Del Amitri to stage free Glasgow Barrowland gig for Scottish NHS workers

Scottish pop and rock favourites Del Amitri have revealed they are to stage a huge free concert for NHS workers at the end of the year in recognition of their efforts handling the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic .
Justin Currie and Iain Harvie of Del Amitri, who have announced a free gig for Scottish NHS workers. Picture: Andrew OgilvyJustin Currie and Iain Harvie of Del Amitri, who have announced a free gig for Scottish NHS workers. Picture: Andrew Ogilvy
Justin Currie and Iain Harvie of Del Amitri, who have announced a free gig for Scottish NHS workers. Picture: Andrew Ogilvy

The Glasgow outfit will be playing their first gig for more than two years when they take to the stage of the city's iconic Barrowland Ballroom in December.

The band, who enjoyed huge success in the 1980s and 1990s with five UK top 10 albums, say the show will be "a small way of saying thank you to the people who are making huge sacrifices during this crisis."

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Promoters say the tickets for the 1900-capacity show, which will be available from Ticketmaster's website from 10am on Friday, are only intended for "frontline NHS staff", who will be allowed to bring one guest along.

The NHS workers will be asked to bring their staff ID cards along on the night for checks at the door.

Singer Justin Currie said: “We thought about doing a gig last week. When someone suggested doing a free gig for NHS workers it just seemed like a really decent idea and the most obvious thing to do for the people are who are risking their lives at the moment.

“Like everybody, I‘ve got a lot of mates who work in the health service. They’ve gone above and beyond over the last few weeks and possibly have a harder few weeks ahead.

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“I was a bit worried about doing anything in this environment when people are dying but hopefully it will be a special night in December.

“We were already planning to go on tour in January, but we always used to play at Barrowland around about Christmas and we’re always getting nagged to play there at that time of year, but we’ve not done one for years.

“It’s like home to us, we’ve played there an unbelievable amount of times. The last time I just hung around in the dressing room all day.”

Currie said he and his bandmates were “incredibly lucky” to have finished recorded a new album in a residential studio in Worcestershire the night before the UK-wide lockdown.

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He added: “We were actually isolated from everyone else, but everytime we went to the supermarket every four or five days you could see things had changed. It was very odd.

“It’s so hard to get your head around the current situation and you don’t know where it is going next. I’m very confused at the moment. I’m trying to think everything through and do the right thing at the right time. Half the time I’m just frozen in panic like everybody else.

Musicians who live hand to mouth just doing gigs are just completely screwed at the moment. They’re no different from anyone else. A lot of industry people had all their work cancelled in one day.”

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