Tenement Trail's 7th year takes Glasgow's East End by storm

The first band took to BAaD before 2PM getting things off to a rocking start. The winners of the Gorbals Sound New Artist competition, Paris Street Rebels brought a huge energy to the art space. 

Bands including hotly-tipped emerging artist Oscar Lang, who will tour with The 1975 later this year, WEB, Kitti and Squid (tipped as one of the hottest bands around right now by BBC 6 Music, NME and beyond) ensured fans had no shortage of choice for the 12 hour extravaganza. 

Barrhead local Kitti spoke with The Evening Times last week about her complete rebrand and the rising Glasgow jazz scene. 

Read more: Reincarnated and rebranded...meet Kitti, Glasgow’s Amy Winehouse

“The jazz scene in Glasgow is quite hidden but its a really nice community and there’s lots of collaborative projects going on too" she said. 

“As soon as the Blue Arrow was taken over by432, jazz started on the way up in Glasgow. It’s almost like jazz is cool now."

Kitti

From established veterans to brand new local bands, Tenement Trail has a vibrant history of acts who progressed to become some of the biggest stars in the world.

Man of the moment Lewis Capaldi played The Vic Bar on Sauchiehall Street in 2016, Mercury Prize nominated The Big Moon played in 2017, while another exciting emerging star and BRIT award winner Sam Fender played in Flat 0/1 back in the festivals second year and then returned in 2017 to play Sauchiehall Street’s Nice N Sleazy.

Read more: Fatherson are hot in the kitchen as well as the stage

Notable performances on Saturday include the jam packed VanIves set in St Luke’s, the HUGE Vlure performance in The Winged Ox and Beta Waves in BaAD.

Baby Strange brought their usual punk energy to BAaD later on with the famous Jokey from one of Glasgow’s most-loved watering holes collaborating for their new tune ‘Bad Man In Prague’.

The winners of the day were definitely Fatherson.

A very special headline slot went down in The Barrowland as Fatherson took the top slot with huge adoration from the TRAIL fans.

Speaking to The Evening Times earlier in the week, frontman Ross Leighton said that he was honoured to be headlining this years Tenement Trail, having usually attended as a music-lover. 

Ross Leighton Fatherson

“As a punter it was always a good laugh with good bands" said Ross.

"It’s one of those things, when you stay in Glasgow, and there are so many bands to go and see, sometimes you can miss things.

Fatherson

"There’s a whole new scene that’s exploding in Glasgow, particularly with a new romantic feel. It goes back to Glasgow’s heritage of great music.

“Scottish music has always had that left field feel, and it’s exciting. It always ebbs and flows, it reinvents itself every 18 months. It’s great to be around the new scene but also keep in touch with the old.”

Meanwhile LUCIA played a secret set on the YALA Records curated line-up. Getting right in amongst the crowd, LUCIA brought her usual hypnotic performance, with fans screaming in delight as she weaved through the crowd.

Lucia

The party kept on going with two afterparties in Firewater with The Magic Gang and Fatherson on the decks and in The Garage. 

Speaking about the festival, Festival Director Chae Houston said:

“The move to the East end brought a fresh energy to the seventh edition of TENEMENT TRAIL, but it was the fans that took it to another level.

"The atmosphere around the east end was incredible and bands like our headliners Fatherson, Baby Strange, The Magic Gang plus the likes of Squid, Drenge, Kitti, Cara Rose, Oscar Lang, Paris Street Rebels and Beta Waves ensure it was our best TRAIL yet.”

Organisers have confirmed that Tenement Trail will return next year.