P.I.L. / ERRORR - Kelvingrove Bandstand, Glasgow 29th July 2025

Tonight is the first night of the annual Summer Nights at Kelvingrove Bandstand in Kelvingrove park, Glasgow. It is an open air venue, similar to the Hollywood Bowl, but a fraction of the size. It is small enough to still be personal, but still large enough to accommodate a couple of thousand dedicated fans!  The weather comes into pay at this venue, tonight is overcast, but no rain will fall, not that a little rain could spoil a show!

Not every band that plays The Bandstand has a support, tonight Public Image have a support. This is a band I have not heard before, so once again, I see a band with an open mind, so I really do not know what to expect. The band are called ERRORR, with the third R the wrong way round.

A young woman enters the stage carrying her guitar, plugs in and tunes up, could this actually be a solo performance? Well there are three mic stands on stage, plus two drum kits, one belonging to P.I.L, as their logo was on the bass drum, so no, it's not a solo gig, a moment or two later, a second guitarist, bassist and drummer join their bandmate on stage.

The young woman is centre stage, however, the other guitarist, stage left. does a lot of the singing. I do not know how long the band have been playing together, but they look nervous, the bassist hardly moves at all throughout the bands set, as the show progresses, both guitarists, figuratively, let their hair down, a bit, and use a bit more of the stage.

I am going to be a bit of hypocrite here, I hate when people pigeonhole bands, but it's something I do all the time, go figure! 

I know ERRORR sound similar to a band I have heard before, but while in the photo pit, I'm stumped, I cannot think who, I'm not dwelling on it as photography is why I am there to do primarily.  

After exiting the pit, I stood beside a friend and his dad, whom I met with when they came into the Bandstand. while chatting, between songs, I got that BINGO moment, not from myself, my friend Billy, said that Errorr were obviously influenced by The Pixies. YES! Now I'm not going to state I am a fan of The Pixies, but I do know some of their music, and yeas it is fair to say there is similarities between them and tonights band. ERRORR are going down well with the crowd, personally, I'm starting to go with the flow, liking what the band are playing when they announce that the next song will be their last for tonight, how disappointing, but that's the life as a support band, limited to a time slot.

There is a longer changeover period at The Bandstand, let the larger crowd use the facilities, got to the bars etc and merch stall.

Before P.I.L take to the stage, I mentioned earlier that I was expecting a bit of controversy. I shall explain. Last year John Lydon was doing solo theatre shows akin to "An Audience With" shows. Reports from early shows stating that John was extremely political, with heated arguments between John and the audience. When the show was due in Glasgow, there was a report stating that there had been "words" between John or tour manager and management at The Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow, and the show was cancelled.  With John being John, he's not one for holding back or being subtle, he could have come onstage and had a bit of a rant, however, he didn't.

The band came on to an almighty cheer, John had a huge grin on his face, and proceeded to say "Hello Edinburgh" and started to laugh, Nice one John, but we got it! The set kicked off with "Home" quickly followed by "know how", third song stumped me, I only found later that it was a cover version of "World destruction" by Time Zone, I don't even know who Time Zone are, sorry guys. Next up, we had our first Sing-a-long, "This is not a love song" done in a differing style to the original. 

"Poptones" was next, followed by "Death Disco" John did have some fun chatting with the crowd. He blamed Aberdeen for giving him a few bottles of whisky, so he wasn't as slim as he usually is, which got a few belly laughs, Next we got "Flowers of romance" and "The body"  John, sporting a tartan waistcoat, a black jacket underneath, and what looked like a builders utility belt round his waist, and a sporran! He, at one point, asked how could we wear a sporran, as it kept hitting his "wee man" again we had a laugh. We had a couple more songs before they got to the final track on the main set "Public image"  

John then said that they would be back in three minutes, after a smoke break.

It didn't seem as long as three minutes when they came back on stage. Once again I didn't have a clue to what the first song of the encore was, it is another cover, this time from a band I have heard of, but wouldn't know any of their music, the song "Open up" by Leftfield. The next song, probably got the biggest cheer of the night, "Rise" It seemed like we sang along for hours with that one, then sadly, an amazing set came to an end, with a bit of a mix-up medley, containing "Annalisa" "Attack" and "Chant"

The only thin John mentioned that could have been controversial was "the one thing the world doesn't need at this point in time, is another Sex Pistols cover band" Having a dig at his old bandmates. To be honest, I don't think anyone in tonight crowd would have disagreed with that statement!

What an opening to the Summer Nights, next up, for me, Stiff Little Fingers and then The Sisters Of Mercy, both will be reviewed for Rockfiend!

AS always, if you do not know any of the above bands, head to your favoured streaming platform and give them a listen, you may find something new to enjoy!