FRETS 2026
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TICKETS: https://wegottickets.com/f/29560
Mackenzies follow the release of the debut album A Dog’s Breakfast with a Glasgow concert on Saturday 28th November at the Glad Cafe (with special guests The Port Sulphur Group).
The debut album has only taken Mackenzies 40 years to record and release – they announced themselves with their only single (New Breed), released on Ron Johnson Records in 1986. Mackenzies also had a track (Big Jim) on the legendary NME cassette, C86, released the same year.
A Dog’s Breakfast has received considerable critical acclaim since its release on the Last Night From Glasgow label, it highlights their updated dislocated avant-funk (as featured on two John Peel sessions broadcast on BBC Radio 1 in 1986). BBC 6Music has continued carrying the torch for Mackenzies, playing tracks from the album on several shows.
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FRETS 2027
THRUM.
RADHIKA & special guest JILL BRYSON.
QUAD90.
Live in concert at Oran Mor, Glasgow, on Friday 15th Jan as part of the Celtic Connections festival.
TICKETS:
https://www.celticconnections.com/event/1/thrum-with-quad90-and-radhika/
Celtic Connections presents a triple bill of pan-generational female artists releasing music with an independent aesthetic (Thrum / Radhika with special guest Jill Bryson / QUAD90).
THRUM
Emerging from Scotland’s rich alternative music scene in the mid-1990s, Thrum quickly established themselves with their distinctive blend of country rock, folk and Neil Young-inspired guitar music. Contemporaries of Americana pioneers The Jayhawks and Wilco, the band’s acclaimed debut album Rifferama became a defining record of its era.
At the heart of Thrum are vocalist Monica Queen and guitarist Johnny Smillie. Queen’s unmistakable voice has featured on Belle and Sebastian’s Lazy Line Painter Jane, while she has also sung with artists including Shane MacGowan and Snow Patrol.
In 2026, Rifferama was reissued and remastered by the legendary independent label Fire Records, home to artists including The Lemonheads, Maria McKee, Bevis Frond and Kristin Hersh. The release received widespread acclaim and sparked a sold-out UK tour, bringing Thrum’s music to a new generation.
For Celtic Connections, Thrum return with their trademark combination of crunching guitars, soaring vocals and folk-rock storytelling, revisiting songs from Rifferama alongside new material.
RADHIKA (& special guest JILL BRYSON)
2026 saw Radhika release a debut album on the Glass Modern label. Cine-Pop is a collection of songs that spans generations and continents but its home is always Radhika and the family jams she made with her father Sushil K. Dade (Future Pilot AKA). In different moments other musicians appear – most notably key collaborator, Eric Macdonald, on hazy synth and keys, and Radhika’s mother Vinita, who has a gorgeous voice too.
The Glasgow School is very present – Mitch Mitchell (The Pastels) , Gerard Love (Lightships/ ex-Teenage Fanclub) and Tracyanne Campbell (Camera Obscura) all bring their casual magic to the table.
Radhika’ performance at Celtic Connections will feature special guest collaboration with Jill Bryson (Strawberry Switchblade) as well as her regular crew of musicians including Sushil K Dade (Bass/electronics), Paul Thomson (Drums), Eric Macdonald and Rhea Marchetti on keys and leading the group Radhika Meera Dade on guitar and vocals.
QUAD90
Amelia Lironi and Naomi Mackay formed QUAD90 after meeting at university and discovering their shared love of disco, especially the Chic-produced Diana album by Miss Ross. They hooked up with producer Samuel Joseph Smith and recorded their first single – Le Blank (a homage to outre-disko producer Bob Blank) – which sold out its limited edition one-sided 10” release on the Last Night From Glasgow label.
QUAD90 has received considerable radio support from indie shows which helped with the independent chart success of the eponymously titled debut album (released on the Last Night From Glasgow label). The album contained a cover version of the James Chance no wave classic Contort Yourself, which highlighted the QUAD90 debt to New York label, Ze Records.
