The Kelvingrove Bandstand and Amphitheatre will celebrate its 100th anniversary with a specially recorded Squeeze concert.
The history Glasgow venue will also have Doors Open Day events as well as launching a new webpage dedicated to the milestone.
Squeeze will perform on August 1 and the gig from the English rock band will be recorded by BBC Radio Scotland for future broadcast. It’s part of the 2024 Summer Nights at the Bandstand and it will bring plenty of stars and bands to the venue during its centenary year.
The series of gigs kicked off with Gabrielle on July 23 and also features Johnny Marr, Emeli Sande, Ocean Colour Scene, The Saw Doctors, Echo and Bunnymen and Banarama over the course of 18 days until August 10.
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Kelvingrove’s summer gigs have been on the go for nine years after the Bandstand was reopened in 2014 after being closed due to vandalism in 1999.
Belle and Sebastian were the first band to perform at the newly-refurbished venue, which had been worked on to ensure it was open in time for the Commonwealth Games arriving in the city a decade ago.
Bands and artists such as Tom Jones, Hue and Cry, The Waterboys and Van Morrison are among those to have performed there and Billy Garrett, Director of Culture, Tourism and Events at Glasgow Life, is delighted to be involved as it celebrates its 100th anniversary.
He said: “Kelvingrove Bandstand is an iconic and central part of Glasgow’s cultural past, present and future.
“The bandstand has hosted so many legendary concerts and events over the last 100 years, which have earned it a reputation at home and abroad as a truly special live music and entertainment venue.
“It is fitting that the public will be able to enjoy more live music at Kelvingrove Bandstand and learn about the venue’s incredible history in celebration of its centenary year.”
The Doors Open Day events will take place on September 21 and 22 and will allow people to go behind the scenes and step onto the stage at the famous venue. Performances from Glasgow-based artists will also take place to celebrate the rich history.
A new webpage on the Glasgow Life website will also add to the celebrations with the venue’s story told through images and film.
The current bandstand is the third of its kind at Kelvingrove with the first of those being traced back to the park’s opening in 1853.
For the first two decades of its existence, it was deigned as a place to walk, rest and enjoy nature but that changed in 1872 when the council decided people should be able to enjoy music there too.
The 25th Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers became the first band to perform in Kelvingrove Park.
Three years later, in 1875, the park’s first bandstand was built where the state of Lord Kelvin currently stands. It was a popular attraction and 10,000 people regularly attended on Saturdays.
The original structure was then replaced with a bandstand and amphitheatre beside the River Kelvin for the 1911 Glasgow International Exhibition and in the 1920s it offered costumed concert parties, choirs and orchestras that were successful.
They attracted such big crowds that it was decided the second bandstand wasn’t big enough and a proposal was made for a ‘super bandstand’ that was rejected, before the plans for a third was approved which remains in place.
It was built in 1924 and opened in 1925 and provided entertainment through the 1920s and 1930s, but it did hit a glass ceiling when TV became popular in the 1950s and 1960s which meant the regular concerts came to an end.
A ‘Ban the Bomb’ anti-nuclear demonstration brought 2000 people together at the bandstand before The Jagyars performed there in 1965 to renew the popularity of the venue.
Festivals then began to take place with Radio Clyde hosting one in 1978 but once again the venue’s popularity faded and it had to be saved by a local community campaign in 1992 after being threated with closure.
It was eventually forced to shut after falling into disrepair in 1999 and was then repeatedly vandalised and was described as ‘critical’ by the Scottish Buildings at Risk Register.
Glasgow Life, Glasgow City Council and the Glasgow Building Preservation Trust then worked to refurbish the facility and it was completed in time for the 2014 Commonwealth Games and is now the only original bandstand left in the city, seating up to 3,000 people.
Anyone who would like to submit photographs of or videos taken at the Kelvingrove Bandstand to the Kelvingrove Bandstand 100th anniversary webpage can email copies to amcv@glasgowlife.org.uk.
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