Item 8 30th March 2021 - Glasgow City Council

Item 8

30th March 2021

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, is one of the most important musical and cultural landmarks in Glasgow with
a long history that has entertained audiences for 30 years. Its iconic status as one of Glasgow’s and
the UK’s best-loved venues is acclaimed and since 1990 it has been an essential part to the UK live
music industry as well as the thriving local music scene. It has been at the forefront of Scottish Live
Music and continues to be one of the most celebrated venues in the world – (voted #1 launch pad
venue in the UK by Radio 1, Britain’s Best Small Venue by NME and featured on the New York
Magazine’s ‘Follow Your Bliss’ List). It is pivotal in ensuring that Glasgow, a Unesco City of Music,
remains a dynamic city where the ecosystem for music is nurtured, created and enjoyed by residents
and visitors. Whilst remaining an exciting showcase for new and emerging bands and the venue that
supported some of the music industry’s biggest names at the start of their careers.

King Tuts, is now one of the most famous and respected music venues in the UK that has garnered
international recognition, particularly amongst US artists and has been acknowledged by many artists
as being pivotal in their careers. It has become one of the strongest venue brand names in live music
and has always been synonymous with discovering and showcasing new music and therefore, has
remained a credible venue throughout its 30-year history

Additionally, it plays a vital role in creating and nurturing the relationships within the industry that
allow DF Concerts & Events to bring world class acts to Scotland and create award winning festivals
such as T in the Park, Connect Music Festival, Glasgow Summer Sessions and has been instrumental in
the success of Glasgow’s newest urban festival, TRNSMT.

Radiohead, Kasabian and Biffy Clyro - 3 of the previous headliners for this city festival - played King
Tut’s Wah Wah Hut at their start of their careers and have publicly noted their fondness towards the
venue with Biffy Clyro returning to play on a number of occasions and the Manic Street Preachers,
announcing from the main stage at T in the Park 1999 that King Tuts was “the first venue to treat us
properly and give us hot food on tour”

In 2018 The Killers finished their headline set on the main stage at TRNSMT on Glasgow Green and
travelled the short distance to St Vincent Street to play a set at King Tut’s, 14 years after they first
played the venue. The lucky 300 fans who witnessed one of the biggest bands in the world coming
back to a venue that they hold dear were privy to an event that very few (if any) venues of similar size
could have delivered.

The venue has further cemented its status in the city and throughout the world as one of the best
places to catch artists before they go on to play bigger venues across the UK and worldwide. David
Poe, writing in New Yorker magazine listed visiting King Tut’s as one of the ‘top 10 things to do before
you die’ – this was the only UK’s only representation and King Tut’s was ranked one place higher than
visiting Mt Kilimanjaro! In the most recent Pollstar Magna Charta which measures the busiest Club
Venues (venues under 2,500 capacity), King Tut’s was recognised as the 6th busiest venue in Europe.

Its reputation for giving gig goers “I was there” moments can be seen through just a few of these
venue-defining performances:

    •   12th July 1990 – Blur take the stage of King Tuts
    •   9th March 1991 – Manic Street Preachers perform “Motorcycle Emptiness” later return to the
        venue in
    •   Early 1990’s - Glass Onion (Travis) & Snow Patrol play regularly within the venue
    •   8th May 1992 - Radiohead perform their alternative rock classic “Creep”
    •   31st May 1993 - Oasis were famously discovered by Alan McGee

