New Glasgow music festival South by Southside aims to provide great day out for local community

There’s nothing quite like a day out in the park in glorious sunshine.

And organisers of an event in Glasgow’s southside this summer are hoping that the weather’s kind to them for the debut of a brand new music festival.

South by Southside, a one-day event in the city’s Queen’s Park, will see a number of local bands take to the stage at the renovated bandstand.

Ian Murdoch, one of the event’s organisers, said: “We all stay close to Queen’s Park and we saw the bandstand get renovated a few years ago and nothing really seemed to be happening with it for a few years.

“The idea came to us a couple of years ago that we could do something, and then they had a couple of events there last year which we went to that were really good.

“We like the space and thought it would be a fun thing to do and something that was good for the southside.”

With the success of Kelvingrove’s rejuvenated bandstand, organisers hope to follow in its footsteps south of the Clyde.

South by Southside will add to a number of events this summer in the park, designed to give the local community a great day out.

As well as putting together the event, scheduled for May 11, Ian and his fellow organisers will be taking to the stage themselves as the band Ports of Essen.

Joining them on the line-up are Dopesickfly, A. Wesley Chung, Wrest, Milvus Milvus, James Michael Rodgers and Patersani.

They’re just a few of hundreds of acts who indicated their interest in playing the new festival – named in reference to the famous South by Southwest extravaganza in the US.

“We posted some messages on Facebook and in some of the music groups. We wanted to see who applied and let people do it that way,” Ian said.

“We ended up getting far more than we thought we would get. We thought we’d get a couple of people taking an interest but there were a couple of hundred that applied. It took us ages to get through them all.”

Most of the acts on the bill came from those that applied and there were some other local and Scottish bands that were approached to play.

Ian added: “We wanted to keep it local, so it’s a local festival and it’s easier for the bands to travel as there’s not an unlimited budget. We wanted to make sure that we could pay the artists as well.”

Tickets for the event have recently gone on sale, and there’s been great support so far from the local community.

And with entry for under 10s free, it’s set to be a family friendly affair with music, food, drink and activities.

“We’re conscious of the weather being a big factor – if we drop on the one week of sunshine we’ll be onto a winner,” Ian said.

“People can pop along during the day and come and go when they like, it’s not something where the ticket price is prohibitive.”

For more information visit https://www.facebook.com/SouthbySouthSide/

Tickets available here