Like a menu at your favourite restaurant, you really can’t eat everything but considered choice is the way to go. Quite often, you might ask the waiter for a recommendation. In many ways, deciding on what gigs to go to is similar. The tried and trusted artists who you know will hit the spot, or why not try something different, you never know, it might make it onto that tried and trusted list. So let Into Creative be your musical waiter, read on with our list of “specials” and go out and enjoy live music, you know it makes sense!!!!!!!
Festival: Shiiine On Weekender Venue: Minehead Butlin’s Dates: 13-15 November 2026
Talking of food, I reckon a great music festival is the equivalent of an all you can eat buffet. Plenty of old favourites and a choice of the new, the weird and the wonderful. ShiiineOn Weekender returns this November for its eleventh edition which is testament to the continued success of the festival. Have to say, the accommodation and on-site facilities at Butlin’s Minehead are great. Fresh, modern and plenty to do should you need a break from the music.
But really, why would you want a break from the music? The line-up is sensational (again), and will have you rocking, bopping and cutting shapes to the many bands and artists up on the stage(s). So who is playing? Well, too many to mention but the highlights for me include headliners The Wonder Stuff, Feeder, Happy Mondays and Hard-Fi. Absolutely stellar and tracks such as The Size of a Cow, Buck Rogers, Wrote For Luck and Living for the Weekend are sure to go down a storm.
Elsewhere the supporting cast is every bit as good with the likes of The Wedding Present, Badly Drawn Boy, Inspiral Carpets, The Soup Dragons, K Klass and Everley Pregnant Brothers doing their thing. Not enough? Well, there is comedy from Dom Joly celebrating 25 years of Trigger Happy TV, the legendary Bez’s Pool Party, the unplugged stage, indie quizzes and bingo, talks and exhibitions from Dave Rowntree and Pete McKee, various DJ sets and the closing party with Dub Pistols.
The indoor festival with your own bed! Bloody great. For more details and tickets, head to the Shiiine On Weekender website here.
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Artist: Mull Historical Society Venues: Tobermory Aros Hall/ Stirling Tolbooth/ Glasgow King Tut’s/ Edinburgh La Belle Angele Dates: 10-13 June 2026
Colin MacIntyre aka Mull Historical Society has been a long time favourite of ours at Into Creative (check out our review here) so the news of a new album and tour has us in a state of jumpy expectation! Incredible to think the debut album Loss was released 25 years ago and a number of albums have followed as well as novels and various collaborations including the excellent In My Mind There’s A Room which saw MacIntyre team up with a number of authors to produce a breathtakingly atmospheric album.
Three years on and it’s successor, In My Mind There’s A Photograph will be released on 29 May 2026. MacIntyre has asked a number of world renowned authors to provide lyrical contributions which focus on a single, significant photo to them. A literary who’s who including Irvine Welsh, Ali Smith, Yiyun Lee and Colum McCann provide the words to the visual photographs, helmed by MacIntyre into twelve musical sculptures that are sure to resonate and create evocative thoughts.
The tour will take in four Scottish dates in June before a September sojourn to England which will bring together songs from the new album and the MHS extensive back catalogue. Talking of the tour, MacIntyre said “2025 has been an incredibly productive year for me of making, making, making… juggling across many projects — writing and recording the album, writing my new novel, and my new ‘Culloden’ musical — and finding connection in all the work — and so 2026 is the year of sharing, sharing, sharing.”
For more on the album and tour, head over to the Mull Historical Society website here.
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Artist: Ist Ist Venue: Glasgow Oran Mor Date: 18 April 2026
Forming in Manchester in 2014, Ist Ist are a post-punk band who have crammed in five albums and are about to head out on a U.K. and Ireland tour to promote their latest long player, Dagger. That album, produced by Joe Cross (Courteeners, Slow Readers Club) is their best to date, an assured belter that sees the four-piece at the top of their game.
Known for their incendiary live shows, the mix of new tunes will surely sit well with the older classics and satisfy their ever burgeoning fan base. Talking about the new album, guitarist Mat Peters said “We started working on the album as soon as we got back from the European tour in late 2024. The momentum you carry from a tour into the studio is powerful and you’re still in that live headspace, so the music you write in those moments tends to be more visceral. You go with the flow a little bit more rather than it being methodical. What you end up with is a collection of songs already primed for the stage.” Bass player Andy Keating added “We wanted to make some braver and more brash choices during the recording process. We wanted to make this record for ourselves first and foremost. There was no agenda beyond capturing the post-tour energy and playing the sort of things we wanted to listen to. The result of that is our most direct album since our debut ‘Architecture’.
The band kick of the thirteen date tour in Norwich before winding their way north with a Glasgow show in Oran Mor which is sure to be rammed and a night that will live long in the memory. Tour support comes from Desperate Journalist and The Youth Play. For more on the tour and the Dagger album, head over to the Ist Ist website here.
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Artist: Proud Mary Venue: Glasgow Oran Mor Dates: 15 May 2026
The blues tinted rock of Proud Mary has seen the Manchester band release five albums since forming in 1998 and seeing as it’s 25 years since their debut, The Same Old Blues, so what better excuse is needed than to reform the band and get out on the road to revive tracks such as All Good Things, Very Best Friend and many more.
While making waves with these albums, the band also played on the same stage as Oasis, Paul Weller and Neil Young. Heady company and it’s clear the band know their way around the live stage, accomplished doesn’t even come close. Mixing influences from Dylan to Captain Beefheart and Zappa, the live dates are hotly anticipated and sure to sell out so best get your ticket as soon as possible.
Four dates announced covering Leeds, London, Glasgow and a homecoming show in Manchester, the rock and roll extravaganza that is Proud Mary is one not to miss. Glasgow support will be from Rosellas, another Manchester band who are quickly creating a buzz with their blend of indie psychedelia.
Artist: Transvision Vamp Venue: Glasgow O2 Academy Date: 09 October 2026
It’s absolutely mad to think it’s been 35 years since Transvision Vamp took to the stage for their last U.K. tour. Indeed, I still have my ticket from their show at Edinburgh’s Queen Hall from September 1988, where did the time go? What I do know is this, the band released two outstanding post-punk-pop albums in Pop Art and Velveteen as well as playing sensational live shows across the country.
Since then, lead singer Wendy James has released a series of critically acclaimed albums including the 2024’s The Shape of History and has worked with Lenny Kaye, James Williamson and Jim Sclavunos. The latter of which, having played with The Cramps and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds will be on drum duty for the tour, fantastic.
Speaking of the tour, Wendy James said “Words cannot express the feelings I have to be touring Transvision Vamp again! Joy! Thrill!! The band’s history, which began in 1988, has passed through many eras! And yet, here we are, belting out the very songs which captured everyone’s hearts all those years ago. It is fresh, it is redux, it is powerful”. She recalls: “I am surrounded by the best musicians in the world, and when we take to the stage, it is a force to be reckoned with. We take no prisoners. The crowds are ecstatic, and we meet as partners: The Band and The Audience are equal partners in this incredible show. I cannot wait to bring it to the UK and plant our flag!”
Having already toured in Australia and New Zealand, further dates in Spain and Portugal will have the band finely honed before the sixteen dates across the U.K. and Ireland. Seriously, this is one not to be missed.
For more on Transvision Vamp and the upcoming tour, head to the website here.