•   1999 – Biffy Clyro regularly take to the stage whilst signed to Stow College’s “Electric Honey”
       imprint
   •   1999 – Joe Strummer performed Solo material and Mescaleros & Clash classics
   •   11th February 2000 - Kirsty MacColl performs “Fairytale Of New York”
   •   28th June 2001 - Suzanne Vega performs “Luca” and “Tom’s Diner”
   •   In 2001 – The White Stripes blast onto the music scene performing pre-Elephant/Seven Nation
       Army
   •   28th November 2003 – Amy Winehouse supports Jamie Cullum before rocketing to
       international recognition
   •   13th – 16th December 2005 – Biffy Clyro return to perform 4 consecutives dates playing a back
       catalogue of their albums
   •   In 2004 - The Killers, take to the stage twice before being catapulted onto worldwide
       prominence
   •   2005 – Simple Minds return to play a greatest hits set
   •   30th January 2006 - Seminal Scottish rockers, Primal Scream, perform their greatest hits at the
       venue for the first time
   •   9th March and 11th June 2006 – Paolo Nutini performs a powerful set to sold out audiences
   •   12th December 2006 – Calvin Harris performs his first live set to a gig audience
   •   12th April 2007 – Amy McDonald performs future classic “This Is The Life”
   •   4th November 2008 - Florence & Machine perform at the venue as part of their first UK
       headline tour
   •   In 2008, Idlewild’s perform a run of 5 shows, playing an album each night
   •   12th September 2009 – Mumford & Sons wow the intimate crowd with their unique country
       rock sound
   •   In 2010 - As part of the Venue’s 20th Birthday celebrations, Biffy Clyro and the Manic Street
       Preachers, Spoon and many more artists perform to intimate audiences
   •   2012 – Scottish band Twin Atlantic regularly play King Tut’s before first major label release
   •   20th & 21st December 2013 – Scottish artist Twilight Sad sell out their 2 shows within record
       time
   •   2014 – Hozier perfoms “Take Me To Church” to a sold out audience
   •   10th April 2016 - Texas return to play King Tut’s as part of their 25th Birthday celebrations
   •   19th November 2016 - Rag N Bone Man performs in King Tut’s days before winning the Brits
       Critic Choice Award
   •   In 2017, Legendary Scottish band The View sell out 6 nights in a row, within minutes
   •   2018 sees the return of Liam Gallagher, along with film director, Shane Meadows to film an
       exclusive video at the venue. The first time he had been on the stage since 1993
   •   Another notable moment in 2018 sees The Killers return to King Tut’s after their storming
       headline set at TRNSMT
   •   2019 is one of the busiest years in the venue’s history, hosting performance by rising stars
       Fontaines DC and Scottish producer and songwriter, Joesef

Plus many more artist such as;- Coldplay, Kasabian, Pulp, My Chemical Romance, The Verve, Elbow,
Kasabian, Charlatans, Skunk Anansie, Muse, Paloma Faith, Deacon Blue, Teenage Fanclub, The

Average White Band, The Strokes, Suede, Stereophonics, KT Tunstall, Moby, The 1975, Frightened
Rabbit, You Me At Six, Big Country, Jake Bugg, Izzy Bizu

Annually, it plays a valuable role in curating events within the night-time economy and bringing a
varied programme of the latest grass roots acts of every genre to the city as well as profiling the best
of new and upcoming unsigned acts from across Scotland through the established New Year’s
Revolution and Summer Nights Festivals.

One of the venue’s most recent ventures, The Sunday Song Club, which began in 2017, has given the
opportunity for young artists (from 4 years old!) to play to their peers and learn the ins-and-outs of
gigging from the venue team in the comfortable environment of the basement bar. It has given these
young people the confidence and belief that they, too, can be the next Lewis Capaldi or Amy
MacDonald and that the sky really is the limit. The Song Club has evolved into an event called the
Newborn Sessions which takes the framework of the Song Club and sets it in a more ‘professional’
setting of the main venue where the event is run like any other gig. This has proved to be an invaluable
stepping-stone for a number of the artists who went on to play at TRNSMT VIP area in 2018 and the
Queen Tut’s stage (a showcase of amazing female artists) at TRNSMT in 2019.

Ultimately, this is what King Tut’s is all about. It serves as an incubator for amazing local talent and an
incredible gig space that the likes of Twin Atlantic, Biffy Clyro, Manic Street Preachers, Paolo Nutini,
Cast, The Killers and more have jumped at the opportunity to come back and play. Why? Because
there isn’t another venue like King Tut’s. Anywhere.

