23 April 2026, The Classic Grand
The Classic Grand on Glasgow’s Jamaica Street, is fast becoming one of my favourite venues. Sitting somewhere between King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut and St Lukes & The Winged Horse, it’s a venue which offers both intimacy and a number of viewing vantage points. And the sound system isn’t too shabby either, which, after all, is really important.
The latest venture into the venue was to see one of the front runners of the shoegaze movement, Chapterhouse, return to the stage after a sixteen-year hiatus.
As a reminder of where they came from and the legacy they left behind, the band based their set around their 1991 debut release Whirlpool, which has been cited as one of the genre’s high points.
It might also be fair to say that most of the audience remembered that era, and the album in particular, given the bobbing heads and swaying torsos that filled the room throughout the set.
Sixteen years without a gig, hadn’t diminished the playing of all those on stage and the combination of three guitarists, bass and drums ensured that the shoegaze movement was well and truly represented in style. It was very much guitar focused, with the vocals relatively subdued in the mix and a drum beat that kept everything on track. It’s what was expected. It’s what was delivered too.
Sixteen years without an audience in front of them, a Glasgow audience at that, may have seemed a daunting proposition, however there was genuine warmth and appreciation by the audience that the band had returned to live performances.
Their recording output may have been slight, but there can be no denying the influence they had on many of the bands that followed. Let’s hope it’s not another similar length of hiatus before their next tour if this majestic show is anything to go by.
Sister Ray Davies
Walking onto the stage, you could have been forgiven for thinking a couple of the guitar technicians had come on to tune up the instruments ahead of the band coming on. Not the case with Adam Morrow and Jamie Sego plugging in to the sound system and beginning their set with Lindisfarne from their most recent album 2025’s Holy Island.
What followed was thirty minutes or so of pure sonic pleasure. A kaleidoscope of guitars and looped beats that held the attention of everyone listening and watching. The duo from Alabama kept it relatively simple. Nothing flashy, but showcasing, in the tracks played, a musical structure that hit all the right notes ahead of Chapterhouse to follow.
As often stated in the blog here, it pays to go to shows early to see and hear what support acts have been added to the event. Like many to date, Sister Ray Davies made that early entry all the more worthwhile and I’m already looking forward to seeing them at some point in the future.
