A rare dry night for Glasgow at this time of year. Fantastic. Nothing suits me more. I very easily get put off by attending gigs when the weather is shite. It had been pretty shite for the 48 hours leading up to it. Through Thursday night and into Friday it had been blowing a hoolie, with lashing rain accompanying it on Thursday night. Mercifully it managed to ‘do wan’ by Friday night.
Back in August I had bought an extra ticket for Michelle. She’d been to Kendall Calling the previous weekend and I had recommended that she see Ist Ist if she could as I’d seen that they were on the bill of acts performing. She’d managed to catch some of their set and was impressed enough to want to see them again. I had suggested I grab her a ticket for their Oran Mor show. As the gig date got closer, her work commitments were making it unlikely she’d be able to attend. I knew there’d be other Ist Ist fans I’d recognised and had met in Edinburgh in August attending yet that still meant traveling to and from Oran Mor alone. I asked the OH if she’d accompany me, not really holding out much hope that she’d be keen. I had told her that there was seating on either side of the stage and I had planned to be seated anyway.
Glasgow looked like a bloody ghost town when we arrived in the city just after 6pm. Queen Street station was all but empty. The subway was ghostly empty. It was Saturday night in Glasgow! Where was everyone? Even when we got to Hillhead there was hardly anyone about. It wasn’t until we got to Oran Mor did it feel like there were some people milling about.
We joined the queue that had started at the bottom of the steps. Chloe, who I had met in Edinburgh in May, was at the beginning of the queue. I had hoped to see her there. There were a few other familiar faces too. Ist Ist really does have a dedicated core fanbase. It’s testament to their brilliance as a great live band.
Once inside, I checked out the seating. I couldn’t remember how well or otherwise you could see the stage from the seats on the right side of the main floor to the stage. Someone had already nabbed the seat with the best (and only clearest) view. The others mostly had pillars obscuring the view to the stage. I wasn’t very happy with the notion of seeing absolutely fuck all. Looking at the stage once again, I noticed that the height of the stage was taller than I had remembered it being when I was there earlier in the year to see Field Music. It was up to torso height which felt high enough to lean up against and use as a crutch for my iffy legs. I checked with the OH that she didn’t mind that I go to the stage and enjoy the gig from there. She was happy with that if I was happy for her to still take a pew at the side.
It was a very slick affair. Shortly after the doors opened, the support act, Yaang, was on stage. They impressed me from the off. A fellow Manchester band, the OH described their sound (as far as her opinion went) as The Fall meets Lust For Life era Iggy Pop. That could be a fair description. All I know is they hooked me straight away. Vocalist Davey Moore arrived on stage in a green mac and dark shades. He had a strut and swagger – he wasn’t looking to be a Poundland Liam Gallagher, that wasn’t the schtick at all. He had a magnetism all of his own. He had moves and he had clout and commanded attention from the small crowd that showed up early to see them. And we were rewarded for our courteous treatment of the support act with a classy and polished thirty minute set.
It was only 7.45pm by this point and then the crew had to get things sorted quickly for Ist Ist’s set due to kick off at 8.15pm. I got chatting to a young woman who had come to the gig to do photography. We swapped places through the night as with there being no barrier, it was making it a bit of a test for the photographers there to get themselves good positions for taking photos.
Before talking about how fantastic Ist Ist were performing last night, I really must credit them for putting on early shows. Granted this is only my second time seeing them, but it seems to be a common courtesy of theirs to put on shows that start and end (relatively) early. As I say, last night their set started at 8.15pm and they left the stage (after an encore) at 9.40pm. They didn’t shirk on their set to achieve this, either. It was an extensive set – there must have been at least 20 songs in the set. They performed several new songs that will be on their next release, Dagger, which is due out on 6 February 2026.
They are just stellar. From the first song to the last, they just deliver such a great live experience. I am not using hyperbole to declare Ist Ist as possibly the BEST live band going around the UK at the moment. I’m sorry Simple Minds, you guys can kid yourselves as much as you like that you’re one of the best live bands going round but trust me, Ist Ist would wipe the fucking floor with you! And when it comes to value for money? Some old farts barely delivering and ripping-off their fanbase with a 14-song set for little change from £80 (or more!) – OR – a band in their absolute prime, with an already extensive back catalogue, an ardent core fanbase, that deliver 20+ song sets and whose average ticket price is £20-25 – THERE IS NO CONTEST!
On this tour Ist Ist have just two shows left, London and Birmingham next weekend. After that, it’s a tour of Europe in March (including the Paradiso in Amsterdam – man, I wish!) and the UK in April, with a big old home gig at Manchester Albert Hall on 1 May 2026. That is going to be one hell of a gig! I am very keen to see them again already and so I have eyes on the show in Newcastle in April. Sadly, there are no Scottish dates pencilled in for the spring and Newcastle is as far north as they come, but you know me, any excuse to take a trip to Geordie Toon is fine with me, pet! Watch this space.
Just to wrap up here – the OH was very happy with the early finish. The subway couldn’t have been more of a contrast on the return back to Queen Street. Absolutely HOACHIN’. We were rammed in like sardines and almost exploded out of the carriage when we got to Buchanan Street. We had around 20 minutes to wait for the Anniesland train to take us back to Ashfield. After a few minutes I asked the OH if she wanted something from Greggs. Chips was the request. As I got to the counter there was a couple there. The woman was very much the worse for wear. She was very chatty with it though. She was trying to engage with the Greggs staff but they were having none of it. Then she noticed me. “Ooh, hello! How are youuuuu!?” “Good” I said. “Oh, are you? I bet you’re REAL GOOD” and she positioned herself behind me, then grabbed my hips and started dry humping me, ramming me up against the Greggs counter. I mean…I think I was just so stunned I didn’t know what to do. I was looking at her companion as if to say “Help me out here, pal!” I was wearing my magic jumper – you know the one I mentioned in the Cloth review. Her mate seemed to suggest to me that she mistook my jumper as being a Celtic thing and that got her …. Excited. Okay! She then said (after she’d finished dry humping me) “Where are you going?” I thought “I’m in trouble here, I better be vague.” “Anniesland” I said. She then says to the staff behind the counter “Hurry up! We’re got to get to Anniesland.” I had been served and she was distracted with deciding on what she wanted and so I was able to make a swift get away. As I got back to the OH I said “I’ve just been dry humped at the Greggs counter.” It was just so surreal I could help but find it hilarious. What a night!
I took a few crappy pics of Yaang (not good enough to share) but didn’t film anything. I got just the one Ist Ist song and a few snaps. It was just hard in the photography scrum to want to bother with getting my own stuff, and I feel less and less inclined to have my phone out at gigs these days.
Next up will be Hamish Hawk at the Barras, with the fabulous Cloth and Goodnight Louisa as his supports. It promises to be a fabulous gig.