Additionally, it forms part of a network of venues that together, help sustain the live music industry
which, as part of the creative industries, contributes £904 million, annually, to the UK economy.

The role such venues play in the UK music economy was discussed in the House of Common and House
of Lords in March 2016, and DCLG amended the Town and Country Planning Act in April to ensure that
residential conversions do not negatively impact on existing cultural spaces.

One of the busiest venues in the city, King Tuts Wah Wah Hut hosts in excess, of 900 performances a
year with visitors, in excess, of 50,000 per annum.

Quotes from Artists about King Tuts

.
    -   RICKY ROSS, DEACON BLUE "Stuart Clumpas used to say that he bought it on the back of
        money he made from promoting our shows. Well, if he did, I feel proud that something that's
        been so good for Glasgow's music scene came from a few rock shows."

    -   GARY LIGHTBODY, SNOW PATROL "I've lived in Glasgow off and on for the last decade and a
        lot of that time was spent in Tut's. We played there a lot, more than any other club in the
        world, and I must have banged my head off the ceiling about 30 times jumping around on the
        stage – me tall, it low. Not too many venues of its size give bands, all bands, the same friendly
        welcome, hearty meal and well-stocked beer fridge. Most venues seem to say, 'Play and f***
        off!' Tut's is more, 'Play and come back soon'. Long may it last."

-   PAOLO NUTINI "Playing King Tut's is always great. I love gigs in intimate venues and there's
    not many that are as special, and as legendary, as King Tut's."

-   EMMA POLLOCK "When I decided I wanted to be in a band in 1994, it was a decision inspired
    partly by King Tut's as so many great artists had their first gigs there. My ambition simply was
    to join a band and play King Tut's and that would be me happy."

-   KYLE FALCONER, THE VIEW "We've had some of our sweatiest gigs ever there. It was always
    one of the places we wanted to play when we were younger, it's a great platform for new
    bands."

-   JON FRATELLI, THE FRATELLIS/ CODEINE VELVET CLUB From the moment I started playing in
    a band King Tut's was the venue that I aspired to play in. Barrowland, the SECC, these places
    can seem like a lifetime away, but, if you could score a gig in Tut's, you always had the sense
    that you were on your way. It was definitely the first gig we'd played in Glasgow where you
    could feel that something was shifting, that feeling of excitement."

-   SCOTT HUTCHISON, FRIGHTENED RABBIT "It really means something to play there when you
    are getting the ball rolling, which explains why so many big bands go back to do tiny, sweaty
    shows after they have outgrown it. Or maybe nobody ever outgrows that place…"

-   AMY MACDONALD "King Tut's is an institution in Glasgow. I was honoured to play there. It is
    an amazing venue and to his day I am so jealous of my friend who saw The Killers perform
    there at the start of their career. I am gutted I wasn't at that show."

-   VIC GALLOWAY, BBC RADIO 1 & RADIO SCOTLAND "I have many memories of King Tut's over
    the years, particularly seeing a typically righteous Rocket From The Crypt dressed in gold lam
    kicking out the jams one night. They felt the crowd were a little uptight, so instructed us to
    turn and face the back wall of the venue and massage the person in front, soundtracking our
    relaxation with blissed-out Hawaiian tones. Good times! "

-   Sam McTrusty, singer, Twin Atlantic: "I think a lot of people take for granted how dramatic
    the layout makes the whole experience. You have to walk in what feels a tiny door for a music
    venue that transports you into one of the best bars in Glasgow and there's an amazing
    jukebox.
    "Then the trip upstairs is like the grand reveal. You're in a place where the magic and history
    of the venue just vibrates through the place with every band that takes to the stage."
-   Simon Neil, Biffy Clyro: "In 2014 we played an intimate gig in King Tuts and it reminded us
    why so many young bands aspire to get on that stage. It holds a special place in our hearts."