Glasgow's TRNSMT festival to expand to six-day event next year

Glasgow's new music festival is set to expand to a six-day event next year.
Former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher is one of the headline acts of this year's TRNSMT festivalFormer Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher is one of the headline acts of this year's TRNSMT festival
Former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher is one of the headline acts of this year's TRNSMT festival

Promoters DF Concerts say demand for the second TRNSMT event on Glasgow Green, which will be staged across two weekends this summer, has persuaded them to plan an even bigger event in 2019.

However the firm has revealed it has “no plans” to stage another camping festival following the demise of T in the Park in 2016 after its relocation to a new site, meaning its hiatus will run for at least four years.

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It says the expansion of TRNSMT will allow it to attract “heritage acts” with an older demographic than it would put on as part of a traditional festival line-up.

Up to 50,000 fans a day are expected to flock to Glasgow Green to see acts like Liam Gallagher, Arctic Monkeys, The Killers, Stereophonics and Queen between 29 June and 8 July. DF Concerts chief executive Geoff Ellis said two of the five days of this year’s TRNSMT were already heading for a sell-out, as ticket sales outstrip last year.

He added: “Our intention would be definitely to do two weekends again next year. I think the way it’ll work is to have one weekend as a main festival weekend and then three other big shows under the TRNSMT banner over a maximum of six nights.

“I think the focus will be on one weekend that is marketing to people coming for the whole weekend and the other which has more individual gigs. It’ll allow us to put on some really diverse acts or a really legendary artist with a totally different fanbase to Liam Gallagher or the Arctic Monkeys.

“The beauty of it is that people will have a choice whether to come to multiple days or one-off shows. It makes it really flexible for people who are coming into the city but want to do other things when they’re here and we can be more creative and flexible in our line-ups.”

T in the Park was forced to move from its long-time home in Kinross-shire, in 2015 due to safety fears over an underground oil pipeline. However its new home at Strathallan, in Perthshire, was dogged by difficulties over traffic congestion, weather and disorder, and the event was officially shelved in November 2016.

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Mr Ellis added: “We’ve no plans to do another camping festival next year or for the foreseeable future. I’m never going to say we’re never going to do one again. But we have nothing to say about another camping event just now.

“We had to pause T in the Park because of the huge costs of operating on that site and we also had dreadful weather. Nobody saw the site in all its beauty. When we parked it we said we would take time out and tell people when we have firm plans.

“Camping festivals are wonderful, they’re great. We just don’t have any plans for one at the moment. But that’s nothing to do with TRNSMT expanding to six days.”