[Closed] Glasgow Barrowland Ballroom

I recall being at a Motorhead gig there and being at the back of the floor with my ears distorting like f*ck. I still had ringing in my ears 4 days later.
Ear plugs at gigs after that.

Some of my best concert memories from the Barras. Doesnt have carpets in the gig area as it's a wooden floor. Hot, sweaty, rough around the edges. But great place for a gig.

It has to be Rage Against the Machine in 1995.

I'm absolutely amazed the "ballroom" area didn't collapse into the bar below it.

"Jumping" doesn't do it justice it. 3000 people going absolutely mental through the whole set.

Standing in the cloak room queue afterward looking at the steam coming off everyone!

I saw Big Country (RIP Stuart) there in 1993. Absolutely mental gig - couldn't hear the next day or barely speak. Definitely got something special about it especially seeing a Scottish band on home turf. Sadly it was the only time I ever saw them live despite having been into them since I was a teenager

Runrig.
A full house.
Loch Lomond.
Christmas.
Barrowlands.

Fun Loving Criminals, weirdly living close to Glasgow i only ever went to a Barras gig once.

Felt like I was in a strangely large, dirty, smoky living room......i loved it. First gig I'd ever been to that had metal detectors on the door.

been to many Runrig ones, always great fun. Scariest experience was Ocean Colour Scence, we were near back, and Neil Lennon got attacked just next to us 🙁

I think my second gig was the Spin Doctors and Gin Blossoms at the Barras. I then saw the Black Crowes, about 2002, brilliant gig. I think a lot of bands cite it as a favourite venue.

Love the place. Think the craziest gig I was at there was possibly L7? Although the one I enjoyed the most was probably the Saw Doctors.

Really love this as well, where the old flea market used to be on the way to the Barra's. It's a brilliant walk down memory lane as you play spot the gigs.

Beagy

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Great Venue best shows for me toss up between Cocteau Twins 1990 or last years Arab Strap reunion,seen it in a completely different light a few years back was there for a Northern soul all dayer it has an amazing sprung dance floor
love it

Played there once.

It was epic!

The sound, the crowd - best venue ever 🙂

Also been to many a gig there through the 90's and will always remember it with a special fondness!

Kinda hoping to play it again someday - trying to get the band back together so you never know 😉

First time this Sunday, off to see Depeche Mode as part of 6 music festival. They only play arenas, so looking forward to it.

Jesus Jones - probably around 1994.

EDIT: Looks like March 26th 1993 supported by Sunscreem. 24 years ago!

Almost too many memories to recount.

Smelling the worst fart of my life in the jacket queue after seeing the Aphex Twin. Convinced that the responsible party actually shat him/herself.

The wee wifey with the tracheotomy who worked in the cloakroom.

Early 90s metal gigs when still underage – Soundgarden touring “Superunknown”, Alice in Chains touring “Dirt”.

Mercury Rev’s Jonathan Donahue, unable to do anything but beam and laugh at the love roaring out of the crowd.

PJ Harvey touring Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea. Did a solo rendition of “Rid of Me”, almost hidden behind her Gretsch.

Old Crow Medicine Show, a couple of years ago. Never thought I'd see one of the best crowds of my life bouncing the place (sprung ballroom floors are fun!) to a bluegrass/country band. Been to a few gigs there now, love the place.

Stranglers (post Hugh) and possibly The Fall.

scotroutes - Member
Runrig.
A full house.
Loch Lomond.
Christmas.
Barrowlands.

actually, we must have been there at the same time scotroutes 🙂 Was an annual event for me and missus through the early 90's.....

Cracking venue. Manky and sleazy. Great sound.

Without thinking too hard

Terrorvision
Megadeth
Biohazard
The Almighty
Therapy
Rage Against The Machine
Slayer
Corrosion Of Conformity
Pantera
Plastikman

And coming up in the next few months, Leftfield in May and Larry Heard in July

Plastikman

I saw him there too; I think he had his Richie Hawtin (Itchy Bawbag) head on.

Bizarrely, he was there as the support act for ESG. I remember laughing at the utter bewilderment of the sweaty, pilled-up crowd, when he walked off-stage to be replaced by three giant-arsed Latinas in their mid-fifties.

Thank you, Optimo.

