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T H E SUPPORTED BY
64 PAUL HIGGINS SING STAR
Everyone’s favourite second sweary Scot in The Thick of It collaborated with Ricky Ross to write The Choir for the stage and debuted at the Citz. He maintained his screen proi le with Couple in a Hole, starring opposite Kate Dickie. (BD)
63 BILL WELLS AND AIDAN MOFFAT VITAL ORGANS The pair, who were inaugural Scottish Album of the Year award winners back in 2012, brought forth their second album, The Most Important Place in the World, back in March. It proved to be another uncensored, real and snarling piece from Wells ‘n’ Moffat. (KS)
62 GLASGOW COMIC CON GRAPHIC ARTISTS
The festival of comics, graphic novels, comic art and writing created a fantastic programme showcasing big-name stars alongside indie talent. After hitting record numbers by welcoming over 10,000 fans across all its events, the Con is expanding to the Royal Concert Hall in 2016. (RoM)
61 GRID IRON SOLID WORKS One of Scotland’s most ambitious theatre companies, Grid Iron’s visually ravishing Fringe hit Light Boxes was followed by
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included Éliane Radigue’s microtonal acoustic works, Hild Soi e Tafjord’s brass extravaganza, and Peter Brötzmann’s i ery saxophone. (SS)
65 FERN BRADY FOOL’S GOLD A strong Fringe debut, People Are Idiots, coincided this summer with the BBC iPlayer pilot of Radges. Set in a referral unit for kids with psychological problems, it starred Sarah Hadland (Stevie from Miranda) and This is England 90’s Nick Preston. (BD)
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69 69 VAL MCDERMID QUIET RIOTER A busy year of ups and downs for the Fife crime scribe: she was a speaker at Ruth Rendell’s memorial service, worked with Dundee University on a forensic science course, appeared at Bloody Scotland and published another Tony Hall / Carol Jordan novel, Splinter the Silence. (BD)
68 KEVIN BRIDGES CHARITY CASE
Most news stories on the Clydebank comic this year seemed to focus on a series of hecklers attempting to spoil his A Whole Different Story gigs from Derry to Edinburgh. With a touch of class he donated his proceeds from one ruined show to a children’s charity. (BD)
67 TUFF LOVE
STRONG SUITS Dreamy Glasgow shoegaze duo and BBC 6 Music favourites Julie Eisenstein and Suse Bear kept moving forward with some great gigs and the new ‘Dregs’ EP. You may have seen them supporting the revived Ride on tour or Paolo Nutini and Grace Jones at Bellahouston Park. (DP)
66 TECTONICS PLATE EXPECTATIONS
In bringing the classical avant-garde and experimental underground together, Ilan Volkov’s Tectonics has transformed the way orchestral music is perceived in Scotland. 2015 highlights
32 THE LIST 5 Nov 2015–4 Feb 2016