Latest news with #KingTuts
The Guardian
28-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
‘Blur were so obnoxious!': 35 years of epic gigs at Glasgow's King Tut's, from Oasis to Lewis Capaldi
'Lewis Capaldi said to me recently: 'All I ever wanted was to get my name on the steps at King Tut's,'' says Judith Atkinson, one half of the couple behind the music venue that has long been where Glaswegians find their new favourite band. Celebrating 35 years this year, King Tut's Wah Wah Hut was where Oasis were discovered by Alan McGee and soon signed to his record label Creation. The Verve and Radiohead played in the same two-week period as that gig in 1993, while Manic Street Preachers, Florence + the Machine and entire scenes of Scottish alternative music have got a leg up there since. 'When I was growing up you didn't dream about playing Glastonbury – but you dream about playing King Tut's, the thing that's within your reach,' says Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall. 'It's such a big deal.' Small music venues like this have been in crisis since the pandemic due to rising costs for rent and utilities – according to the Music Venue Trust, 125 grassroots venues permanently closed in 2023, the worst year on record, followed by another 25 in 2024. And yet, thanks in part to a live music empire the owners have built around it, King Tut's is thriving, despite only having space for 300 people. Stuart Clumpas, who founded the venue in 1990 alongside his wife Atkinson, reckons it has something to do with Glasgow's dismal climate. 'Scotland is an indoor entertainment society because of the weather,' he says. 'The only way to go, 'Hey I'm going to go out for a night' and be guaranteed it's going to happen and work is to go to something indoors.' He remembers that fabled Oasis night, when the band drove from Manchester to try their luck and play an already-filled support slot. From the bouncer almost not letting them in, to venue staff refusing to let them perform, each story is different. Clumpas sets the record straight: 'It was another support band who said they can't play, not us,' he says. 'They went, 'Fuck off, it's too small a stage.' You can't put three drumkits on the stage the size of King Tut's.' But Oasis did manage to perform, and the rest is history. Another legendary band would never have been booked, though, if it was up to Atkinson and not venue booker Geoff Ellis. 'He kept booking this band called Radiohead and they only ever did 150 people,' Atkinson says, 'I remember saying to him: 'Why do you keep booking that bloody Radiohead, Geoff?' That's why I'm not a booker!' But Atkinson's experience in promoting gigs meant she was well placed to spot local up and coming artists, including future indie legends Belle and Sebastian. 'They used to come in a lot and hang out,' she says, and the band once struck up an impromptu live set in the pub area below the main venue. 'They were playing Boy With the Arab Strap and the whole pub was sitting at their tables jiggling to this song. I just went: wow, we're in a scene!' Blur got much shorter shrift. 'I do like Blur now, I'm very fond of them. But they played King Tut's when they'd been tipped to be the next big thing. They were so obnoxious because they were on the front cover of all the magazines that week – they were so full of it. I was only in my mid-20s but I was able to be like, 'Guys, you're going to meet the same people on the way down as the way up.' They came back and played about six months later and their tail was between their legs. God, they were polite.' When you enter King Tut's, history surrounds you. Downstairs in the pub the walls are adorned with memorabilia from gigs past, and on the stairs up to the venue each step shows an artist and the year they played. Tunstall has her name painted on the 2005 step next to Simple Minds, Arctic Monkeys and Texas. 'It's definitely one of the proudest notches on my belt,' she says. That gig was around when her debut album Eye to the Telescope was released – the next year, she received three Brit nominations, winning for British female solo artist. She reckons the venue's success comes down to the kind treatment she received from the owners, along with the sound quality. 'Your job on stage is to just try and whip up that energy to the point where everybody feels extremely present and connected to each other, and at some venues it's hard to do that,' she says. 