28th July 2023
Just two months on from Dundee hosting the BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend, the city is back with another two-day live music extravaganza.
First up to get the Weekend off to a start is James headlining the event and support coming from Razorlight, The Clause, Tom A Smith and Arms Against.
It is almost 40 years since Tim Booth and his band last visited the city playing the Dance Factory on the 17th August 1986 so you could tell that the music lovers of Dundee were looking forward to this night.
I was really looking forward to photographing Tom A. Smith as I had heard a lot of good things and I wasn’t disappointed. As a photographer you are always looking for some high energy on stage and that’s what Smith provided from the off. With songs like Weirdo, Little Bits and Dragonfly this set was full of confidence well above his age.
West Midland band The Clause was another band I was eager to see and photograph but the 30-minute set seemed to fly by as the played tracks such as Fake It and Hate the Player, but after this performance in front of the outdoor crowd I think they’ve won over many new fans in Scotland.
I was really surprised to see Razorlight playing support to James as they were one of the biggest bands of the 90’s but after getting back together again in 2021, they played singalong tunes such as Golden Touch, Somewhere Else, Stumble and Fall and America it won’t be long before a new generation of fans will be asking the band to return to Dundee.
As the sky darkened, the night was all set for the big finale as band members from the Manchester Indie band took to the stage followed by Tim Booth dressed in baggy jeans and waist length fur coat.
It wasn’t long into the set before Booth went walkabout as he worked both sides of the pit singing Waltzing Along as fans held him up on the barriers like a god.
They played songs from there 2021 album All The Colours Of You which went down well with the 11,000 fans as did fan favourites Walk Like You, Sit Down and an acoustic version of She’s a Star.
