TRNSMT Sunday review: 'some big surprises'
The Sunday headliners at TRNSMT may have been known quantities, but there were some unexpected treats further down the bill, writes David Pollock
TRNSMT Sunday, Glasgow Green ★★★★
The final day of this year’s TRNSMT festival was headlined by two dependable, long-standing indie groups in Snow Patrol on the main stage and Shed Seven in the King Tut’s Arena, but elsewhere both of these larger stages offered welcome near-parity between female and male artists. The festival has seen criticism in recent years for its male-heavy line-ups, yet seven of the 16 artists across Sunday’s bill were female, and they provided the biggest surprises.
Like the mononymous Jade, for example, aka Jade Thirlwall, sometime of Little Mix and now an extremely characterful solo artist. Dressed in a green, pleated tartan dress, with fierce silver eye make-up, she was able to enjoy the huge response to her old band’s hit Shout Out to My Ex, while also revelling in the freedom of her debut solo hit Angel of My Dreams, a plaintive ballad which morphed into a strident, positive rave banger.
If Jade’s set was pure, in-your-face pop, Gracie Abrams’ was the same, but at a different pace. The daughter of film director JJ Abrams, her music and demeanour sit alongside those of Taylor Swift. Her style at her “last show in Europe for a very long time” was all personal connection, making eye contact and waving to members of the crowd, and unveiling deep emotions in her lyrics, from the clubby country of opener Risk to the euphorically-received big hit That’s So True.
Meanwhile over at the Tut’s stage, East Lothian’s Brooke Coombe played emotive, affirmative indie-rock songs with a Texas (the band, not the state) flavour and a voice with the bluesy, Caledonian rawness of Lulu, while Shed Seven – amid a nostalgic set which included a cover of the Smiths’ There is a Light That Never Goes Out – welcomed “Queen of Manchester" Rowetta Idah for their recent song together In Ecstasy and the band’s old hit Disco Down.
After all these unexpected treats, Snow Patrol were a safe headlining bet, whose history with Glasgow added an extra familiarity. Their biggest hits – Take Back the City, Chocolate, Run, Chasing Cars – appeared to have a cross-generational appeal, keeping most of their crowd warm and together once the day’s baking temperatures dropped after dark.
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