Best Glasgow Venue?

With so many great venues across Glasgow, a question that always comes up is... which one is best?  Is it the small bar style venue like King Tut's Wah Wah Hut or the huge arena that is the SECC? I'll run through a few of them in reverse order and give you my opinion at the end.

Proclaimers crowd in Hall 4 at the SECC.

Fifth: the SECC.  It has hosted many great artists across it's 5 halls since it opened in 1985 from Oasis to Lady Gaga to Dolly Parton and Whitney Houston and is the go to venue for hugely popular artists since it is the biggest venue Glasgow has to offer at present with a maximum capacity of 12,500.  But big doesn't mean better as the SECC is essentially just a big tin shed which provides no atmosphere itself - but the crowds tend to create their own atmosphere and the shows are often big and eccentric meaning you still know you're getting a good show if you're going to the SECC.

Fourth: the ABC.  The ABC, despite being a very old building, is a fairly new venue to the city as it only opened in 2005 after being used as a cinema since 1929.  The venue was taken over by AMG in 2009 and was re branded as the O2 ABC and since then has become one of Glasgow's most popular venues with artists such as Florence + the Machine, Tinie Tempah, Paolo Nutini and Example taking to the stage.  The venue has a capacity of 1362 and is a much loved venue due to it's large stage yet small building, overlooking balcony and without a doubt the biggest disco ball that ever existed.

Third: the Barrowland Ballroom.  Located in a not so nice area of Glasgow with a notably tacky exterior, the Barra's as it's called is surprisingly a favourite amongst the Glaswegians.  It is situated amongst the famous street market also known as 'the Barra's' and even although I've never been, I've heard its got character with it's starry ceiling, mirrored walls and bouncy floor.  It is one of the longest, if not the longest, running venue in Glasgow and began as a dancehall in 1934.  It has hosted a lot of great tours from a lot of great artists including Biffy Clyro, Katy Perry and Ocean Colour Scene and will continue to do so with Ed Sheeran playing three consecutive sold out shows in November.  After Metallica played the venue back in 1996, they said that because of the size and nature of the venue, it made it the best gig they had ever played.  The Barrowlands is arguably the best venue in Glasgow as it appears to be a favourite amongst both attendees and bands themselves, but since I've yet to go, it isn't mine.

Second: King Tut's Wah Wah Hut.  Possibly the most famous venue in Glasgow which was titled 'Best Live Venue in the UK' by Radio 1 in 2002 and has been responsible for the fame of many of the great bands which we know of today.  Impressively, Oasis gained their first record deal after playing here in 1993 and went on to sell 70 million records worldwide.  With a tiny capacity of 300, King Tut's has a lot of character in a really small space making it very intimate and is a top contender for the best venue in Glasgow.  

Finally, and most importantly our winner: O2 Academy Glasgow.  This is without a doubt my personal favourite Glasgow venue.  It also began as a cinema until its £3million renovation in 2003 when it opened as a 2500 capacity music venue.  Being the second biggest venue in Glasgow, it does host a lot of popular artists such as The Killers in 2006 whose gig sold out in a record 3 minutes.  It has a lot of character inside and still has the cinema theatre style interior it once had. But at the same time it is very intimate yet has a large stage with excellent lighting, several bars and a large balcony.  

This is just personal opinion, and you might have another favourite yourself, but if you do please vote on the poll below or post a comment and we can argue it out!

Which of the 5 venues do you think is best?

One Tree Hill Star Tyler Hilton To Play Glasgow

Yet another One Tree Hill star is set to play Glasgow this year after recent shows from Gavin Degraw and Wakey!Wakey! in the city.  Californian singer Tyler Hilton, or Chris Keller as you may know him from One Tree Hill, recently announced that he will be embarking on a European tour, including the UK, in June.  Of course he couldn't come to the UK without stopping in Scotland and will be playing at the O2 Academy in Glasgow as well as the HMV Picture House in Edinburgh as a support act for Boyce Avenue.

Tyler built up quite a bit of excitement for the tour as first he promised fans on Twitter that they would find out the release date of his new album once he reached 115,000 followers (a cheeky way of getting more followers if you ask me) and it wasn't long before this happened and the album release was announced.  He then posted that he had a surprise for UK fans and a few days later posted that he would be doing a 12 date UK tour and then shortly after announced that he was supporting Boyce Avenue.  As great as it is that he's coming over, I'm sure the UK was anticipating from his tweets that it was going to be a headline tour, but I'm sure he'll still be great even although his set time will be limited.

The tour will support his next album, 'Forget The Storm', which is set for worldwide release on April 3rd.  This is his first full length album release since 'The Tracks Of' in 2004 so it is an exciting time for fans not only across Europe but across the rest of the world as well.  So far he has already released two singles from the album, 'Loaded Gun' and 'Prince of Nothing Charming', and it is thought that the third single could be 'Kicking My Heels' as various live versions of the song have appeared on sites such as YouTube and he performed it on episode two of the final season of One Tree Hill.  Have a look at how Tyler spends his Thursday afternoon's in the video below.

Which One Tree Hill star will be next to play Glasgow?  With a number of singers from the show still left to play here - Bethany Joy Galeotti (Haley), Jana Kramer (Alex), Kate Voegele (Mia) and Bryan Greenberg (Jake) - it could be a while before they've all had a visit, but I'm hoping that next up is Kate or Bethany, but only time will tell.

Tickets for the Glasgow show are available here and for the Edinburgh show here.