Top 5: Favourite Barrowland gigs
Alison Irvine, author of Barrowland, picks her five top shows at the celebrated Glasgow music venue
Can you name your top five Barrowland gigs? I recently put this to Facebook group, Barrowland Memories, and the responses were full of righteous angst: how on earth could we possibly choose? I didn’t go to the Barrowland Ballroom until 2006 when my Glaswegian boyfriend (now husband) took me on an early ‘things-you-must-do-in-Glasgow’ date, so there are two and a half decades’ worth of spectacular gigs that I can’t include (plus raising children and having a scant social life for 17 years has precluded many others). However, here are a few special nights I’ve clocked up…
Magic Numbers (December 2006)
My first time under the starry ceiling, jumping about on the maple-wood floor. It’s where it all began for me…
Billy Bragg (October 2021)
My first gig back after covid. Billy Bragg was sublime. You could hear a pin drop for ‘Tank Park Salute’ and the crowd raised the roof for ‘Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards’. There was sweat and tears. Fabulous.
The Pogues and guests (April 2025)
Exuberant. Exhilarating. Emotional. I don’t have enough superlatives. I was close enough to see the tears in the musicians’ eyes as they played. It was even more special because my friend from school, Nicola Kearey, was supporting The Pogues with her band Stick In The Wheel. Proud. Awestruck. Inspired.
Lucy Dacus (July 2025)
A personal one. I worked a shift behind the bar for research and my kids and husband were in the crowd. It was my youngest two daughters’ first time and it didn’t disappoint. I love seeing all the generations out together at Barrowland.
Self Esteem (September 2025)
What a performer and what an atmosphere. Self Esteem and her dancers were on point. Barrowland was full of love, fun and energy. I watched from behind the bar and wished I could have joined them.
Alison Irvine: Barrowland, Edinburgh Futures Institute, 22 August, 8pm; picture: Chris Leslie.