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RICKY WARWICK – Friday 12th Feb / SOLD OUT
EXTRA SHOW !!!! TICKETS ON SALE AT THIS LINK: https://wegottickets.com/f/32020
RICKY WARWICK – Saturday 13th Feb – The Strathaven Hotel
Due to high demand, Ricky Warwick will be playing a second concert at the Strathaven Hotel on Saturday 13th Feb.
For over a quarter of a century, Ricky Warwick’s life and career has straddled two continents. It takes a certain kind of intuition to harvest the best of both worlds and to fashion a life and body of work built on integrity, humility and respect.
It’s apparent in his music. Ricky remains undoubtedly one of the hardest working men in rock n roll. That ethos, formed and forged in the farm fields of Northern Ireland’s County Down countryside, stood the teenager in the greatest of stead when he first came to pick up a guitar at the age of 13.
There had always been music, both at home and also in Belfast. Throughout the 1970s and early 80s, the city was front and centre of the punk revolution. It begged the question, “How you gonna keep him down on the farm, once he’s seen Stiff Little Fingers?”
The answer was… You couldn’t.
A year later the Warwick family moved to Strathaven in Scotland. It was here where the spark of musical desire became a flame. Writing and practising every day, Ricky Warwick found himself drafted into the acclaimed UK punk/folk band New Model Army for their 1987 world tour.
The young guitarist had crossed the Rubicon. The taste of opportunity was on his tongue.
A short time later, Warwick formed The Almighty in Glasgow, Scotland. Drive, focus and raw talent catapulted the four-piece into a halcyon spell of achievement. Ten Top 40 singles and four UK Top 20 albums followed. The band toured extensively, sharing the stage with some of the biggest names in rock music (including Iron Maiden, Motörhead, The Ramones and Megadeth) whilst building a legendary, loyal and formidable fanbase along the way.
The ache for home lives in us all and, in 2002, Ricky returned to Ireland. It was here that he recorded his first solo album, Tattoos & Alibis, produced and recorded by Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott in his Dublin studio. The record was the first indication that Warwick had the remarkable capacity to cross genre, style and pace with consummate ease and, more importantly, with authenticity.
Ricky Warwick lives in Los Angeles for now, but that draw of home is overpowering. A relocation to the idyllic Northern Ireland countryside in the shadow of his beloved Scrabo Tower is well on course – yet another exciting chapter in the musician’s life, which will undoubtedly inspire new work, new music and new life.
As a solo artist, with a reputation in the industry for delivering in spades, he would continue to find success, touring globally with Def Leppard, Cheap Trick, Bryan Adams and Lynyrd Skynyrd .
It’s fair to say that Ricky Warwick is the kid who lived his dream. There lies a hundred million mile journey from being that boy trawling the wire-windowed record shops of battle weary Belfast in search of Thin Lizzy’s latest release, to walking onto the stage of Slane Castle in Ireland as their frontman, but this is the journey Ricky Warwick has made. There are few who could take on that mantle with the respect and reverence the role entailed, a feat the Ulsterman achieved to critical acclaim.
In 2010, a phone call from his great friend, iconic Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham, offered Ricky the front and centre spot in the reformed lineup of the Irish rock behemoth. A blistering period of touring and performing at the top table of rock engendered a wave of unstoppable creativity.
Keen not to dilute the Thin Lizzy legacy, yet determined to create new music, Warwick would play a pivotal part in the formation of Black Star Riders, fronting and writing on a string of highly acclaimed BSR records and tours. A hugely popular entity in their own right, Black Star Riders to date have released five Top 40 albums, two Top 10 albums, and have been playlisted on a regular basis on BBC Radio 2.
Ricky Warwick is a man who can’t stand still. There’s too much to be done and only 24 hours in every day. His love of performing as a solo artist is palpable, as at home in front of a mic and slinging an acoustic guitar as he is at the epicentre of a bank of Marshalls. The solo albums continue to land with the accuracy of a perfectly flighted arrow.
The man’s creativity continues to roar with the force of a mountain river. It is simply unstoppable, as is apparent in his latest work, Fire & Vengeance.
