Bands line up for final fling as Homecoming year ends on a high note

Many of the top acts for Homecoming Live: The Final Fling – such as Midge Ure, former lead singer of Ultravox, and Deacon Blue – have been recruited as the sound of the 1980s, the era when Scots bands had collectively their biggest commercial success.

Others – Idlewild and new sensation Tommy Reilly – will give a more contemporary feel to the event, which also feature groups and singers from the folk music scene.

The concert, which is costing 200,000 to stage, will take place on 28 November at the SECC in Glasgow to mark the end of the Scottish Government's Homecoming Year, which was designed to draw expatriates and descendants of emigrants back to the nation. More big acts will be announced in coming weeks as bands and singers confirm they can take part in the projected 35-strong line-up.

Geoff Ellis, the T in the Park guru and head of event promoters DF Concerts, said: "This is a homecoming gig, the kind of thing that is going to bring people back to Scotland. These bands haven't played together; there wasn't a festival at that time for them to play together."

Also in the line-up are The Vaselines, recently reformed 20 years after their brief time as an underground act. The band's reputation has soared in the intervening years, since Kurt Cobain of Nirvana was found o have named them as a key inspiration. Other signed-up bands include The Bluebells, The Law, King Creosote, Kevin McDermott, Tommy Reilly and James Grant.

The main event is a one-day festival on three stages at the SECC, but there will also be three nights of gigs at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow. About 20,000 tickets go on sale from Friday, priced up to 35.

The 1980s' bands will play in Hall 4. "If you are somebody nearly in your forties, who might come from Glasgow and live in London, it's a great opportunity to hook up with spouses and girlfriends, come to Glasgow and have a great time in the city," Ellis said. "This show is a catalyst to make that happen. It's a coming together, a snapshot of great Scottish artists, who have had great success, most of whom are still recording now. The whole experience isn't about breaking new acts; this is a celebration of great Scottish music."

Pop music critic Fiona Shepherd said the bands were a good cross-section of the Scottish music scene. "There's a lot of younger fans interested in seeing the Vaselines," she said. Others represented "real 1980s warhorses".

"Tommy Reilly is a brand-new act who hasn't even released his debut album, whose songs seem to resonate a lot. If we are going to see any teenage girls they will be there for Tommy Reilly. With Deacon Blue it's about nostalgia."

Radio Scotland presenter, Bryan Burnett said: "It's certainly a good representation of Scottish pop of the past 20 and 30 years, but it would have been nice to see something a bit older... It's important to remember that Scottish pop didn't just start with the 1980s boom. It's names like Lulu that are missing from the list."

Paul Johnston, who runs the Scottish rock and pop website, jocknroll.co.uk, said: "My first reaction looking at that is, where are the females?

"Women have played a big part in Scottish music over the years. Lulu, Annie Lennox, even Sheena Easton, as unpopular as she is at home."