31 January 2026, the Old Fruitmarket
Over 40 years ago, a group of young men threw a bottle into the sea and watched it drift away into the Clyde Estuary. It floated through currents across the world, untouched by the ever-changing musical vibes that drifted just above the seas.
Four decades on and the bottle finally became ‘trapped’ back in the young men’s home city. Those young men having grown into some of the most accomplished vocalists, songwriters, producers, and musicians to ever come out of Scotland.
Before they ‘unwrapped’ the bottle though, they decided to conduct the unveiling to an audience of their peers. To reveal the songs and messages they had recorded for others across the continents to maybe hear as the bottle travelled the waterways of the world.
And so it was, at the Old Fruitmarket, in Glasgow’s Merchant City, that the ‘Friends Again’ reunited to play the songs in full to an avid audience who may, or may not, have been equally enthralled by the band all those years ago.
Lloyd Cole
First though they had to warm up the capacity audience and who better to perform that task than the birthday boy, Lloyd Cole himself. A man comfortable in the environment. Double denim. Electric guitar. A bottle of water with a ‘raft’ of songs all written in Glasgow, each as well-known on this night as they were in the early eighties when he and his band the Commotions, were riding high. Songs gently delivered, the audience singing in quiet unison. He seemed humbled by the reception received. Nostalgia riding high on a ‘wave’ of emotion. Strike one to the ‘Secret Support Act.’
Friends Again
And then the wait was over. One at a time the band appeared on stage, Chris Thomson, Paul McGeechan, and James Grant from the original lineup aided and abetted, in the positive sense, by Stuart Kidd on drums and guitarist Rob McLaughlin. On bass, probably to nobody’s surprise, was Mr Douglas McIntyre, he of many layers, who showed he was as equally adept on the mouthorgan, later into the show.
The ‘Honey At The Core’ triumvirate were in blistering form throughout. Paul at his casual best sitting to the rear of the stage allowing James to demonstrate his dexterity on guitar and dexterity too with the audience interplay. When you are told ‘not to fuck it up’ he genuinely means it!
Maybe 40 years ago Chris also tossed his guitar into that water in pursuit of the bottle, as he kept to vocal duties throughout with not an acoustic guitar to strum away. However, with the sublime vocal qualities he brought to each song, why waste energy strumming when James and Rob are on hand to do the heavy lifting.
It wouldn’t be Friends Again, if Lloyd Cole wasn’t brought back on stage to assist with the encore Honey At The Core, a sight the vast majority of those in the venue never thought would be possible.
It would also be fair to say that many ‘floated’ back home on an evening where nostalgia was the undoubted winner. So much of a winner that along with The Bluebells, Friends Again will again be hitting these ‘shores’ at the already sold out Kelvingrove Bandstand.
In a review with way too many puns, there can be little doubt that Friends Again did what they said on the tin. They reconnected with the friends facing them. Friends who had wished this event to happen for so long. It’s great to see that friendships do endure, that the music is still relevant to so many and that further nights like this are already being planned.
