The walkways and nature trails of Kelvingrove Park helped him to pay the bills while starting out as a young, aspiring musician.
Edwyn Collins designed and illustrated leaflets for the park in the late 1970s, just as his band Orange Juice was forming.
But now he will return to the green space as a world-renowned musician to perform at the historic bandstand as part of the award-winning Summer Nights series.
The “A Girl Like You” singer will join artists including Van Morrison, Primal Scream, Katie Tunstall, Cat Stevens, Altered Images and King Creosote on the bill.
Speaking about his previous experience of the park, Mr Collins said: “I spent a lot of time in Kelvingrove in 1978/79, when I was an illustrator for Glasgow Parks. I designed and illustrated leaflets for walkways and nature trails.
“It was a very nice job for someone like me, the only paid job I ever had.”
The Edinburgh-born singer recalled a conversation he had with some school children he met on one of the trails while working there.
They asked him if he was a punk and he replied: “Yes children, I’m nature punk!”
However, he admitted that he wasn’t really aware of the bandstand at that time.
“I hardly remember the bandstand then, it was disused,” he said. “But I am delighted it has been returned to its original glory, hosting great music nights and I am excited to be playing my part this year.”
Now in its seventh year, Regular Music’s Summer Nights at the Bandstand runs from the end of July into August and has become a firm favourite with music fans.
The festival also scooped the Unesco City of Music Best Live Event at the Scottish Music Awards in 2017.
The bandstand itself fell into disrepair in the 1990s, but a local action group, Friends of Kelvingrove Park, campaigned and fundraised to have it restored to its former glory.
Glasgow Buildings Preservation Trust, Historic Scotland and the Heritage Lottery Fund went on to help finance its regeneration, with the stand and 2,500 capacity amphitheatre officially reopening in May 2014.
Mark Mackie, director of Regular Music said: “Kelvingrove Bandstand has such a fantastic atmosphere and the feedback we have had from both artists and audiences is that they have a great time just being there.
“They really are unique and special nights under the stars.”
This year’s line-up will see Suzanne Vega kick things off on July 30, followed by Belinda Carlisle the next night and Rufus Wainwright on August 1.
Van Morrison will then take to the Bandstand on August 4. This will be his third appearance at Kelvingrove after playing in 2016 and 2018.
He will be followed by Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf, the following night.
KT Tunstall is the first Scots acts in this year’s bill playing on August 6. While 80s fans will be treated to Rick Astley on August 7.
Scottish indie legends Primal Scream play two nights on August 11 and 12,while King Creosote plays August 13, and The Jesus & Mary Chain play August 14.
Mr Collins will appear on August 15, joined by Altered Images featuring another well-known Scot, Clare Grogan.
KT Tunstall said: “Thrilled to share that I’ll be part of the absolutely stellar line-up for Kelvingrove Bandstand this summer.
“If you haven’t experienced a gig at this special venue before, I highly recommend it and, if you have...I’m betting you’ll want to come again! The girls & I will see you there.”
Councillor David McDonald, chair of Glasgow Life, added: “The Kelvingrove Bandstand is a unique venue and this year’s array of international and Scottish-born stars means music-lovers will be spoilt for choice this summer.”
Previous years have seen Brian Wilson, Sir Tom Jones, Burt Bacharach and Bryan Ferry appear at the bandstand.
Tickets go on sale on Friday at 9am via Ticketmaster.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel