A music festival with a difference welcomes back devotees this weekend.
The Great Western returns to the city’s West End on Saturday 12 November for its third outing.
The popular all-day music and arts festival draws inspiration from the city’s Great Western Road.
It takes place across various spaces in Glasgow’s West End either on or in close proximity to the famous thoroughfare.
Exploration
Organisers have billed the event ‘Glasgow’s festival of musical exploration and discovery’.
From churches to community centres, the event takes music into unfamiliar territories.
Renowned Russian feminist art/protest collective Pussy Riot headline, with a host of other bands, both national and local.
Anna B. Savage, Priestgate, Lambrini Girls and CARRTOONS will perform alongside BC Camplight, Los Bitchos, Scalping, Luna Li, Dan Mangan, The Bug Club, Connie Constance, Plastic Mermaids, Martha Ffion, A.A. Williams and DEADLETTER.
'Community festival'
Local and Scottish talent include: LVRA, Dutch Wine, Bikini Body, Lewis McLaughlin, Iona Zajac, Bin Juice, Raveloe, Amelia Bayler, Flinch., Sean Lìonadh and Bee Asha Singh.
Festival founder and organiser Brian Reynolds said: "We are so happy to bring back our community festival for 2022 and I'm truly delighted to have our Russian friends Pussy Riot headlining the event.
“I’m [also] really looking forward to hosting live music in our new venue addition The Piping Centre on Otago Street and I'm pleased to have made the festival footprint much more compact this year to cut down on travel time between venues.”
He added: “The line up is so rich in awesome new talent that I wish I could attend twice.”
Conceived in 2019 as a unique day of ‘musical exploration and discovery’, The Great Western takes place annually in November.
Previous acts include: Arab Strap, Anna Meredith, Papa M (David Pajo of Slint), Pillow Queens, The Yummy Fur, Yard Act, Cassandra Jenkins, and Sacred Paws.
We are so happy to bring back our community festival for 2022 and I'm truly delighted to have our Russian friends Pussy Riot headlining the event.
Brian Reynolds
With a strong focus on community spirit and the celebration of underused and under-appreciated spaces in the area, alongside more established venues, the festival hosts thousands of music lovers each year alongside a stacked line up of eclectic acts housed across several specially-curated stages.
Venues include Maryhill Community Central; the Hug & Pint; The Piping Centre on Otago Street; Websters Theatre; Mackintosh Queen’s Cross; Stereo.
The festival has since expanded to include a sister event in Edinburgh in May - The Great Eastern - which brings the spirit of the original Glasgow event to the south side of the Capital across esteemed arts complex Summerhall and The Queen’s Hall.
