Every music festival has its ‘thing’, a USP it can festoon across promo material with the striking confidence of a Wall Street banker whapping his business card on a junior executive’s table. ‘Here are my headliners,’ that banker would, for whatever reason, bark. ‘Look at their star quality. Admire their teeming fan base. Don’t they put you and everything you stand for to shame?’ 

Curiously for the largest music festival in Scotland, the same troubling scent of masculinity lingering over the opening paragraph of this article has dogged TRNSMT’s headline acts. Since its first outing in 2017, when it was masterminded as a replacement for the beleaguered T In The Park brand, exactly zero women have graced the top of the TRNSMT bill. 

It’s strange, not because any of the acts sitting on the throne are bad (in fact, as you’ll see below, some are superlative) but because the middle of the bill is generally a hotbed of AAA female pop. The problem was exacerbated by fest organiser Geoff Ellis’s comments in 2020 that ‘we need to get more females picking up guitars, forming bands, playing in bands’. Ne’er a more tone-deaf comment has been spoken in the Scottish music biz. 

Guitar bands are ending their reign as default festival headliners with good reason; the more diverse stars at this year's Glastonbury felt like a window being cracked open. As such, the Glasgow Green mainstay seems increasingly like a fusty business owner refusing to change a decade-old display from their shop window. Sure, the shop keeps bringing in customers (and this looks like another vintage year for TRNSMT in terms of ticket sales) but when will the dust layering on top of its winning formula grow thick enough to dissuade punters? Will Liam Gallagher have to keel over before Charli XCX is allowed to grace the Main Stage? 

Until that time, the TRNSMT knack for consistency trundles on. And it’s had some grand moments. From Thom Yorke’s paranoid rock to Stormzy's barnstorming grime, people love this three-dayer for good reason. Here, in a sparkle of positivity that’s hitherto eluded this article, is how we rate every TRNSMT from best to worst based on its headliners. Fill your boots and prepare to enter a world of lads lads lads. 

1.Radiohead, Kasabian, Biffy Clyro (2017)

TRNSMT was no slouch in the headliner department for its first outing, kicking things off with a bang that it’s never quite matched. While Radiohead may be more Earl Grey tea than Rockstar Energy, their inclusion on the lineup welcomed in the kind of browbeaten prog fan that might otherwise have swerved it. 

More in keeping with the trajectory the festival would take is Kasabian who, despite what many think of their core sound (Primal Scream meets Neu! meets the outdoor seating area of ‘Spoons on a Saturday afternoon) have become mainstays in the UK because their live shows are close to flawless, machine-tooled for singalongs and skirmish-like mosh pits. 

Emitting squalls of noise on their home turf was Biffy Clyro, playing the anthems that unleashed them on the masses and reminding fans that this was a celebration in the beating heart of Glasgow. A strong start, then, and one that cemented the festival’s place as a near-worthy successor to everyone’s favourite Tennent’s-based music bash. 

2. Paolo Nutini, The Strokes, Lewis Capaldi (2022)

After a false start in 2021 (more on that later), music fans were finally willing to emerge from lockdown without the fear of a superspreader apocalypse. It helped that Friday’s final act, Paolo Nutini, was on an inspired creative streak, breaking from his soul-pop holding pattern to delve deep into caterwauling stormy psychedelia. 

The Strokes may have dampened proceedings by Julian Casablancas visibly wanting to be anywhere else, but that was more than made up for by the bear hug enthusiasm of Lewis Capaldi on Sunday. His raw emotional power (and brief forays into filthy stand-up comedy between songs) made him a warm presence. In a world emerging from isolation, this Paisley lad’s teary-eyed ballads provided a moment of catharsis for a willing crowd. 

3. Pulp, Sam Fender, The 1975 (2023)

Enthusiasm is easy when you crank out the hits, and there was a dizzying amount to enjoy from Pulp, alongside a stagecraft that was baroquely theatrical. Anyone who stuck around for ‘Common People’ (the original ‘fuck the Tories’ anthem) couldn’t have left disappointed. 

Sam Fender who, having fought his way near the top of the bill in 2022, entertained his twenty-something fanbase in what felt like a victory lap after years of continuous touring. Globetrotting exhaustion emanated from the stage, giving his punchy songs a muted presence that, though compelling, only just managed to cut through a crowd weathering the Glasgow rain.

And then a very different kind of lap from The 1975, whose world tour had become akin to a walk of shame after a year of near endless controversy surrounding frontman Matty Healy (racism, sexism, dating Taylor Swift; you name it). He emerged from an actual bin to kick off the show in a sly and legitimately funny nod to his reputation, before the band barrelled through their sparkling brand of guitar pop. Fair play: offstage antics hadn’t dulled their performance. 

4. Stereophonics, Liam Gallagher, Arctic Monkeys, Queen + Adam Lambert, The Killers (2018)

Does anyone get excited by The Stereophonics? Is it humanly possible? Anyway, the stonewashed denim wearer’s band of choice did their thing to kick off this two-weekender edition. Then it was Liam Gallagher’s turn, still rebuilding his reputation after what some have dubbed ‘Beady-Gate’ and touting his unremarkable but not unlistenable solo debut, As You Were. This was Gallagher’s first appearance at TRNSMT, although he’s now headlined so often that Geoff Ellis may as well present him with a golden carriage clock for years of dedicated service. In his somewhat weakened state, there was less punch about Gallagher than now, but time has been kind to his rockstar-as-deity shenanigans. 

Then the real big hitter of the season; Arctic Monkeys, still riding the titanic wave of AM while confidently confusing people with Tranquillity Base Hotel & Casino. This was a band in its imperial phase, shifting from sincere to detached with the blink of an eye while never failing to deliver on the pace their arena-sized audience demanded of them. 

With Queen + Adam Lambert, you know exactly what you’re getting and, in a more extreme shift than even Pulp managed, TRNSMT organisers managed to reel in crowds of all ages. The same may be true of The Killers, who’ve proven to be reliable entertainers, unworried about chucking in covers of their favourite songs to give crowds a simple rush of recognition. All in all, a diverse but diffuse year. 

5. Stormzy, Catfish and the Bottlemen, George Ezra (2019)

It’s difficult to argue with Stormzy in the year that Heavy Is The Head was a ubiquitous presence. He delivered the goods but he was bolstering a festival otherwise devoid of interesting bill toppers; Catfish And The Bottlemen, a shoulder shrug of an indie act with the songwriting nutrients of a McDonald’s Happy Meal, and George Ezra, a singer-songwriter thrust into the arena touring scene with too few quality songs and the stage presence of a reluctant children’s presenter. 

6. The Courteeners, Liam Gallagher, The Chemical Brothers (2021)    

There was ultimately too much riding on the first TRNSMT since lockdown regulations eased. Was it responsible to have a festival while the coronavirus still raged? Or did the hole blown in the music industry make holding off any longer an impossibility? 

While crowds gathered at the Main Stage, the shadows of these questions blocked out the sun. It didn’t help that the festival opted for a series of old reliables; The Courteeners slotting uncomfortably into top billing, and Gallagher doing his usual scowl and snarl routine. The Chemical Brothers represented a welcome change of pace (dance at TRNSMT? It’ll never catch on), but it’s hard to escape the feeling that this one was a little too much, a little too soon.

TRNSMT, Glasgow Green, Friday 12–Sunday 14 July; main picture: Ryan Johnston.