'But at King Tut's, you're halfway there already. Thank God they don't freshly paint it every three years – it's like all the energy is kind of soaked into the walls in that place.' Another Scot, Nina Nesbitt, says 'it feels like a moment when you go there' to play – her first time was in 2013, the year before her debut album Peroxide (a Scottish chart topper). 'Touring at that [grassroots] level is really difficult mentally and physically,' she says. 'You're not really getting much sleep and you're sitting in dressing rooms with no windows, and it's quite depressing. The shows are amazing, but everything else is tough. Sometimes you don't even have a dressing room.' But at King Tut's, 'they really do take care of their artists. They have a lovely little dressing room, I think they have fairy lights in it. Little things go a long way, and put you in a good mood for the show.' General manager Davie Millar says he is still visited by famous faces who have made it big since their King Tut's debut. Liam Gallagher set the video for his single Come Back to Me at the venue – Millar has a cameo – and the 1975 'just popped in for a drink' recently. 'There's just a real vibe about the place. Bands like Manic Street Preachers and the Killers who played here many years ago, it's a real privilege for them to say 'yeah, we'd love to come back and play'.' As well as its famous patrons, King Tut's has benefited from being a small part of a much bigger operation. Clumpas, the founder, and Ellis, the booker, founded Scottish festival T in the Park in 1994 as a joint venture between DF Concerts – Clumpas's entertainment business he started in Dundee in the 80s – and Tennent's Lager (it later became TRNSMT festival). After Ellis took over as chief executive of DF Concerts in 2001, Live Nation acquired a majority stake in 2008 – all of which means that King Tut's has a financial security that is rare for a grassroots venue. It's also unique in that it doesn't have outside promoters putting on their own gigs: all the booking are still done in house. Millar clearly sees all that as a privilege, too: 'We're just going to keep doing what we're doing: continually finding artists, giving them a platform to be able to create and share their art.' He says the fundamentals won't change – 'People buy tickets because they love coming to live shows' – so what's next? 'Another 35 years. I truly believe that.'
Glasgow Times
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
I saw Sophie Ellis-Bextor perform in Glasgow's Armadillo
Can we adopt Sophie Ellis-Bextor and call her our own? The London-born singer brought disco to the Armadillo on Saturday night - and a whole lot of enthusiasm for the city. And flattery about this Scottish city will get you everywhere with Glasgow fans, Sophie. (Image: Sophie Ellis-Bextor plays Glasgow's Armadillo in May 2025. Pic Calum Buchan.) (Image: Sophie Ellis-Bextor plays Glasgow's Armadillo in May 2025. Pic Calum Buchan.) (Image: Sophie Ellis-Bextor plays Glasgow's Armadillo in May 2025. Pic Calum Buchan.) (Image: Sophie Ellis-Bextor plays Glasgow's Armadillo in May 2025. Pic Calum Buchan.) Looking as fabulous as ever, dressed head to toe in sparkles of course, the star opened up proceedings with Relentless Love before amping up the atmosphere with her cover of Cher's 1979 hit Take Me Home. She said - while rhyming off facts about Glasgow with the same ease as a native - 'It's always a pleasure to be here. 'I love Glasgow very much, I do. 'The city has been such a big part of me and my music . 'I remember playing King Tuts, Oran Mor, The Garage, and Kelvingrove. 'It's always a pleasure to come back.' (Image: Sophie Ellis-Bextor plays Glasgow's Armadillo in May 2025. Pic Calum Buchan.) (Image: Sophie Ellis-Bextor plays Glasgow's Armadillo in May 2025. Pic Calum Buchan.) (Image: Sophie Ellis-Bextor plays Glasgow's Armadillo in May 2025. Pic Calum Buchan.) (Image: Sophie Ellis-Bextor plays Glasgow's Armadillo in May 2025. Pic Calum Buchan.) (Image: Sophie Ellis-Bextor plays Glasgow's Armadillo in May 2025. Pic Calum Buchan.) (Image: Sophie Ellis-Bextor plays Glasgow's Armadillo May 2025. Pic by Calum Buchan.) Showcasing those iconic velvet smooth vocals on Young Blood, the 46-year-old sounded exceptional while the new track Vertigo, taken from her upcoming album Perimenopop, gave fans a glimpse of what's to come. The party, however, really got started with a disco mix that included a cover of Modjo's Lady (Hear Me