One of the best gigs at the Barras was The Orb. I think they brought their own sound system this time and I remember it sounded like whales were coming out of the stage and flying overhead. Altogether a very trippy night

Another time at a Henry Rollins gig, after a bit of jumping about the front my mate came out de-t-shirted. He had no idea what happened and it was nowhere to be found afterwards.

Chemical Brothers was probably the biggest bounceathon hoot that I remember.

Saw Leftfield anaw, another cracker. Quite a few I can't remember either, I think I have some tickets somewhere.

Northside. remember them?

Not sure what year, some time between 1990-93?

And maybe PWEI ...

awesome venue, nothing in the city comes close to the atmosphere and sound of the barrowlands.

only been to a handful of gigs there in my time here.

sisters of mercy
billy idol
manic street preachers
suede
lacuna coil
black veil brides (ahem, I was accompanying my daughter).

thought it was more than that though.

Jesus Jones - probably around 1994.

EDIT: Looks like March 26th 1993 supported by Sunscreem. 24 years ago!

I was at that Alice in Chains gig as well Arrpee 😉

It has to be Rage Against the Machine in 1995.

I'm absolutely amazed the "ballroom" area didn't collapse into the bar below it.

"Jumping" doesn't do it justice it. 3000 people going absolutely mental through the whole set.

Standing in the cloak room queue afterward looking at the steam coming off everyone!

I was at that one too. There was an impressive crowd surge when RATM first came onstage.

My ears were shagged for a good few days afterwards.

You could park a (tour)bus in the gaping chasms of my memory, think i saw Jurassic 5 in there....i canny ****ing remember.

ICe-T Body Count
Pantera
Sepultura
MAchine Head
NIN
Marilyn Manson
Biohazard
Corrosion Of Conformity
Faith No More
Soundgarden
Fun Loving Criminals

1998 Halloween and Daft Punk, when they were still jamming Chicago house..

Lots of great gigs, I was in student in in the early 80's and at the time there were few venues in town plus the two student unions. Spear of Destiny were one of the best. I also saw the Clash, Stranglers and Stiff little Fingers amongst many others at the Apollo, another great venue.

It was also the worst gig, the Ramones who were truly awful - probably because they were so stoned - out of tune, sound balance off. They were blown-out by the support act, the Sting Rytes a psycho-billy group who used to play 50s and 60s classics at 200bpm!

Stiff Little Fingers about 5 years ago on Paddys day. Phenomenal atmosphere and cracking venue.

@bobafatt and @dumbott...Fun Loving Criminals wouldn't have been about 1999/2000 would it? I was there, as a bouncer! Had the prime spot: in front of the stage, chucking any crowd surfers off to the sides. That was a real 'I'm being paid to do this?' moment. But most of the time I was bouncing I just had to deal with drunk young farmers and puking people.

^^^^ I remember seeing Fun Lovin Criminals in Irvine Magnum Centre....

Worst. Gig. Ever....

I saw the Levellers there just a couple of months ago. Brilliant place.

You are probably right Hannah, I seem to remember Huey chucking spliffs into the crowd

Every band and date here

http://www.glasgow-barrowland.com/history/historybands.html

Mad crazy venue, always enjoyed a pint in the colourful (wrong colour for me) local drinking establishments, gigs in no particular order.
Stiff Little Fingers
Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Kraftwerk
Inspiral Carpets
Charlatans
Wonder Stuff
REM

he he, scotroutes I went to see Runrig early 80s, not at the Barrowlands however but @ Tiffany's ballroom Sauchiehall Street, myself, best mate another another classmate from Elgin - pre-drinks in the Park Bar, proper sprung dance floor, mental stuff (just after exams as well IIRC).

Stone Roses.1996. I missed my 6th year high school dance to go and turned down £200 for my ticket, which was about a months income from my after school dishwashing gig....

Great gig (even ian brown didnt sing out of tune too badly) but never seen so many people underage drinking and openly skinning up. Wonderful night...

BoardinBob - Member
Every band and date here

http://www.glasgow-barrowland.com/history/historybands.html
/p>

Wow, that's amazing. Reliving the late 90s right now. Would have bet good money that I saw the New York Dolls there, supported by a random German group who came on naked.

Saw Pavement a couple of times there, and at the Art School, which was always special.

Loudest gig I remember was the Foo Fighters, just before I had to go to work (nightshift). Ears ringing.

