March 2025

John Carruthers

I started to take comedy seriously (if that isn’t an oxymoron) in 2013, shortly after my dad was diagnosed with cancer.  I had done bits and bobs before but had always found it quite stressful so didn’t really pursue it beyond a few open mics.  I was never very good at writing stuff that then sounded funny on stage and I was told that was a massive part of the journey.  So I gave it up as a bad joke.But the bug was always there; an itch that just wanted to be scratched, and when I found out about my dad, I decided to do a charity comedy night maybe to raise some money for cancer research.  It just made sense and I could use it as an excuse to blow the dust off some of the old jokes I had been terrible at writing.Then, I thought to myself, “why not host the night?”  It would mean (in my naïve opinion) that there would be less need to go with traditional jokes and I could riff off the audience – “where you from, mate?” etc?  Sounds like the easiest thing in the world, doesn’t it? There’s a lot more to being a host / MC / whatever you want to call it… and if I ever work it out I’ll let you know what it is. But I decided that was the way to do it.  Get some comedians who were willing to give up their time in a good cause and try and raise a wee bit of money for charity…now all I needed was a venue.  So I went looking… and I found myself at a pub I used to drink in all the time with my dad – the Iron Horse.  They had a basement and a function room upstairs.  And I had an association with my dad.  This was the perfect solution.  So I contacted them and told them my idea and they told me to come in.I was introduced to Jennifer, who took me downstairs and told me she didn’t think the room was a good space for comedy.  But I loved it and it made me think it was something I could maybe do more frequently than a one off.  When I told her this, she told me she had just assumed that I wanted to make it a semi regular night anyway.  It was fate.  We were gonna go for it.She continued to tell me that she didn’t think it was a good room for comedy – there was a big pillar in the middle of the room, which meant part of what we would consider “The stage” would be obscured for the audience.  It didn’t worry me – I was pretty sure that we could be busy but not busy enough for that to be an issue.  If this was a movie then, of course, I would be wrong and we ended up having to knock people back at the door.  Alas, that was not the case.  But we did have a consistent and steady audience for the 7 years I ran the gig and there are many tales I could tell you (and hopefully will, if I am allowed to pen another article).  Suffice to say it was and still is, one of my favourite venues to have played in and has a place in my heart.  As I am writing this I am looking at a wee piece of art that was hanging on the wall in the bar and was given to me when the place shut down.The Iron Horse Bar is never far away from my mind and always in my heart!

Perthshire based Bruce Fummey is a headline Scottish act and sell out festival performer. His shows have been several times nominated for best show at the Edinburgh Fringe Scottish Comedy Awards and the Australian Fringeworld Awards. He was named Scottish Comedian of the Year 2014. He also has a successful Youtube channel, Scotland History Tours which has over 239k followers! 

Comedy Corner

1.     Who are you and why are you funny?

My name is Bruce Fummey. I’m a Scottish Ghanaian from Perth who has been a physics teacher, a trainer, a financial adviser, a stand-up comic, tour guide and YouTuber. Given the number of jobs I’ve failed at life’s amazingly good.  Why am I funny? Depending on whether you ask my daughter, my son, or my wife it’s because I’m not, I see the unusual in everyday situations or I take my clothes off. I hope I got those in the right order.

    2. Who or what makes you laugh the most?

I don’t know what it is, but I can say where it is. It’s invariably with my family chatting about life, reminiscing or something like that. Somebody tells a story and we all start riffing on the story, exaggerating what happened and what might have been. I’ve never really thought about this before, and I can’t think what the subject would be, but I know those are the times when I’m most uncontrollably lost in group hilarity.

    3. How do you prep for a big show or gig?

I’m pretty disorganised, so probably don’t prepare enough, or properly. If I get to the right venue with the music I need and knowing what I’m supposed to be doing that’s quite an achievement. I’ve arrived at places on the wrong night, at the wrong venue, thinking it was the wrong show and without a pair of shoes in my time. I just spend a lot of time worrying and a little time going over my script if I have one.

   4.  What is your unfulfilled ambition?

I’ve done way more in life than I ever expected, or am entitled to expect. I’m from Perth, and I’m answering these questions sitting in a hotel room in Brisbane whilst touring my new show Scotland Made the World. I’ve done the show in two Perths so far, and I will perform the show back home in Perth, and hopefully in two, maybe even three, Perths in Canada after that. There are 17 Perths in the world and I kind of like the idea that I might perform in all 17 before I pop off. That would be cool.

    5.  From the random generated images below, what image are you most drawn to and why?

It’s got to be the history book. My thing is that I do shows that explain Scottish history through the medium of ‘nob’ jokes, so there’s really no other one that it could be.

by Yvonne Hughes   

Stand up Journeys:  Paul McDougall 

After years of talking about comedy and the dreams of performing stand up comedy I found myself at the 2011 Edinburgh fringe Festival as a punter. I took along two of my mates to a show where we had to sit through one of the strangest hours of stand up comedy I've ever witnessed. To make things worse I was at the end of a row next to a wall so there was no escape, this became a comedy hostage situation. Near the end of this hour which felt like a week I turned and whispered to my mate "No more excuses mate, I am doing this next year, I'm applying to do a gig" and just like that I finally decided to pursue something that I had always wanted to do whilst trying not to think about the dreaded fear of rejection. At this point it's worth noting that I didn't know any comedians personally, no MC's etc and I had no idea where to start. My experience in comedy had swung between live stadium gigs, a gargantuan DVD collection, going to the Stand Comedy Club and attending the Fringe as a spectator.

