Not much has changed by day three, there are still bums everywhere, everybody is still very sunburnt but today everything feels a little calmer. A big part of the crowd has been here all three days, or this is the second day in a row. People feel a little more tired and they’re probably feeling the strain of paying the prices for alcohol (every festival is as expensive as this, but it doesn’t make paying that money any easier).
Walking through the crowd, it’s quite obvious who everyone is here to see today. Even though his involvement in the festival had only been announced two weeks prior, nobody was mad that he was the one that replaced Snow Patrol. We’ll get to this nameless man later on.
To start with, let’s talk about the Queen Tut’s stage. As mentioned previously it was set-up after backlash from TRNSMT fans over the lack of female artists on either the main stage or the King Tut’s stage. There were some great performances on the Queen Tut’s stage, with a stand-out performance on both the queen tuts and the main stage from Chlobocop on Friday, a lively and spunky performance from Sahara on Saturday and an electric show put on by The Eves on Sunday.
All of the performances on the Queen Tut’s stage were fantastic, but TRNSMT organisers have got some things to improve on, especially since Queen Tut’s is now a permanent stage at the festival.
For starters, it was really hard to find, once one knew where it was it felt pretty easy to get there, but generally it was tucked away up the back like a secret where you could go to just sit and get away from the madness. When trying to find the stage, some stewards hadn’t heard of it and didn’t even know it was supposed to be at the festival. Not exactly a great sign for the stage that is supposed to pave the way for talented female musicians.
TRNSMT 2019. WHAT AN ABSOLUTE BELTER👏🔥🎵!
Shout out to everyone who danced with us at our King Tut's Stage Powered By @UtilitaEnergy and at our newest addition to the TRNSMT fam, the Queen Tut's Stage! pic.twitter.com/h1PtpCUgyU
— KingTut'sWahWahHut (@kingtuts) July 14, 2019
The way the stage was positioned made it really hard for a crowd to form when an artist was performing. There were benches situated almost directly in front of the stage, and people were more interested in sitting and listening to the music, rather than standing and dancing along to the performances like the King Tuts and main stage.
TRNSMT organisers have good intentions with the Queen Tut’s stage, and of course this is the first year so it’s more of a test than anything. On their website they say they are committed to closing the ‘gender play gap’, but something that has to be understood is people didn’t want a separate stage so they could add more women into the show (they especially didn’t want them to perform on a stage that looks as small as the stage within the King Tuts venue itself). What people wanted was for TRNSMT to take notes and bring in more female performers on the main stage and the King Tuts stage.
The Queen Tut’s stage is a step in the right direction, and it’s an opportunity. However, going off this year, so far it looks as though TRNSMT organisers may have to find a better solution.
Overall the final day was a great success. Emeli Sande, who had to step in after Jess Glynne pulled out, put on an absolutely amazing show. It was clear to see how much the Scot loved performing, especially in Glasgow. She dedicated more than one of her songs to the city saying she “loved the love” she felt from the people of Glasgow. She performed a number of her classics with the crowd singing and dancing along, however she also performed her new single Shine which released on Friday, and despite most people not having heard it, the crowd seemed to love her. Emeli Sande ended up being a great edition to the TRNSMT line-up, especially because of her high-energy performance.
Liverpool band Circa Waves headlined on the King Tuts stage and had the crowd dancing and singing along to every single song. It was evident how much the band really loved being on stage, even saying Glasgow was like their second home, and they’ve performed here more than anywhere else. Just to prove how much they loved Scotland they even changed the lyrics of their song T-Shirt Weather, to ‘Taps Aff Weather’. Circa Waves was definitely a highlight of the full weekend, the show they put on was one to remember.
Now to the main event, the man of the hour, Mr. Lewis Capaldi, a Scottish treasure. True to form, Capaldi put on not only a powerful and memorable performance but throughout it he was funny and incredibly humble and charming. Multiple times referencing how he couldn’t believe such a big crowd was here to see him.
Charming as ever Capaldi tested his influence over the crowd by getting them to shout Scottish slang/swear words back to him and continued to interact with the crowd in the breaks between songs.
Capaldi’s performance began with a video introduction poking fun at himself, before arriving on stage wearing a Chewbacca mask to the song bits and pieces.
From there on the performer constantly had the crowd laughing along with him, as he made fun of himself and how depressing his songs are. Although the crowd didn’t seem to mind as repeatedly his songs were sung back to him.
Despite coming out on stage in a Chewbacca mask it was clear the crowd was waiting for Capaldi to say something about the ongoing spat with Noel Gallagher. So, when Capaldi dedicated a song to his Father and started playing Don’t Look Back in Anger people couldn’t get enough. The singer even changed the lyrics to ‘Don’t Chewbac in Anger’.
However, the highlight of the young singer-songwriter’s performance comes from his closing performance of Someone you Loved, which saw the crowd singing along to every single word and Capaldi even extending the song to have the crowd sing the chorus back to him.
Overall, all three days of the TRNSMT festival were a success. The performers all put on an amazing show, and despite a seeming change in the crowd this year compared to previous years, Glasgow still made a fantastic audience and the performers seemed to enjoy themselves as much as the crowd did.
Other highlights go to Bastille and their crazy performance on Saturday, and Years & Years on Friday.
Officially that means TRNSMT 2019 is over, the dates for the TRNSMT 2020 have been announced and now that T in the Park officially won’t be coming back, it will be interesting to see if TRNSMT will change in any way.
Header image Catriona Donald
