10 best concerts in Scotland next month: who to see, where to see them

Montrose Playhouse, Montrose, August 28; The Glad Cafe, Glasgow, September 5 & 6; Chaplaincy Centre, Dundee, September 7; Blue Lamp, Aberdeen, September 8; Summerhall, Edinburgh, September 20

Are you anxious, troubled, even distressed about the state of the world? Do you find yourself doomscrolling hour after hour, waiting for the next harbinger of disaster to announce itself? If so, maybe it’s time to get yourself off social media for a day or two and find something to give you succour.

These gigs should be the perfect medicine. For the last few years Dundonian Andrew Wasylyk has been crafting the most gorgeous instrumental music on a series of albums that make you nostalgic for a childhood you probably never had. Music that also translates beautifully to live performance.

Now he has teamed up with artist and musician Tommy Perman on a new record Ash Grey and The Gull Glides On. The collaboration brings new colours to the music but it remains as hypnotic and healing as before, as these live dates will no doubt prove. The only stress involved might be getting tickets to see them. If you do, the rewards will be huge.

Dundonian Andrew Wasylyk (Image: Colin Mearns)

Laetitia Sadier

Source Ensemble Mono, Glasgow, September 1; Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, September 2

Laetitia Sadier’s storied music career includes two decades at the helm of Stereolab, side project Monade and a recent Modern Cosmology collaboration with Brazilian band Mombojo. She visits Glasgow and Edinburgh at the start of next month in support of her recent solo album Rooting for Love which offers the usual mix of radical thought wrapped up in a sugar coating.

Gossip

SWG3, Glasgow, September 3

Earlier this year Beth Ditto stood on a London stage and lamented that Standing in the Way of Control, the song that announced Gossip to the world, is as relevant now, if not more so, than it was when it first came out in 2006. Depressingly, she’s probably right about that in the face of Donald Trump and JD Vance standing on a platform for the next Presidential election seeking to rule over what women can do with their bodies.

But sometimes all you can do is scream in defiance. And that remains Ditto’s USP; a willingness to stand up and shout in the face of homophobia and sexism. That she does it with such style and with a band who know how to rock (and roll) makes seeing Gossip live an experience. Hurry though, tickets are scarce.

Beth Ditto performs on stage with her band Gossip at Villa Ada in Rome (Image: SOPA Images)

Michael Head

Tolbooth, Stirling, September 5; Frets, Strathaven, September 6

One of the lost boys of the Liverpool music scene of the early 1980s, it is one of the great joys that Michael Head has found himself again in recent years after losing far too much time to his addictions. What he never totally lost, though, was his ability to write songs. From his days in The Pale Fountains and Shack to Loophole, his recent album with The Red Elastic Band, he has always been a songsmith of the first order. These two gigs in Stirling and under the estimable Frets banner in Strathaven are a chance to see Head play solo. It’s an opportunity to be seized.

Texas

OVO Hydro, September 14 & 15

It is now 35 years since Sharleen Spiteri announced herself to the world as the lead singer of Texas with the top 10 hit I Don’t Want A Lover. And in the three decades and counting she has been in the public eye she has remained the best kind of pop star: outspoken, ballsy and self-confident. Texas never shied away from mainstream appeal. They always saw it as their job to write hits, and they’ve done it consistently over the years. Not everyone has thanked them for it, but it does mean that any Texas show in 2024 is guaranteed to offer familiar song after familiar song. And with KT Tunstall providing support it’s possible you will be singing along from start to finish.

Texas (Image: Kate Green)

Dee C Lee St Luke’s, Glasgow, September 24

Nostalgia and new sounds. Dee C Lee was a key figure in not one but two seminal 1980s acts, singing backing vocals for George and Andy in Wham! In the early days and then being part of The Style Council collective, before embarking on a solo career. Earlier this year she released Just Something, her first new music since 1998 and she comes to Glasgow in September with a nine-piece band (including The Style Council’s Steve White) to play it live.

Mahler’s Fifth Symphony

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Glasgow City Halls, Glasgow, September 26; Music Hall, Aberdeen, September 27

The American singer-songwriter Mitski was recently artist in residence on 6 Music and she programmed a whole hour of classical music which you can still catch up with on BBC Sounds if you hurry. It’s well worth it. Her pleasure and delight in classical music is catching. Mahler 5 was a particular Mitski favourite. “I hope everyone is swooning,” she said, introducing it.

There’s likely to be a similar reaction in Glasgow and Aberdeen in September as the BBC SSO play the same piece of music to launch the orchestra’s new season. Ryan Wigglesworth conducts. Soprano Claire Booth is also on hand to perform the world premiere of Folk, a new piece composed by Helen Grime and inspired by Zoe Gilbert’s novel of the same name.

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra is playing in Glasgow and Aberdeen (Image: John Wood)

The Go Team Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, September 26

It’s a rum deal when you realise that albums made in the early noughties are now ripe for 20th anniversary tours. But such is the case with Thunder, Lightning, Strike, the debut record by Brighton’s The Go Team. Originally released in September 2004, it was and remains an endorphin hit of a record, ripe for fueling anyone keen to wring the very last drops out of the summer. This tour will see the band play the album in full. Be ready to dance in the pews of the Queen’s Hall.

Marc Almond

Usher Hall, Edinburgh, September 21

Gutterhearts assemble. It’s a bit shocking to realise that Marc Almond, now 67 and living in Portugal, has been making music for more than 40 years. It’s a bit thrilling to realise that in all that time he has remained his own man, whether as part of Soft Cell or during his own wild and weird solo years, whether covering Jacques Brel or making an album of traditional Russian songs (2003’s Heart on Snow).

He now comes to Edinburgh to perform a concert of cover songs in line with his latest album I’m Not Anyone which sees him take on the songbooks of Neil Diamond, King Crimson and Scotand’s Marmalade (his take on Reflections of My Life is reverent rather than radical). There is also a slice of Northern Soul (natch) in his fine cover of Gone With the Wind (Is My Love) which should be a live highlight. Presumably in the circumstances an encore of Tainted Love isn’t out of the question.

Marc Almond (Image: Mauricio Santana)

Melrose Music Festival

Various venues, September 7-15, melrosemusicfestival.co.uk

Opening with a concert by the Borders Chamber Choir and Borders Chamber Orchestra at Melrose Parish Church (expect Mozart and Vaughn Williams), this year’s Melrose Music Festival offers performances from Ingrid Sawyers and Alexandra Mackenzie, the Brian Kellock Trio, Derrick Morgan and Melrose Vocal Ensemble. You never need an excuse to visit the Borders town, but these concerts are a good reason for staying over.