Great thread!

Future Islands @ Barrowlands sounding good at the moment on 6music

edit : my mistake, it's the O2

If anyone's in the vicinity i thoroughly recommend this place

https://baadglasgow.com/achalltainn

Top notch seafood.

F*kin 'ell, that's the Barras gone to the dogs wi' a seafood restaurant round the corner - what's wrong wi' a pie an a pint in the Sarrie Heid (Saracen's Head)? Or has that turned into a gastro-pub?

If we're talking about Tiffany's, saw a double-header of Simple Minds supported by U2 about 1981

The most memorable one was a Hole gig where Courntey Love stopped playing because she spotted a guy down the front with a Pearl Jam tshirt on. She demanded that he take it off, he refused. She promised him her underwear if he gave her the shirt....the tshirt was rather quickly thrown on stage. She starts playing again, the crowd starts booing, she stops removes knickers and throws them into the mosh pit and starts playing again while there is bedlam fighting over her pants.

thanks for the list boardinbob. Some gigs i had forgotten about, many I wished I had gone to and some I wished I hadn't (very few mind you). I've not been to the Barras for a while- I kinda went off going to gigs once the prices started to skyrocket together with everyone watching it through 3.5" screens rather than enjoying the experience.

Roses as well stevemuzzy. Place was jumpin with just the dj support act. Best gig ever.

I've been quite a few times ,brilliant venue, I'd say my second fave after Kentish Town forum. The first time & proud to say ,Big Country ,was the best , late 80's ,bus trip from west Cumbria , I must have been about 16 . Getting off the bus (,bumpkins) we were all terrified.ha.The atmosphere was immense and the floor!!!! Holy moly.
rip Stuart Adamson indeed.

Despite living in Glasgow for about 6 years I think I only went to one gig at the Barrowlands; FLC about 2002 and Grandmaster Flash was playing in the QMU the same night. I've lost track of who I have and haven't seen, I kept all my ticket stubs and some of them I can't remember a damn thing.

2002, Weezer's support band Remy Zero had to cancel due to illness, on the day- so they threw out an emergency request for a local support. Biffy Clyro had tickets for the gig so when their manager called they said, "Sorry, we're busy tonight". Ended up walking on stage for their biggest gig ever with about 3 hours notice, and absolutely destroyed it- I'd seen them before and really didn't dig it, but by halfway through their set I had a new favourite band.

(Weezer were good too)

And Dave Grohl explaining how a sprung dancefloor works, and how some day they'd come back and do a benefit show to buy the barras some air conditioning. (though Trail of Dead were better that night tbh)

And every cover version Machine Head ever did, but especially ****ing Hostile. And Carter USM's crowd drinking the place dry in 2007

(a mate of mine, who'll remain nameless, is the world's greatest Carter USM fanboi... But he came to them late and never saw them live first time round. So the reform comes around in 2007 and after a decade's wait, he's finally going to see THE GREATEST KICK ARSE ROCK AND ROLL BAND IN THE WORLD!!!

So he got incredibly pissed, and got kicked out during the support band- and that's some achievement, because everyone at the show was incredibly pissed. We watched him get carried down the stairs crying and screaming "BUT I'VE NEVER SEEN THEM LIIIIIIIVE, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!". He ended up listening to the show through a window.

Soundgarden touring at the time of Black Hole Sun. They were BRILLIANT! Supported by none other than Moby when he was touring Animal Rights. Weird but good!

Nickelback's first gig there was epic!

I went to see Primal Scream only to see the support, Alabama 3. The latter were great, the former utter sh#te! Truly awful. Bobby Gillespie was wasted.......for a change. Living proof that drugs tend to kill off only the talented ones!

The Cardigans were surprisingly good while a Christmas Bjorn Again gig was a hoot.

Sad to see so many groups bypass Barrowland in favour of the atmosphere vacuum that is the SECC and Hydro. Every gig I have been to at the SECC has been a major disappointment - chronic acoustics and zero atmosphere. 😐

So jealous of so many of these gigs.

Only been twice... Once to see 2 many DJs, they were great but bus crashed on the way and I'd taken 2 many sweeties.

Once to take the wife to see Ed Sheerin years back, but he still had support at that point. She loves him, and still does. It was a good show tbh. The beer helped. The beer helps with everything come to think about it... The wife (gf at the time) loved it, we spoke to a nice couple then went out with them afterwards. It was fun, but I got far too drunk. I always get far too drunk.

