Scotland to host BBC music festival for the first time

● Depeche Mode and Belle and Sebastian to play

0 Lauren Laverne unveiled the news during her show, broadcast live from the Glasgow School of Art, yesterday Some of Scotland’s biggest musical acts are being lined up to appear at a BBC festival being staged north of the Border for the first time.

Five days of events are being held across Glasgow next month in venues including Barrowlands, the O2 Academy, St Luke’s, SWG3, Tramway and King Tuts Wah Wah Hut at the BBC 6 Music Festival.

Jesus and Mary Chain, Belle and Sebastian, Edwyn Collins, Emma Pollock, Honeyblood and The Pastels will perform.

King Creosote, James Yorkston, Anna Meredith, The Blue Nile singer Paul Buchanan and Sacred Paws are among the other Scottish acts confirmed for the festival.

It will include daytime, early evening and late-night gigs, film screenings, talks and club events, as well as special appearances from author Ian Rankin and comedians Limmy and Scott Gibson.

More than 50 different acts are due to appear at the festival, which was previously staged by the BBC in Bristol, Newcastle and Salford, and has been organised by 6 Music in collaboration with BBC Scotland.

Depeche Mode, Goldfrapp, Ride, former Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon, Songhoy Blues, Sparks and The Shins will also be performing.

Tickets go on sale on Friday for the festival, which runs from 22-26 March and will be broadcast live on 6 Music and on the BBC red button site, with highlights on BBC 2 Scotland and BBC Four.

Presenter Lauren Laverne, who yesterday hosted a special broadcast at Glasgow School of Art to launch the event, said: “I have so many great memories of the city, and the 6 Music Festival is sure to create some more. People who are in the music scene locally have taken a big hand in putting on what they want to put on and bring- ing in artists from the city that they feel best represent what is going on. We have a really broad and exciting bill.”

Paul Rodgers, 6 Music’s head of programmes, said: “It’s exciting to be able to take the festival to Glasgow this March and we can’t wait to explore some of the city’s famous venues and dig into its fantastic music scene and heritage.”

Sharon Mair, music and events editor at BBC Radio Scotland, said: “We’ve been talking to 6 Music for around a year and a half about bringing the festival to Glasgow and we’re delighted we’ve managed to pull it off.

“It’s going to be a great collaboration between these two parts of the BBC.”