Music review: Belle & Sebastian, Galvanizers Yard, Glasgow

Belle & Sebastian have always been a band mindful of location, celebrating pockets of their native Glasgow throughout their catalogue. Their home city's newest outdoor venue, the Galvanizers Yard, is an industrial yard by the Clyde sandwiched between railway tracks so, despite a lifetime love of bus travel, frontman Stuart Murdoch highlighted what train references appear in their songs.

Stuart Murdoch and Stevie Jackson of Belle and Sebastian PIC: Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images

Music review: Belle & Sebastian, Galvanizers Yard, Glasgow ***

The band embraced the space with clips of The Railway Children, while those audience members closest to the tracks attempted to engage bemused commuters whizzing past above.

There is nothing quite like a spot of Belle & Sebastian on a sunny evening and, despite a strong opening salvo of Dog On Wheels and the chiming I’m A Cuckoo, there were many mellow moments in the set when the band lived down to their reputation for pleasant listening.

Eventually, they rocked out on the new wave groove of Stay Loose and finally unleashed the Friday night lights with the irresistible pulse of The Boy With The Arab Strap (lyrics hastily altered from “bus” to “train”), accompanied by the customary stage invasion of enthusiastic dancers from across the Belle & Sebastian generations.

After the euphoria, the fey strum of Get Me Away from Here, I’m Dying was a characteristically perverse selection on which to end the set, typical of their lucky dip approach to a set-list which always throws up surprises and a generous intent not to neglect the dustier corners of their catalogue.