The Barrowlands is my favourite venue in Glasgow.

The original building opened in 1934 east of Glasgows city centre. The front of the building is decorated with a distinctive animated neon sign. The ballroom was the leading dancehall in Scotland from its inception. The building was largely destroyed by fire in 1958, leading to a complete rebuild. The rebuilt ballroom opened on Christmas eve 1960.


The Barrowlands always has those moments of "I was there" than many of the more recent music venues do these days. It really is as good as it gets. Even the more soulless venues such as, arguably, the SECC dominate the musical landscape, the Barrowlands still manages to pull big name acts, and quite rightly so.

However the only bad thing I can forward about the Barrowlands are the staff. The staff are complacent, rude, obnoxious , and bereft of the most basic of social skills.  And with many good competitive venues springing up across the city where you are treated as a person throughout  i hope the Barrowlands bubble doesn't burst as it once did as they may need to start dusting off those roller skates again.


By far the best venue in Glasgow and arguably mabye as far as its age. I would recommend it to all music lovers.

Personally the Barrowlands is the number one venue in Glasgow. With the decline of dancehall and the rise of rock/pop performance, the Ballroom has become a major concert venue. Known for its excellent acoustics as well as its sprung dance floor, the Barrowlands has become a particular favourite of many noted rock/pop acts.

The View - King Tuts Glasgow - 25/1/11

It may have been two years since their last album but "The View are still on fire". I went and saw them on the 25th of January at King tuts in the first of four dates on their mini tour - to showcase third album bread and circuses.You could feel the excitement at this packed-out gig to hear the new tunes . The music did the talking. Bounding on stage without a word, they launched into the well-known Glass Smash to get the crowd going. But soon they were thrashing about to what will become the first single release from the new album, Grace.There was a slight dip in tempo for b-side Clowns before it picked back up for Wasted Little DJs, 5Rebeccas and skag  

But the song "Underneath The Lights" really caught the crowd's attention as Kyle looked for the feeling he gets when he hears his Scottish fans sing along when he's performing. Kyle and bassist Kieran, who also takes a shot of the vocals, chatted to the crowd between songs. But with the thick Dundonian jargon that is unpalatable to take in . Whatever it was, the music kept the crowd happy and a demand for "one more tune" brought the boys back on stage for Face For The Radio. They played seven songs from the new album and Bread and Circuses is as packed full of hits as the two previous albums.

Mix that with an hour-long, high-energy set from the guys, followed by a pint with their fans afterwards it was an all round brilliant night and I would definitely recommend it.