Having spent almost 40 years marching to no beat other than his own, Fire & Vengeance arrives just 18 months after Blood Ties and finds Warwick once again operating at the very peak of his powers. Driven by raw guitars, defiant energy and his unmistakable voice, the album captures the spirit of resilience and rebellion that has defined his career for decades. Big cathartic guitar sounds and life-affirming assessments of where he stands in this time and place make this another standout piece of work in a career spanning more than four decades.
As a solo artist and an esteemed singer/songwriter in his own right, Ricky Warwick has collaborated with some of the finest musicians on the planet. Fire & Vengeance features special appearances from Phil Collen (Def Leppard), Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake / The Dead Daisies), Charlie Starr (Blackberry Smoke) and Darren Holden (Thin Lizzy / The High Kings). Reuniting with his friend and creative compadre Keith Nelson following the success of Blood Ties, Warwick delivers a record that showcases a musician at the height of his songwriting and creative powers.
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AVOID SCAMMERS TRYING TO SELL TICKETS ON SOCIAL MEDIA – THEY ARE TRYING TO CON YOU OUT OF YOUR MONEY.
FRETS CONCERTS was established by Strathaven musician Douglas MacIntyre. The first concert took place in the Strathaven Hotel on 4th October, 2019, with Lloyd Cole performing an acoustic set accompanied by Commotions guitarist Neil Clark. The ethos at FRETS is very much geared towards a seated and listening audience, with the onus on live performance and songwriting. The artists really appreciate performing to an attentive audience, magic is invariably in the air. Our dream concert would be Neil Young with an acoustic guitar and harmonica performing his On The Beach album, or Bill Callahan performing any of his albums. We look forward to welcoming you to the Strathaven Hotel for an evening at FRETS.
FRETS is a seated venue within the Strathaven Hotel, doors usually open at 7pm with seats taken on a ‘first-come-first-seated’ basis. We usually have two support artists, with live performances commencing shortly after doors open. All tickets are paperless and sold via the Concert Tickets section of this website, you do not need to print your tickets, simply show us your tickets on your phone.
The concerts usually finish by 10.30pm, though the bar in the hotel is open late if you want to have a drink and a chat. Lots of FRETS attendees stay over at the hotel and have a meal in the resturant prior to the concert, more details about the Strathaven Hotel here. https://www.strathavenhotel.com/
If you re not already on the mailing list, go to the Blog section of this website and submit your email address to keep up to date. We have a couple of big announcement forthcoming and will be emailing to our mailing list soon.
In line with other live music promoters and entertainment events we operate a no refunds policy.
https://twitter.com/FRETSCONCERTS / https://www.facebook.com/fretsconcerts
FRETS is supportive of car-sharing as an option to travel to the Strathaven Hotel. If this isn’t possible, Climate Action Strathaven are now operating buses to and from Strathaven. The last bus to run from Glasgow to Strathaven is 9.15pm from North Hanover St (George Square). For more information about Climate Action Strathaven please visit their website: https://castrathaven.org/
PLEASE CHECK WITH CLIMATE ACTION STRATHAVEN WHERE THE BUS LEAVES GLASGOW FROM AS THERE ARE CURRENTLY ROAD WORKS.
Please note there are no direct buses running from Strathaven to coincide with FRETS concerts finishing around 10.30pm. There are trains from Hamilton to Glasgow, however a taxi would be required to be booked from the hotel to Hamilton. There are two taxi firms in Strathaven, here are their details:
Stevie’s Taxis / 01357 – 528888
Strathaven Taxis / 01357 – 522522
PLEASE BE CAREFUL – THERE ARE SCAMMERS OUT THERE WHO WILL OFFER TO SELL YOU TICKETS ONLINE VIA TWITTER OR FACEBOOK. THIS IS A RIP OFF. PLEASE ONLY BUY TICKETS FROM THE WEGOTTICKETS LINKS, IF THE CONCERT SELLS OUT JOIN THE WAITING LIST AT THE WEGOTTICKETS LINK.
