The gentlemen from my band鈥檚 Glasgow based record label聽聽often use the word 鈥榖raw鈥�. The first few times I heard it I wasn鈥檛 sure if it was a good, or a bad thing. I am now better informed, and happy to say it is positive, the meaning lying somewhere between 鈥榞reat鈥� and 鈥榖rilliant鈥�.
Glasgow is braw.
I have spent many happy evenings playing gigs in the UK鈥檚 fourth largest city. From the iconic聽Barrowlands, to the ABC on the buzzing Sauciehall Street, to Oran Mor where we had the privilege of using the beautiful聽聽as a dressing room, to playing to two people at the聽聽鈥撀犫�渆ach performer takes their bow, and then another old joke imitates real life 鈥� the crowd are introduced to the band鈥�.聽We laugh about it now鈥ort of. Plus, when the band has to sleep on a kind-hearted mate鈥檚 floor, said band could do much worse than to stay in one of the glorious, red sandstone, signature tenement buildings that populate the area.
This week it has been hard to avoid mention of the place, what with聽聽looming large.聽Artists聽including Coldplay, Katy Perry and local lads Calvin Harris and Paolo Nutini will take to the main stage on Glasgow Green over the three day event. Tickets for the weekend have all been allocated but you can still watch and listen via the website, Radio 1, Radio 1Xtra and 主播大秀 Three.#BigWeekend聽follows hot on the heels of the聽, a week-long programme of workshops and master classes for young people, which was also held in Glasgow. One of the producers, Lanre Leandre,聽, which was created in partnership with 主播大秀 Learning.
It was also revealed this week that Glasgow would host聽聽in December, quite fitting that the announcement came the day before a聽memorial was held for David Coleman OBE聽who died in December 2013, as the popular sports commentator presented the show from 1961 to 1983. A special documentary 鈥�The Quite Remarkable David Coleman鈥� was broadcast on 主播大秀 One on Wednesday, to coincide with the memorial service. Also this week, details of the聽聽on TV, Radio and online were released. So there really was no getting away from the place.
Even the Media Centre鈥檚 (and About the 主播大秀 blogger)聽聽has absconded to聽聽this week, he likes it so much, we鈥檙e not sure he鈥檒l ever come back. I mean why would he?
As I said, Glasgow is braw.