The nostalgia industry has always been a money spinner, so there’s no point in exhaling a big sigh and throwing out criticism of Belle and Sebastian‘s plans for 2026 around the 30th anniversary of Tigermilk and If You’re Feeling Sinister. Beginning in Berne in mid-February and, for the time-being, ending in Glasgow in late June, with stops in Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Koln, Dublin, London, Manchester, Mexico City, Miami, Boston, New York, Toronto, Chicago, Austin, Los Angeles, Big Sur and San Francisco en route. It really will be quite the adventure.
On hearing of the plans, Rachel asked, other than Glasgow where I’d most like to try and get tickets for and if successful, to then make plans for train journeys/flights and accommodation. She was really surprised when I told her that I wasn’t the least bit interested in going to see any of the shows. My logic being that I’ll always be content thanks to the last B&S show I went to, one in which they really redeemed themselves.
This all stems from one of the worst gigs I’ve ever had the misfortune of attending when the band played the 12,000 capacity Glasgow Hydro in May 2015. A small orchestra, dancing girls, balloons galore, and t-shirts being fired into the crowd made for a homecoming gig like no other. And it sucked. Big Time. Their music certainly doesn’t fit the idea of an atypical rock band stadium gig, and the band members looked distinctly uncomfortable throughout….other than Stuart Murdoch, who seemed to be living out his wildest fantasies.
Just over a year later, B&S returned to Glasgow, this time to play three nights at the Glasgow University Union Debating Chamber. Despite its name, it is a 650-capacity venue which over the years has proved more than capable of hosting excellent live shows, and indeed in recent years has become the venue for the annual two-day weekend Glas-Goes Pop Festival which takes place each July. I was at two of the B&S shows in July 2016, and they were among the most enjoyable nights I’ve ever had seeing any band, mainly as the set lists leaned more on the earlier material rather than the albums of the current century, none of which have truly landed with me. I did say to a few folk afterwards that the gigs were so good, I thought it unlikely that I’d ever go see them again.
mp3: Belle and Sebastian – Like Dylan In The Movies (from If You’re Feeling Sinister, 1996)
I might have changed my mind if any of the subsequent albums had manage to float my boat. Putting aside Days of The Bagnold Summer (2019) which was a soundtrack to a film, we’ve been treated to A Bit Of Previous (2022) and Late Developers (2023). The best I can say about both records is that they both have a few songs that are as good as anything they’ve written and recorded over the many decades they’ve been around; but, for the most part, once the albums had been listened to a few times just after purchase, they were put away on the shelves destined to gather some dust.
So, I will make the admission that I have become bored with Belle and Sebastian. But as one person might say to the other as they try to explain the reasons for a break-up, ‘it’s not your fault, it’s all down to me’. The band meant an awful lot for the best part of a decade, then they made some records that were a bit ‘meh’. They showed, in 2016, that they were still a fabulous live act, certainly in the right sort of environment. I know I’m in the minority, as the band has retained a fiercely loyal fan base who lap up everything – even the toe-curling solo projects which flirt dangerously between self-indulgence, pretentiousness and mind-numbingly boring.
There’s every possibility, next June, when loads of folk I know have come away from the two Glasgow gigs talking about them being life-affirming experiences, that I’ll have a few pangs of regret. But all in all, I can rest easy that I didn’t pursue any tickets when they went on sale…. particularly when the asking price was £60 to sit outdoors on concrete benches!
JC
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Leave them on a high. It’s sound advice for all pop fans. Flogging a dead horse has never been a good look – even on the obvious topping-up-pension tours. I like up to maybe 2010 B&S. Granted, I’ve not heard much after, but I don’t feel like I’m missing out. The phrase over-promised under-delivered springs to mind. I’ve seen the band about a half a dozen times twice very early on in their career when the were little more than average, twice mid-way way through my timeline when I enjoyed them and about 2011 when they were a decent live band. I also saw them at the now famed Botanics show – that was very average. The whole day was. I think they need to disappear for a while including the side projects and bounce back with something really different. The revisionist gigs could be amazing but… I really don’t care. The past is a limiting place to exist
Flimflamfan.
I’m going and still excited to see them . I think the quality of the BS lps depends pretty much entirely on how much songwriting SM gives up to other members of the band . Because of drifting to the appearance of a more democratic approach a lot of LPs are patchy to say the least but on the other hand each one contains at least one track that’s up there with their best – Nobody’s Empire a classic case in an otherwise okay lp . They have turned into a bit of a playlist band where I take the best tracks from each lp and stick them on a playlist . I rarely go back to play whole LPs again. I’m looking forward to seeing them at an inside venue – both times I’ve seen them has been outside ( a type of gig I don’t think would suit them) – however both times – Somerset House and Chelsea Barracks ) they were excellent . Thankfully nothing fired into the audience – that Glasgow gig does sound horrendous
I think I feel the same, Jim. I saw them a few times in the late 90s / early 00s. I saw them when they used to play really quiet…. the last time was in 2011 at the Roundhouse, they did very little for me .
In truth I’ve not loved a B&S album since Storytelling. Big John Shaft is a work of beauty.
That said, I’m glad they made a bit of money and could buy their houses etc etc. They deserved their success and I loved our time together.
Yeah, well, if anyone wants to come see them at the Palladium in LA in June, hit me up.
Hard to argue with this. No matter the quality of the original material, these multi-decade nostalgia tours are decidedly hit and miss. If my last B&S gig had been that great I wouldn’t go either. But for people who might have missed out the 1st time (esp. if they don’t live in B&S’ home town) I bet it will be fantastic. I bet the Big Sur show will be worth the effort. It’s not the kind of place for the sort of stadium rock spectacle you describe (which I agree seems anathema to the B&S spirit I loved).
-EfO
Sorry for the double comment but also I gotta say: It’s good to step away from music that you love for a period, even if that period is decades. If you never step away it becomes background music and loses all it’s meaning.