Ignore Ned Stark – winter has come and gone and spring might well have finally sprung. It certainly has for the gigs scene in Scotland – here’s a quick rundown of some of the higher lights from the coming month…
The freaky-deeky Oxford four-piece come to Edinburgh this March to showcase their latest album, How to Be a Human Being, released last August. After the initial date at the Liquid Room sold out faster than the hottest of cakes, the band lobbed another onto their tour schedule… only for that one to go in similarly rapid fashion.
@ Liquid Room, Edinburgh, 8th / 9th Mar
Having first tinkled the electronic ivories over 15 years ago, it could be said that Pascal Arbez-Nicolas (aka Vitalic) paved the way for fellow French heavyweights of the scene Daft Punk and Justice. Techno, disco, dance, rock and pop are blended together in this veteran act that blurs lines and throbs dancefloors faster than several shots of chartreuse in a row.
Punk rock bands normally live fast, die young and burn out quickly like a sparked match. Not even one of those cooking matches, either; just a short one intended for cigarette or arson purposes only. Not so with The Stranglers – their four-decade-long career is still going strong and looks set to delight Glaswegian audiences once again this month.
@ O2 Academy, Glasgow, 11th Mar
Another long-term punk/rock artist staying the course visits the capital this month as Elvis Costello brings High Fidelity and Oliver’s Army (among a wheelbarrowload of others) to Festival Theatre on the 18th. The Scottish date is one of three in the UK on a Europe and US-wide tour this year for the bespectacled rocker.
@ Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, 18th Mar
Among his many accolades, Johnny Flynn can count a clutch of successful folk albums, the soundtrack to gently titterful sitcom The Detectorists, a starring role in Lovesick (nee Scrotal Recall), a recent stint as Albert Einstein and a handful of appearances on the silver screen, to boot. Is there anything the man can’t do? Probably, but we’ve not found it yet. See what all the fuss is about at La Belle Angele at the month’s end.