Ten things to do in Scotland this week

THIS week’s arts, entertainment and leisure picks from across Scotland, including music from Biffy Clyro and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, the return of the hit theatre show Black Watch, Glasgow Comedy Festival, Edinburgh International Science Festival and the Electric Frog clubbing weekender.

Music: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

The Barrowland, Glasgow

Tonight, 7pm, £19.50; more info

These San Francisco rockers take their influence from the leather-clad, garage rock bands of the 70s. Although they hit their commercial peak 10 years ago with second album Take Them On, On Your Own, which charted at number three in the UK, the trio are back with their latest release Specter At The Feast, which has been described as a second wind for BRMC.

Comedy: Chris Addison

Citizens Theatre, Glasgow

Tuesday, 8.30pm, £20; more info

Best known from his turn as the disruptive spin doctor Ollie in Bafta-winning comedy The Thick of It, Chris Addison is a respected stand-up comedian in his own right. He brings his pacy and energetic routine on a new tour, which arrives at the Glasgow Comedy Festival this week.

Clubs: LAID

Bloc+, Glasgow

Wednesday, 9pm – 3am, free; more info

This is the last outing for the monthly live music and club night LAID, but to round things off they’ve assembled a fine bunch of musicians. Headliner Beerjacket is an alt-folk favourite in his native Glasgow, Fake Major have risen from the ashes of Endor and are generating plenty of buzz, while a solo set from Adam of Randolph’s Leap will ensure there’s hardly a dry eye left in the house for this last hurrah.

Festival: Edinburgh International Science Festival

Various venues, Edinburgh

Until 7 Apr; more info

Edinburgh International Science Festival is 25 years old this year, and is marking the anniversary with a series of events in which scientists, artists and more predict what the next 25 years may bring. Other new features this year include the Mini Maker Faire, a gathering of DIY enthusiasts at Summerhall, while the City Art Centre will become a science playground with workshops for children of all ages (including the chance to stand inside a giant bubble).

Theatre: Takin’ Over the Asylum

Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh

Until 6 Apr, more info

It’s not the easiest in theatre, to take your own successful 1990s television sitcom, and turn it into a powerful 21st century stage play. Writer Donna Franceschild and director Mark Thomson make a brilliant job of it, though, in this fine and moving Lyceum-Citizens’ co-production, in which down-at-heel DJ Eddie McKenna – played by a superb Iain Robertson – arrives at a Glasgow mental hospital to try to restart the in-house radio station, and finds himself fighting for light, love and human dignity against intolerance and bureaucracy.

Music: S-Type

King Tut’s, Glasgow

Saturday, 8.30pm, £6; more info

In the past few years Glasgow has been seen as a bubbling cauldron of world-renowned electronica and hip-hop, and the LuckyMe label and collective has been a major player in that success. Having helped launch the careers of Hudson Mohawke and Rustie, they knew they were on to something with S-Type. The Glasgow-based producer, real name Bobby Perman, melds his British underground tastes with the blinged-up pizazz of US R’n’B, and this is a great chance to see the next in line for breakout success.

Theatre: Black Watch

SECC, Glasgow

Until 13 Apr;more info

The National Theatre of Scotland’s biggest hit, Black Watch, is on tour once again, beginning with a two-week run at the SECC in Glasgow from Thursday until 13 April. Coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the Iraq invasion, Gregory Burke’s visceral portrayal of that war, based on interviews with Scottish soldiers, is as timely as ever. The SECC shows are its only Scottish dates.

Art: The House of Annie Lennox

Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh

Until 30 Jun;more info

Annie Lennox is much more than a pop singer – some of her more elaborate videos and concerts are almost performance art – so the idea that she should have an art exhibition devoted to her isn’t as far-fetched as it might seem. First shown at the V&A in 2011, and also displayed at Aberdeen Art Gallery last year, The House of Annie Lennox contains photographs, videos and costumes taken from her personal archive and spanning over three decades in the music business.

Clubs: Electric Frog

SWG3, Glasgow

Saturday & Sunday, 6pm-2am, £17.50/£35; more info

Appropriately enough, for eweekend where children smear egg-shaped chocolate all over themselves, Electric Frog’s two-day party does rather spoil us with a Ferrero Roche-style pile of goodies, including Simian Mobile Disco, whose taste for delightfully arid, acid-infused house and techno tracks has grown considerably since their more accessible early offerings. You’d be well advised to arrive promptly for Andrew Weatherall and Ewan Pearson as well. Disco don Todd Terje and US garage legend Todd Edwards round off the cream of an expertly-assembled crop.

Music: Biffy Clyro

AECC, Aberdeen

Sunday, 6.30pm, £28.50 (sold out);more info

Their cult favourite status seems like a distant memory. Now firmly established as mainstream, arena dwelling rock titans, to the ubiquitous chant of ‘Mon the Biff’, Ayrshire trio Biffy Clyro‘s major UK tour should be a triumphant experience, after their most recent album Opposites sailed to the top of the UK chart. It kicks off in Aberdeen on Sunday before heading to Glasgow’s SECC next Monday.

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