunity.
“There are far less female bands and artists than are males, that’s a fact. How do we change that? Encourage more young females to pick up a guitar, start writing songs and become DJs. If we can do that, we’ve done our little bit.”
This year the festival will be doing its charitable bit too by working with local schools and Glasgow City Council to encourage young people to start playing music.
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Mr Ellis said: “We’ve donated some guitars to local schools, and the council are going to match that with music teachers. That will benefit all young people, boys and girls.
“If we can get young people at a young age playing music, then hopefully we’ll have more of the future Emeli Sande’s, Lewis Capaldi’s and Paolo Nutini’s.”
Alongside the four stages, festival-goers will be spoilt for choice with many different food stands and bar tents.
Onsite there are charging points and cash machines, as well as the new Cup Deposit to encourage revellers to keep our dear green place as green as possible. Committing to Live Nation’s Green Nation charter this year and aiming to completely remove single-use plastics at the event by 2021, all cups, food containers and cutlery onsite will be made of paper, wood or biodegradable materials. TRNSMT goers can bring empty 500ml bottles to top up at the water taps onsite and can even make money from collecting cups to be recycled.
For Mr Ellis, however, the audience and their arrival through the main gates is what it’s all about. He added: “The audience are the most important people of the day tomorrow.
“The team have done a fantastic job, putting the finishing touches on. At the end of the night, the after-party is Glasgow city centre.
“Last year after TRNSMT, the city was buzzing and this year we can expect to see that too.
“The weather is looking good too – it’s all stacking up to be a very memorable TRSNMT.”
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