I had a great night out on Tuesday night at St Luke’s watching the BBC Introducing Scottish Act of the Year 2026.
A little preamble before getting to the nitty gritty. I coerned the Other Half to accompany me. I had initially planned to go on my own but there was a final release of tickets for the event on Monday and so I asked her to apply and come along with me. With such a late offering of tickets, it seemed as if the Beeb were struggling to generate enough interest for attendees. Which is a real shame, because despite the cuts in local content, they still seem to want to promote and rally behind new artists. Locally as well. There’d be no BBC Introducing in Scotland otherwise, and there’d be no Friday night show with Phoebe and Steph. And man, I do get it – the BBC is a shell of what it once was but if we don’t get behind what’s left of the good of it, we’ll lose it all.
As we queued outside, I got chatting to a guy from Clydebank – I think he later introduced himself to me as Alastair? Anyway, he was great company (the OH is not one for chatting much, especially when we’re outdoors as she struggles to hear things). With around another 20 minutes or so to wait, I saw Hamish come out through the entrance of the Winged Ox. There was a couple in front of Alastair and they said to me as I was looking lovingly on in the distance “Have you seen someone you recongnise?” “Yes. That’s Hamish Hawk.” The man said “Ah, right. He looks like Niles from Frasier.” Lol. Too embarrassed to look like a sycphantic fangirl, I stood there watching him walk off down the road knowing that I was going to miss probably my only chance to say hi to him. Alastair says to me “I didn’t get to see him. When he comes back point him out to me. I want to see if he does look like Niles from Frasier.” About 10-15 minutes later Hamish returns. As he was walking back along the path I said to Alastair “Here he comes.”
“The guy in the long coat? Aye, he does look like Niles from Frasier an aw.”
Again, I just stood there in the queue and looked on kicking myself that I was too self-conscious to just go over and say hi. I didn’t see him after that – well, only from the barrier inside St Luke’s to his perch up in the balcony doing his stint of judging. I even had a little bit of banter all prepared in case I saw him and got to say hello. Like, how fantastic Life in a Scotch Sitting Room, Vol. 0 is and that I loved seeing it in Edinburgh last year and couldn’t wait to see it again at Oran Mor in May, etc, etc. Looking forward to hearing new music. All that malarkey. Alas, none of it happened.
Anyway…on to the main affair.
I was hopeful of two things. One: that we’d get to the front, and two: there’d be a barrier in place to help keep me upright for the show. Yay on both counts! I was absolute dead centre and nicely propped up by a barrier.
There was quite a diverse range of musical genres represented on the night. First act on was Katie Nicoll – a modern pop artist I’d classify her as. She performed her current single ‘Your Friend’ and then a cover of Wheatus’s ‘Teenage Dirtbag.’ She was very good. I had looked into her a wee bit only a few days before as she’d been announced as the support for The Zebecks on 9 April and I wanted to hear what she was like. Then I saw her Instgram reel saying how over the moon she was to be in the final for Introducing Scottish Act 2026.
Next up was Lo Rays – now, they were kinda electro/metal-ish. I’m not entirely sure how to describe this genre accurately – but they reminded me in looks and style of Gary Numan when he brought out My Name Is Ruin, that kind of music style and that kind of look. They performed ‘Knee High’ and then did a cover of a Tate McRae song? Whatever it was, it was something outside of their own genre of music and Phoebe and Steph as well as – I think it was Shereen Cutkelvin who they asked on the judging panel for comment – was also impressed. They certainly had stage presence and performed well.
The third act was Alice Faye. A traditional singer-songwriter style of artist. She performed her song ‘Angeline’ and then covered ‘Maybe This Time’ as immortalised by Liza Minnelli in Cabaret. It was jaw-dropping. The crowd went fucking apeshit. It was a stunning performce all round. Steph spoke to Hamish about Alice’s performance, and I think he was as taken with it as the rest of us and called her performance “faultless.”
I was thinking whoever is following this – good luck! Then there was an extended delay before the next act came on. Riley is an artist from the ‘country’ side of things. I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of country music in all honesty. And there was something about Riley that just came across as quite false and disingenuous. She had that kind of “I want to be a big star” kind of thing going on, you know. Her demeaner couldn’t have been any different from Alice Faye’s. But I was open to being swayed by her performance. Alas, it didn’t happen. Her song ‘Maggie’s Rodeo’ was pleasant enough – inoffensive. She then did a cover of ‘Dancing Queen’ but the tempo was slower and so it managed to turn a very upbeat and celebratory song into something a bit downcast and meadering. I commend her for trying something different with it but it didn’t really work that well.
The last act probably had the toughest job to pull off – a DJ called J Wax. When the finalists were announced on the show a couple of weeks back, they played a ‘set’ by him called ‘2002,’ so I am going to assume that is what he performed for us on Tuesday night. And as a DJ…well, he had no cover song to do, so perhaps he just freestyled, or did an extended mix of ‘2002’? I’ve no idea, and it’s a first for the Introducing final to have a DJ as a finalist, so….
We were then treated to a performance by last year’s winner, Becky Sikasa. She performed four or five songs. A really good voice! Proper soulful. I would love it if Beverley Knight had her as her support when she performs in Glasgow in June – it would be a great pairing. After Becky’s performance, we had some more DJing going on until the judges had finally come to a decision. It was supposed to have been tightly contested and it went to the line…
For me it was an absolute no brainer and I think I would have been scratching my head had there been any other result. As we got the drum roll and the suspence of the gold envelope being opened – I was inwardly chanting “please let it be Alice, please let it be Alice!” I needn’t have worried. As I say, for me, there really was only one winner.
With that said, I am looking forward to seeing Katie Nicoll in a few weeks time supporting The Zebecks at McChuills. But even more than that, I am REALLY looking forward to seeing Alice Faye again as she’ll be supporting Brooke Combe at St Luke’s on 23 April.
Lo Rays were really good too – there is quite a bit of theatre to them. I think I’d find a gig of theirs a bit overwhelming though. I worry about seeing bands that have a heavier music style. Ages back I wanted to see One Nine Eight but was just so worried about being some old fart stuck in a mosh pit I didn’t go and see them. I’d feel the same with Lo Rays. I’d be way out of my depth.
As for Alastair – he left after J Wax performed. He was glad just to have seen the finalists perform and then head off home.
If they hold it at St Luke’s again next year, I’d be happy to attend.