If you’re an avid fan of live music in Glasgow, chances are you’ve been to the Glasgow Hydro recently. Chances are also that you’ve returned to the Glasgow Hydro, again and again, and again.

Until recently, it was Scotland’s largest venue, with a hefty £125 million construction cost. The 14,300-person capacity arena has created a monopoly on live music in the city, with acts of completely differing popularity and appeal appearing on its dense schedule.

Huge acts with universal appeal like Take That and Tom Jones can easily fill in the large Roman amphitheatre-inspired space, but if you want to see such acts like indie rock favourites Idles or legendary thrash metal band Anthrax, the Hydro is also the place. Somehow.

With the loss of the O2 ABC and The Arches, and the continuing damage done to music venues from the pandemic wreaking havoc, Glasgow has become a city where the scope of its live music scene has dwindled and fallen into disrepair. The corporate-backed ease and push of booking the Hydro regardless of its appropriateness and half-filled floors has made it a cursed blessing for the city’s live entertainment.

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There is a persistent attitude of acts being booked in the Hydro and figuring out the........

© Herald Scotland