Tonight), ABBA's Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!, and of course, the song that launched it all for Sophie, Spiller's Groovejet (If This Ain't Love). What's great about Sophie is her ability to dance on stage like no one is watching. You're instantly drawn to her energy, and it's magnetic. She's geeky, truly knows who she is, and it's incredible to watch. Her voice is so unique, it gives her brand of disco an edge, and let's face it, you know when Sophie is singing. (Image: Sophie Ellis-Bextor plays Glasgow's Armadillo May 2025. Pic by Calum Buchan.) (Image: Sophie Ellis-Bextor plays Glasgow's Armadillo in May 2025. Pic Calum Buchan.) Taking in the admiration from her fans, she asked: 'Shall I just cancel the rest of the tour? What is the point? 'Shall we just move here?' And with a resounding yes from the fans, it was time for that song that was given a new life thanks to a little movie called Saltburn. Murder on the Dancefloor sent the crowd into a complete frenzy, and rightly so, it's an incredible pop anthem. READ NEXT: I saw Anastacia live in Glasgow - and she revealed her Scottish 'addiction' READ NEXT: I saw Kylie Minogue at the Hydro in Glasgow - it was a legendary performance (Image: Sophie Ellis-Bextor plays Glasgow's Armadillo May 2025. Pic by Calum Buchan.) (Image: Sophie Ellis-Bextor plays Glasgow's Armadillo May 2025. Pic by Calum Buchan.) Signing off with a smile, she said: 'Thank you, come see me again sometime,' before an encore of Bittersweet and a surprise appearance on the balcony to sing A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed.
The National
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
This Fife teen is photographing huge names in music at just 18
Despite being fresh out of secondary school, Dunfermline-born Kyle Horne has gone from the photo pit in venues like King Tuts and PJ Molloys to shooting gigs for artists such as Teddy Swims, Raye and KT Tunstall in just over a year. Horne explained that he started taking the medium seriously in S6 after studying photography as a subject for 'fun' and being encouraged by his teacher to create a music project. READ MORE: Scottish garden designers win prestigious award at Chelsea show He told The National: 'I'd studied music from first year all the way through to sixth and [my teacher] said to me 'why not do a music project?' 'It all built up from there. I'd done all these gigs while I was in school for my portfolio, and when I started out I was just DMing artists on Instagram and asking if I could come to their concert and photograph it.' Beginning as a contributor for different online music publications, Horne has since co-founded his own magazine titled ADRENALINE. Horne's impressive CV includes Grammy-nominated singer Teddy Swims, pictured above (Image: Kyle Horne) Brit-award-winning RAYE (Image: Kyle Horne) The photographer said that, whilst volunteering for other outlets was 'great', he wanted to set up his own to have more freedom over the gigs he was shooting. He said: 'I decided 'I'm just going to go for this' and build my name up with these PRs who had only heard of me through whoever was asking for a photo pass at these other magazines. 'I set up an Instagram, created a logo, set up the website, and I just put out an open call and said, 'Does anyone want to be part of this?'. 'We got about 50 applicants at first, which is a lot, but we've got 25 contributors now and I'd say it's going well.' READ MORE: 'A magnificent effort': New independence hub with weekly Gaelic classes James Bay (Image: Kyle Horne) Since moving to Cambridge for university, Horne has been able to photograph artists in monumental venues like Wembley Arena, but the youngster stressed that moving to London isn't the be-all and end-all for Scottish creatives looking to begin their careers. He said: 'Of course moving down here has helped me get into these big events and meet people working for the likes of Getty and these massive music magazines, but not everyone has to do the same. 'I don't think Scotland is restrictive, it's just smaller in terms of the number of venues and gigs on at one time. Not everyone has to move here to make it." The photographer advised other creative youngsters to 'just go for it', saying: 'I know it's cliché, but just start — email managers, DM artists, use the free bus travel to your advantage. 'The worst anyone can do is say no, and if they do then you just move on to the next one.'
