Glasgow’s iconic King Tut’s hosted the Road To The Great Escape festival on Saturday 10th May. The clear skies and warm, sunny weather did not stop the sold-out crowd from turning up in their hundreds for the night’s stacked lineup. Artists included Clifford’s, Picture Parlour, and Bottle Rockets.
Indoor Foxes
Punk-rockers Indoor Foxes kicked off the day at 3.15pm. The four-piece is fronted by Martha Barr, Sebastian on bass, Henry on lead guitar and Zach on drums. The band is described as “think Courtney Love meets Paris Hilton vibes.” The Edinburgh-born band set up from the comfort of their bedroom, and have since released several singles, including ‘Maggot Brains’ and most popular Spotify track ‘Plant Pot Song’.
There was certainly a reason the hard-rock four piece was chosen to open the night – they had an incredible live stage presence, with lead vocalist Martha often cracking jokes & making sure the crowd was engaged. The band is described as “think Courtney Love meets Paris Hilton vibes.” Her iconic pink Hello Kitty guitar; as well as outstanding skills to play live makes them Indoor Foxes definitely a Scottish artist to watch for 2025.
Admittedly, I was most looking forward to hearing their most recent rendition of ‘Daft Punk Is Playing at My House,’ which closed the set brilliantly. If there was one Indoor Foxes track that I’d recommend listening to, it has to be this one.
Annie DiRusso
Annie DiRusso played a heartwarming stripped down acoustic set of soft indie and alternative tracks, prediminantly from her recently released debut album ‘Super Pedestrian’ out March 2025. Originally from New York, Annie is currently on her first run of tour dates in the UK & EU. The next stops on her tour include The Great Escape festival in Brighton and London Calling festival in Amsterdam on 17th May.
Album tracks on the setlist included ‘Wearing Pants Again’ and ‘Back In Town’. To give us a different taste of the band, they played their older 2018 single ‘Don’t Swerve’, featuring gorgeous vocals and acoustic guitar instrumentals. This was the duo’s first time playing in Scotland, so it was a special set clearly felt by the crowd as well as the duo.
Westside Cowboy
Westside Cowboy were next on the bill, opening with soft solo vocals from the guitarist, before playing with the full band. Instantly there was insane energy from the drummer, and it was clear they work very well as a four-piece together.
Originally from Manchester, the quartet offered a range of both soft-indie as well as fast-paced harder rock tunes, to a crowd of eager listeners. With only two songs out, Westside Cowboy have already attracted a loyal following with 62K monthly listeners on Spotify and 5K followers on Instagram. Their recently released tune ‘Shells’ is really worth a listen; especially to hear live. Some unreleased tracks that stood out to me were ‘Pinup Boys’ and ‘The Wahs,’ – make sure to keep a look out for potential new music to be released soon.
Mên An Tol
Cornwall quintet Mên An Tol played a great run of tracks at 6.15 pm, with many tracks from their recently dropped EP ‘The Country’. Formed with lead vocalist Bill Jefferson, the band came about from Bill’s interest in music and instrumentation growing up in Cornwall, before the band formed officially in South-London.
The indie-rock setlist included some unreleased tracks including set-opener ‘Jacky My Son’ and ‘Lucky.’ The band’s title name itself comes from the rural ancient stones in Cornwall meaning “holed stone” made up of 3 granite pillars. The setlist included EP track ‘Set In Stone,’ offering connotations to the band’s name, as well as great punchy drums. The 2nd last track ‘NW1’ stood out to me the most in this set, with fast-paced guitars and infectious upbeat energy.
Picture Parlour
Scouse four-piece Picture Parlour were up next on the roster at 7.15 pm. They played their biggest hits such as ‘Judgement Day’ and ‘Norwegian Wood’ as well as trying out some newer stuff for the Glasgow crowd. 2nd track on the set was ‘Who’s There To Love Without You?’ released recently in April 2025.
Originally formed in Manchester, the quartet is made up of Katherine Parlour on vocals and guitar, Ella Risi on guitar, Sian Lynch on bass and Michael Nash as drummer. The new four-piece had their first live performance in December 2022, and have since opened for The Last Dinner Party and Bruce Springsteen. If you’re based in Manchester, make sure to catch Picture Parlour alongside Hotwax playing at Gorilla this October.
Cliffords
Cliffords came out at 8.15pm with cracking energy and vocals from lead singer Iona Lynch. Based in Cork, the band made their way over to Glasgow joined by their Scottish families and friends. You could tell it was about to be a brilliant set from the first song.
Second track ‘Feels Like A Man’ featured haunting vocals and trumpet instrumentals. They also played unreleased track ‘My Favourite Monster’ from their upcoming EP ‘Salt Of The Lee’ set to be released on 30th May. Lyrics in this track pick apart the small pet peeves and irritations that can be felt, even toward those you care about. Lots of good instrumentals, with trumpet and keys highlighted the set. Cliffords are a highly-skilled band with their signature alt-rock sound making its mark all the way from Cork to Glasgow.
Yes And Maybe
The Scottish and French duo, Yes And Maybe, were the penultimate act on the Saturday night lineup. The venue got noticeably busier as these guys hit the stage at 9.15 pm, and put on a stunning set for the Glasgow attendees.
Their stage was marked with a large luminous ‘Y’ – their signature stage-up for their live performances. The indie setlist included ‘Babble On,’ a track about anxiety and overthinking. ‘Gut Feeling’ also featured the set – a catchy guitar-driven track with infectious vocals. The duo only have one track released to date, ‘God Isn’t Real’ released on 28th March. Although what the track title may suggest, this track is not in fact about religion. Instead, the lyrics suggest going against societal rules of the modern day, “I don’t want another rich man in command / We don’t need no heroes, we’re our own gods now.”
Bottle Rockets
Closing the night was local band Bottle Rockets, with a top-tier set well-worth the wait. There’s so much that can be said about this band, from winning the BBC Introducing Scottish Act of the Year in 2024, to playing a sold-out King Tut’s, a slot at Reading & Leeds, Belladrum Festival and Tenement Trail, this Glasgow alt-rock band are very worth keeping an eye out for in 2025.
The crowd was absolutely buzzing for these guys to hit the stage, opening with ‘Video Call’ their latest Spotify release. Several eager crowd members knew the words to this track, as well as their other popular singles ‘Community Service’ and ‘Backburn.’
The Glasgow band played a couple new demos, giving the crowd a taste of new stuff to come. Unreleased song ‘Home’ was a catchy alt-rock tune, with lyrics exploring the ups and downfalls with being away from home in Australia. Bottle Rockets also played their iconic cover of ‘I Love You’ by Irish rockers Fontaines D.C., the cover that won Bottle Rockets the BBC Introducing award in 2024.
Nearing the end of the set, Bottle Rockets played ‘Winter Baby’ – my personal favourite of their discography, which hit different experiencing live for the first time. If you are listening to Bottle Rockets for the first time, this is the track I would recommend starting off with.
The night closed with ‘Limerence,’ one of their most-streamed tracks on Spotify. The crowd was buzzing and jumping around, evidently not wanting the set to end. Overall, absolutely unreal headliners and one to keep a look out for new music hopefully soon to come.
You can listen to Video Call by Bottle Rockets here:
