25 Years Of King Tut’s

As Glasgow’s King Tut’s continues to celebrate their 25th birthday this week I thought it fitting to reflect on my experience with the venue, but also catch up with two of the foundations. Craig Johnston is no stranger to Podcart, he is known as a champion of new music and has been on quite the journey as a booker. He is now one of the main bookers at Tut’s and in my opinion, has his finger firmly on the pulse. Aarti Joshi is Head of PR with DF Concerts and with one of the toughest jobs continues to maintain her reputation as a bubbly, strong and passionate woman.

There have been notable shows at Tut’s that have stood out for me. I was a member of the Snow Patrol forum (cough) for a number of years and we were always the first to know 3about secret shows. In June 2007 (holy shit, that is almost 8 years ago), the band held a secret show and I remember standing in the room with the rest of the ‘boardies’ thinking, ‘should I really be in here?’ There was a definite buzz that day, I suppose the band could have picked any venue, but Tut’s captured the roots of where the band had come from and I guess it was nice for them to go back to a stage of that size in a place that helped make them famous. Another show to stand out was And So I Watch You From Afar back in November 2010. Funnily enough the band are returning to the venue this year on April 28th. That previous gig was ridiculous. It was ridiculous for all manner of reasons, the crowd was overflowing, there was sweat dripping off at least 2/3of the room and whilst there was a slight air of panic, the monstrous nature of their performance made me forget that I was amongst a mosh pit of crazed Glasgow fans. I definitely cried that night. Sometimes you would pay more for your ticket upon reflection.

Joshi and Johnston may have seen hundreds of shows, but there will always be a surprise or two. ‘I saw Manic Street Preachers for the 20th birthday and I wasn’t a massive fan. I realise it was a big deal, but I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much and feel emotional and I felt really emotional at the end of it’, Joshi reflects. ‘I have been a Manics fan since then and they played a song they haven’t in 19 years. It was just pretty special’ she continues.

The music industry changing is now a cliché, when it comes to live music however; this is something that will hopefully always have a market. But, as music consumption has changed,

Craig Johnston
Craig Johnston

this has also had an effect on promoting shows. ‘I find it hard to make a connection’ says Johnston, ‘making that connection between a song and an artist, there are a couple of bands that have had huge hits and 5 years ago that would have been an ABC show, but now they come in here and do ok. St. Motel for example had a huge hit, but people still don’t know who they are. I know how I consume music these days, I have my Spotify account and I sit and listen to the radio and podcasts. If I like a song, I stick it on a playlist. I remember sitting in the car and a song came on and my girlfriend asked me who it was and I couldn’t tell her who sang it. You don’t sit and read CDs anymore, you don’t have to download it to your iTunes account anymore.’ An interesting point that has made me think a lot, my observations have been that we don’t seem to consume albums as much as we used to and when it comes to different generations we still consume music differently. I have always been amazed at young fans still queuing round the block for shows at venues and it seems that these fans know exactly who these bands are because of YouTube. They are able to see and hear the bands and this seems to stick. When it comes to my generation and older we appear to be going back to older albums in our collection. The recent Twilight Sad sell out shows at King Tut’s are a great example of this when they did a 2 night residency playing ‘Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters’ in full. The shows sold out in record time.

Aarti Joshi
Aarti Joshi

Joshi has another perspective, ‘with some artists it can be getting the whole package fully right and it can be attractive as a brand as opposed to a band. That is something that is changing too, if you want to be commercially successful you need to get the whole 360° right more than ever before.’ All 3 of us agree however, that songs are still the most important thing, if the songs are not good then it will just not cut it.

There is a fear to some that technology is affecting live music, but as Joshi points out, this may not really be the case, ‘there is something about the sold out live experience and giving someone a part of that. You can never replicate it. You think about all the gigs that we have been to and even some of our younger staff still talk about the way they felt. It is a life affirming experience, that is what a gig is. You never talk about how ‘clean’ sounding a song was, you talk about how you felt.’ Hopefully, this will continue to aid music promotion more than anything else.

King Tut’s have an impressive calendar this month to celebrate their birthday and tonight alone sees a sold out We Were Promised Jetpacks show. There are a number of fairly new Scottish artists that have also sold out their shows including The LaFontaines, Fatherson, the aforementioned Twilight Sad return and more. Additionally, Radiohead’s Philip Selway, The Courteeners, Orla Gartland and Julian Cope also make appearances. My only disappointment is the noticeable lack of females on the bill. I have to say it does not only stop with this line-up, but it seems a lot of late. Johnston advised that these are the artists that have come through the venue and whilst I appreciate that ,I still have to question where the rest of those females are. When it comes to promotion we do have to remember that different artists have different agents that they have to remain loyal to, but at the same time are those females getting the opportunity to play shows and actually come through the ranks to reach a certain level? We could debate that it is more about money than risk, but I like to think that new artists including KLOË who is playing Tut’s soon will start to balance things up.

As for the rest of the year, Tut’s will not only have special shows this month. ‘It’s just business as usual, it isn’t a change from the norm and I think it’s important. Throughout the 2year we will have people that have say sold out ABC or the QMU and are returning to Tut’s to do another show’, says Joshi. I think this is another thing that I love about Tut’s and Glasgow, it is certain that in a month or two we will all be nodding our heads in appreciation that an arena sell-out is playing an intimate gig. I am still holding out for Bloc Party returning, please take note.

Arguably, if artists put on great shows then the venue will be remembered. Nostalgia is something as humans that we try to grip onto more than anything and if something brings us back to a time that was special for us in our earlier life then we will always try to recreate that or somehow revisit. Tut’s holds this for a number of people and bands and I think that is why it will continue to be special for them. It is also worth remembering that there may be people working at the top, but the young blood now working at King Tut’s is as important or maybe even more. Johnston and Joshi are infectious when it comes to the passion they have. This is not just a job (although I am sure they have their down days like anyone); this is something that you can see is exciting for them. For me, that is key and I think without them and the other younger and new staff, it would be something entirely different. I also think that we can agree by now that there is a lot more to Tut’s than that band beginning with ‘O’. Many happy returns!

You can see full listings and purchase tickets via the King Tut’s website: www.kingtuts.co.uk

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