The House of Love & The Primitives
Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow, December 1
December kicks off with a flurry of gigs and for the indie nostalgics among you this will be the pick of them. The House of Love were the great white hopes of the Creation record label in the lull between the Mary Chain and Screamadelica. Their psychedelic ringing guitar sound got them a deal with Fontana, but band fallouts, drugs and the rise of grunge ultimately did for them. Here in Herald Towers we have a real fondness for their 1992 album Babe Rainbow. Guy Chadwick et al are joined for this date by Coventry’s chart-bothering indie popsters The Primitives, led by Tracy Tracy (aka Tracy Cattell). Joining in on the chorus of Crash will probably be expected.
Easterbrook Hall, Dumfries, December 12; Music Hall, Aberdeen, December 14; Perth Concert Hall, Perth, December 15; Empire Theatre, Inverness, December 16; Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, December 17; The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, December 19; Albert Halls, Stirling, December 20; The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, December 21 & 22
Very much an annual tradition now, Phil Cunningham and friends hit the road in December to celebrate Christmas around Scotland. A chance to hear some of Scotland’s finest folk musicians, including singer Eddi Reader, play festive tunes and tell seasonal tales.
The Unthanks
City Halls, Glasgow, December 1
Paul Heaton is playing up the road at the OVO Hydro on the same night, but if you're after a more festive evening then the City Halls is the obvious venue on the opening night of the month as Geordie folksters The Unthanks come to town to celebrate their new double album The Unthanks in Winter, a gather-up of seasonal tunes and wassails including O Tannenbaum (in a Beach Boys stylee) and Carol of the Birds. Some of us don’t think it’s Christmas until we’ve heard Becky and Rachel sing Tar Barrel in Dale.
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, December 1
Part of the Soundhouse Winter Festival which will also host appearances from Callum Easter, Fergus McCreadie, Megan Black and the Nicole Smit Quintet, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s cellist Su-a Lee will be joined by fiddler Duncan Chisholm, Donald Shaw and Hamish Napier for an evening of “traditional and not-so-traditional tunes”.
The Classic Grand, Glasgow, December 6
Listen, you’re too late to get tickets for Charli XCX at the OVO Hydro on December 2, so why not check out homegrown talent Roisin McCarney at the Classic Grand? McCarney is a singer-songwriter with a full-force voice who, in fact, recently appeared on The Voice. Bookmark her name.
Barrowland, Glasgow, December 6 & December 7
The days of 15-minute sets and venue-trashing riots may be long past, but the aforementioned Mary Chain remain an unpredictable, at times incendiary, live prospect. Hence the scramble for tickets for these Barrowland shows. This should sign off a pretty productive year for the band which has also seen a new album, Glasgow Eyes, and a much praised memoir, Never Understood.
Julia Holter
Saint Luke’s, Glasgow, December 9
The Los Angeles-based composer brings her questing, ambitious musical intelligence to Scotland for this gig which will draw on her immersive album Something in the Room She Moves, a record designed to sink into. It should make for a unique, unpredictable gig.
OVO Hydro, Glasgow, December 13
Of course anything the 1990s can do, the 1980s can do better. And there’s a whole host of 1980s legends touring Scotland in December. Glasgow’s own Midge Ure is playing the Aberdeen Music Hall on December 12, Perth Concert Hall on December 13 and the Usher Hall in Edinburgh on December 14. The Bluebells play Edinburgh’s Liquid Room on December 13 ahead of their Celtic Connections gig at the Barrowland in January and Rick Astley is celebrating the big band sound with his Swinging Christmas show at the Usher Hall on December 19. But more intriguing might be Culture Club (sans Jon Moss) revisiting their first two albums Kissing to be Clever and Colour By Numbers, which means you get to hear Boy George singing the band’s big, blowsy ballad Victims, which, in a better world, would have been number one at Christmas in 1983. Support from Heaven 17 and Tony Hadley.
MY GIG OF THE MONTH
Romy
The Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, December 14
So, my list of favourite English female singers goes like this: Dusty Springfield, Kate Bush, Sandy Denny, Harriet from The Sundays, Tracey Thorn, Shara Nelson, Amy Winehouse and then Romy Madley Croft (with Kim Wilde and Lou Rhodes on the bench). Madley Croft quietly announced herself in the early 2000s as part of The xx, one of the most influential British bands of the last 20 years. Not a bad calling card. Good enough, certainly, to lead her to writing for the likes of Mark Ronson and Dua Lipa.
Last year Romy released her debut solo album Mid Air which saw her working with Stuart Price, Fred Again and Jamie xx (natch) and embracing a four-to-the-floor soundbed for her happysad lyrics and that gorgeous vocal style that swings between ache and soar.
As she is someone who has had to overcome stage fright and learn to embrace live performances, there’s something rather thrilling about Romy now doing her own tour. The result should be something of a celebration.
Oh and I’ve just realised, I haven’t got Kirsty McColl in that list at the top of the page. Let me put that right …
Sufjan Stevens’ Songs for Christmas
The Queens’s Hall, Edinburgh, December 17
NB, Sufjan Stevens will not be in the building. Rather, this is a celebration of the singer-songwriter’s peerless ear for a festive tune. Hugh Nankivell, Dean Broderick and Ben McCabe come together to perform some of Stevens’ best loved Christmas songs. Hard to imagine Sister Winter won’t be one of them. Hopefully That Was the Worst Christmas Ever too.
And talking about Christmas at the Queen’s Hall …
Dunedin Consort
The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, December 18
It’s not Christmas without Handel’s Messiah and the Dunedin Consort obliges with a performance of the work in Edinburgh. Expect a team of 12 singers and soloists including Rachel Redmond, Helen Charlston, Matthew Brook and Samuel Boden, with musical director John Butt leading a compact orchestra though one of the great works of the classical canon.
Travis
OVO Hydro, Glasgow, December 21
And finally Fran Healy and the rest of Travis are in town for a home gig to celebrate the winter solstice. Their short, hit-filled set was one of the genuine pleasures of this year’s Radio 2 in the Park in Preston. And is there a better way to prep for the festive season than a mass singalong to Driftwood? Answers on a Christmas card.
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