Need to think about that.

But great venue, rumours were the floor was sprung... Maybe I just was...

In all honesty... Tonight was the first time I realised that
I am an addict

Did you ever try standing in the middle of the Barrowlands during a gig and not jumping?

The floor objected and tried to make up bounce up and down.

Fantastic place. Didn't really matter who you saw there the atmosphere of the venue was always spectacular.

Bizarre one for you. Bjorn Again Hogmanay gig. The line from Supertrooper "called you last night from Glasgow ", the crowd went absolutely silent for the first bit then screamed out Glasgow. The band corpsed. Only just managed to keep playing they were laughing so hard.
Great night that. I started out in Glasgow and ended up in Edinburgh via a chain of gigs and parties.

I think I was at the same FLC gig as secession others have talked about already. The one were they played their Maui Homicide 2000 home video before coming on stage. One of my friends went crowd surfing at that gig so may have been dragged out of the crowd by Hannah.

I've been to several good or great gigs at the Barrowlands, Wilco may stand out as a highlight, but MGMT were really the worst. Three good enough songs and an awful lot of padding, topped off with an astonishingly dull encore.

Seen many great bands play there. I also met my wife there. Coheed and cambria. 2006. For that, I thank the men responsible for its construction.

ChrisL - Member

MGMT were really the worst

That was a good one. Me: "* this, I'm off to get chips". Everyone else: "Oooh, chips, good idea!". We ended up inspiring about 30 people around us to walk out I think!

Story rather than gig really... Went to see Enter Shikari, purely because Hundred Reasons were supporting (they did a really good barras headline once, too). Had a great time for 100R, was fair enjoying Enter Shikari too but Hell Is For Heroes were playing King Tuts that night so I decided to duck out early and nash over to see HIFH.

So, left after about half of the main set, nipped to the chippie for a can of juice, discovered half of Hundred Reasons in there. "Good gig lads!" "Cheers! Why aren't you still in there?" "Off to see HIFH" "Us too!" So we all jumped in a cab, I got vip'd in, and spent the rest of the night rocking the * out to one of my favourite bands, with one of my favourite bands.

(HIFH reformed to play Hundred Reasons' last ever gig in London, now that was the best gig I will ever see.)

Looked over the list and I'm pretty sure I saw the wonderstuff there...

And maybe the Farm?.

That got me thinking, what was that venue upstairs on Sauchiehall st kind of opposite nice n sleazy? I think I saw Flowered up there, a load of us got dancing on the stage then it collapsed...

The Garage?

I saw A there, pretty sure I saw someone else there as well but buggered if I can remember. Keep thinking Frenzal Rhomb but I know that was the Catty.

Is it me or is the music scene not as good in Glasgow now? Or am I just out of touch?

Is it me or is the music scene not as good in Glasgow now? Or am I just out of touch

It's phenomenal

Is it me or is the music scene not as good in Glasgow now? Or am I just [s]out of touch[/s] old

Went to my first gig at the Barras to see Bush, bit of a beamer...

A few cheesy metal bands when younger but with a good few pearls thrown in, Only been about 2 or 3 times in the last 6 years I reckon sadly.
One of which for an ICW show...

After a good bit of thinking I've been to this lot at the Barras:

Bush
Slipknot
Incubus
System of a Down
The Wildhearts
Reef
Machine Head
Fugazi
Offspring
Slayer
Seasick Steve
Pantera
Mogwai
Chvrches
Cypress Hill
Green Day

Probably missed a few.
Bit gutted i never saw Body Count or Faith no more there.

Barrowlands documentary just broadcast on 6 Music:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08jq4jx

Ooh, Slipknot the first time they played there, that was phenomenal. I've been in fights that have done me less damage. Very short like, but awesome. Car got broken into and they stole my mate's uni notes and 2 cans of pepsi max, oh [i]Glasgow...[/i]

I saw a free gig there in Sept 93 where Blur and Radiohead played. Stood at the bar watching and realised I was stood next to Annie Nightingale. Had a great chat and drink with her.

Two weeks later I was back there to see Verve support the Smashing Pumpkins. Another amazing gig.

Fell asleep at a Ride gig in about 94 after far too much booze