'Her voice is our gift to world' - 10 best gigs in July in Scotland

Alhambra Theatre, Dunfermline, July 17

Lulu’s career has always been a weird mismatch of hipster moments - the glory of her 1967 hit To Sir With Love, her time recording at Muscle Shoals, teaming up with Bowie - and long stretches of light entertainment-flavoured misfortune; the wavering accent, her Eurovision entry Boom Bang a-Bang and having to welcome the likes of Vince Hill and Roy Castle onto her 1970s TV show It’s Lulu (though to be fair she also got to introduce Bill Withers, Roberta Flack and Aretha Franklin too).

Her reputation is probably just one well-curated retrospective away from being positively reframed. (If in any doubt take a listen to Where’s Eddie on her 1970 album New Routes; the best thing she’s ever done?) You can decide between yourselves if her contribution to Take That’s Relight My Fire makes the cut.

Anyway, at 76, Lulu is currently in the midst of a long farewell tour that sees her turn up in Dunfermline this month. It’s a chance to remind ourselves that her voice remains one of Glasgow’s great gifts to the world. We should celebrate it more.

Read more: Scotland's 10 best summer festivals that are not the Edinburgh Festival

Sophie B Hawkins

King Tut’s, Glasgow, July 2

You couldn’t want for a more intimate venue for the American singer-songwriter now celebrating the 30th anniversary of her second album Whaler (actually released in 1994). Hawkins carries the mistaken label of one-hit wonder for the success of her 1992 single Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover, but Whaler was home to Right Beside You which was also a top 20 hit in the UK. I suspect she’ll play both on this visit to Glasgow.

Alanis Morissette

OVO Hydro, Glasgow, July 5

It’s not always remarked upon, but while British pop (or to be more specific Britpop) was going all “we’re going to live forever,” in 1995, its North American equivalent was an angrier affair. Grunge hadn’t disappeared and the Riot Grrrl movement was still a force, after all. 

And then Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette announced herself to the world in 1995 with the exhilaratingly ferocious You Oughta Know, the lead single from her multi-million-selling Jagged Little Pill album and one of the great, snarky revenge songs against straying boyfriends. (“And every time I scratch my nails/Down someone else's back, I hope you feel it.”)

Thankfully, Morissette’s life has moved on a bit in the interim, but she comes to Glasgow fresh from Glastonbury with Liz Phair in support. A chance to relive some righteous 1990s feminist anger perhaps.

Billie Eilish

OVO Hydro, Glasgow, July 7 & July 8

And two days later in the same venue… Eilish is still only 23, but she already has a decade of music-making, three albums and a raft of awards (including a couple of Oscars and nine Grammys) behind her. For someone who has been described as the “ultimate bedroom artist”, concocting her music in the comfy familiarity of her own home, she has proved more than capable of translating the results for an arena audience (in 2022 she became the youngest ever headliner at Glastonbury). This is pop music a quarter of the way through the 21st century. 

Kendrick Lamar and SZA

Hampden Park, Glasgow, July 8

You might say the same of the recordings of Kenrick Lamar, of course. The rapper is taking a break from his ongoing beef with Drake to team up with singer-songwriter SZA - fresh from their Super Bowl appearance together - for a world tour. If you want to get a sense of where black America is right now…

Summer Classics: The Scottish Chamber Orchestra

The Town House, Hamilton, July 17; Castle Douglas Town Hall, July 18; Ayr Town Hall, July 19

The SCO is on manoeuvres in the west of Scotland in July with performances in Hamilton, Castle Douglas and Ayr. The programme includes Haydn’s Symphony No 80 in D Minor, Beethoven’s Symphony No 4 in B-Flat and the world premiere of Rewired, a concerto for soprano saxophone and chamber orchestra composed by Jay Capperauld, recent cover star of this very magazine. Lewis Banks is the solo saxophonist for these evenings and the orchestra will be conducted by Jonathan Bloxham.

Read more: Death never takes a holiday but you do: 10 best crime novels to pack for summer

Colin Steele's STRAMASH

Queen’s Hall, July 18

Part of the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival, Colin Steele’s supergroup STRAMASH promise a fusion of jazz, folk and classical music in this Edinburgh gig. Steele, who cut his teeth playing with Hue & Cry back in the 1980s, has been one of Scottish jazz’s most reliable pleasures; a trumpet player who has explored the music of Miles Davis and the songbooks of Joni Mitchell and Scotland’s own Pearlfishers. This should be a good reminder of his musical adventurousness.

C Duncan

Tolbooth, Stirling, July 19

This special one-off show in Stirling celebrates the 10th anniversary of Architect (“classical meets dreampop,” according to the Guardian in 2015), the Mercury-nominated debut album of the classically trained Glaswegian multi-instrumentalist C Duncan. Any excuse to take in his hazy romanticism should always be seized.

Public Image Ltd

Kelvingrove Bandstand, Glasgow, July 29

Now, it would seem, permanently estranged from his fellow Sex Pistols (who replaced him with singer Frank Carter on their own recent trip to Glasgow), John Lydon is still touring the world with his other band PiL and still playing the role of the world’s most willful contrarian. Lydon has had a rough couple of years, losing his wife Nora and his manager and best friend John “Rambo Stevens”. But he remains committed to playing live, and onstage he remains the blustering, bolshy presence he’s always been. Take that as a threat or a promise. He’s right about one thing, though. PiL were always a better band than the Pistols.

Teenage Fanclub

Kelvingrove Bandstand, Glasgow, July 31

Two nights later (with Anastacia sandwiched in between), it’s the turn of Bellshill’s favourite sons to play the Bandstand. Teenage Fanclub remain what they have always been: a guitar band with an ear for a hook and an ability to make music that can make you feel happy and sad at the same time. They are soaringly melancholic, if you like. This seems as good a way as any to see out July.