TRNSMT festival gears up to go ahead in September with revamped line-up
Scotland's biggest music festival, TRSNMT, is to go ahead in September - two months later than planned – with a revamped line-up missing Lewis Capaldi after he called off a planned tour this year.
Primal Scream, The Chemical Brothers, Dermot Kennedy and Becky Hill have all been added to the bill of the Glasgow Green event, which is hoped to be staged at its full capacity of 50,000.
Organisers said it “wasn’t possible” for the event to go ahead on its planned dates on July 9-11 due to uncertainty over what restrictions on live events will be in place at the time.
However they said the new dates, on September 10-12, would allow them to put on the “best festival” possible this year.
Liam Gallagher, the Courteeners, Ian Brown, Keane, Twin Atlantic, Snow Patrol, Amy Macdonald, Declan Mckenna, Sam Fender, Blossoms, AJ Tracey, Declan Welsh & the Decadent West, Tom Odell and Little Simz are all due to play the festival as planned.
However fans of original 2021 headliner Capaldi will have to wait until next year to see him at the festival, which is thought to be worth up to £20 million to the city’s economy.
He is being replaced at the top of the bill by The Chemical Brothers after postponing all his planned live dates to concentrate on recording a new album.
Capaldi said: “I really want to make sure whatever I put out next is the absolute best it can be, partly for my own sanity, cause I’m going to have to sing these songs every night for the next few years on tour, but ultimately for all of you who made the first album everything it was. "I hate the thought of letting anyone down, especially after the year we’ve just had but I know that, more than anything, getting the album right has to be my number one priority at the moment. I hope you understand.”
Under Scotland’s proposed route map out of lockdown, small-scale indoor and outdoor events will be allowed to resume in mid-may.
TRNSMT director Geoff Ellis has led calls for Scotland to have similar rules for the return of large-scale festivals as England.
TRNSMT’S announcement has been made the day after The Scotsman revealed that the Scottish Government was working to bring Scotland's “major events” back this summer.
Mr Ellis said: “We’d initially hoped for the festival to take place in July, but a combination of the timetable to exit lockdown and the preparation time needed to put on an event of TRNSMT’S scale means this wasn’t possible.
"September gives us the opportunity to put on the best festival we can for our fans after such a long time without any live music and we will, of course, work with all relevant authorities to ensure we follow any guidelines that may be in place in September. Naturally, a few artists have faced challenges with the rescheduled dates, so we have made some changes to the line-up. We’ve worked hard to secure a fantastic bill,” Mr Ellis added.