Everything I had watched or experienced was planting seeds and I was learning without any direction or anyone to help point me in the right direction. I googled 'Free Fringe' and before I knew it I was emailing Peter Buckley Hill or 'PBH' for short. This was before I knew who Peter was or his stature and he kindly pointed me in the direction of a chap called Danny who was putting together a show called 'Fresh faces' at the Fringe in 2012. There was a few emails exchanged and before I knew it my fate was sealed and I had got myself a slot at 'Fresh Faces' on 12th August 2012. I was given a 5 minute slot at the show at the Southsider and even though I had a few months to prepare I was absolutely bricking it.

Now it was time to put pen to paper and get the material down. But... would they like me? would I be funny? would I remember my lines? the stress had begun but there was no going back. I still didn't know any comics and wasn't sure of anywhere to go and practice any material at. The only place was at home to a crowd of no one.

At work my colleagues would just tell me 'you're shit' or 'don't give up the day job' which was as helpful as you can imagine. I guess the 'tough love' approach also gave me motivation which I wouldn't give them the pleasure of knowing.

When you first start out in the world of comedy are a given 5 minutes stage time it's only then you realise how long those 300 seconds truly are. I sat and reminisced and wrote and wrote and wrote... The day was drawing closer and I had written a lot more than I had intended to. I wasn't sure if this was a good or a bad thing so I chopped and changed, practiced and practiced until the morning of the gig. I woke up at 5am sweating as I had multiple nightmares that night ranging from turning up onstage and not being able to speak to the absurd realising I was naked onstage.

It was time to go hard or go home though admittedly I was home when I thought of this cliche. I got up and practiced, practiced, practiced until it was time to go. Rather than get a lift or the bus I decided to walk there and enjoy that one day of summer while running over the set in my head. Those 3 miles surprisingly flew in and I arrived at the Southsider and found out why comics don't wear light coloured t-shirts as I had sweated more than I ever had before. A mistake I'd never make again.

I arrived to a fairly packed room at the back of the Southsider to a room that didn't have a door but a curtain that looked like it had been there for quite some time. There was around 30-40 punters sat waiting on the show beginning and the room itself felt a bit like a church as the room was filled with rows of pews, however it also felt a bit like an execution having to take that long walk up to the 'stage' while everyone stares at you. I met with the compere who was lovely yet her name escapes me all these years later. She confirmed where I would be on the bill "oh here you are Paul, you're on 4th. That should give you time to get prepared". I breathed a huge sigh of relief and was thankful for the extra time to prepare.

I looked out to the crowd and could see my mate Andy and some colleagues who I assumed had come along to watch me die onstage.

The show began and the compere took to the stage and did some crowd work before introducing the first act. She grabbed the microphone and said "Please welcome your first act of the afternoon...Mr...Paul...Mc..."I froze and the colour immediately drained from my face, this moment seemed to last an eternity while I thought to myself "I'm supposed to be on 4th". The people who had come to see me all turned round and their eyes lit up while my stomach was doing cartwheels and I wanted to run away. Then the compere finished her introduction "Mc...Daniel" I exhaled like a smoker at a bus stop when the bus turns up. I was on 4th thankfully, the colour returned to my face while I relaxed and watched the acts. I watched Paul McDaniel and he blew me away much like he did many times over the years. I can't remember the next couple of acts because I had retreated into my own world and before I knew it, it was my turn.

Before I knew it I was marching down the aisle to a very happy looking compere and there I was stood in front of 40 people comprising of friends, colleagues, punters and comics. This was MY moment, this was it. A microphone, myself and 300 seconds to be funny. I looked at the crowd which seemed like it lasted forever before letting out with "come on it's my first gig everyone" the crowd cheered while I could see the compere looking worried as it dawns on her that this is my first EVER gig and I wasn't just a newbie on the scene. The next 5 minutes or 300 seconds flew past in a haze of stories about signs, weird potential flatmates, Goodnight Sweetheart (the TV show) and a bobble being decapitated on a train in Glasgow.

I came off stage and the compere gave me a huge hug which I assumed was more out of relief I didn't die onstage on my first attempt. Overall, I was happy with how it went and as much as I tried to look calm on the outside, I was delirious on the inside. I had read stories of comics dying excruciating deaths onstage at their first attempt. It wasn't amazing but it didn't die and it gave me the buzz to keep going and see where this crazy adventure would go and where it would take me.

It was my first ever gig and to be honest it was a much bigger achievement than I realised at the time because it was something I had always wanted to do and it is something I had followed through on. I still had no contacts and didn't know any other comedians, so how was I going to get more stage time?

It was time to put the work in and see what would happen next...

12th August 2012 - The Southsider, PBH Free Fringe Festival.

The Man-o-Pause Diaries

Stephen Hughes March 2025

Manscaping

As a gay man hurtling towards fifty quicker than a menopausal woman's short temper, I find myself getting more and more annoyed at the little things in life. Let’s talk about hair.  The hair on my head has long since departed and is living its best life on the head of some chiseled twunk in Benidorm (I’m pretty sure it is).

However the hair from my ears and nostrils is currently growing faster than Japanese Knotweed planted next to a river.  As a young man your manscaping routine consists of a quick trim with your mum's nail scissors and possibly a little pluck here and there with her tweezers.  Always make sure to put them back where you found them so she doesn’t realise. The thought of “getting lucky” meant this was a ritual consistently followed.  Aging makes the task slightly more complicated.  In your late twenties, early thirties is around the time you invest in some hair trimmers or clippers.  These gadgets make the task simpler and the sensation isn’t unwelcome either.  A quick run round, guard on… Always ensure the guard is on or your bits could end up looking like an extra from Chainsaw Massacre - not that I’m talking from experience.

Realising your forties and heading to fifty there is definitely some hormonal wizardry that happens not only greying your hair but making it grow like wire wool from every available orifice.  I used to be quite meticulous with my manscaping routine, blame it on kids, blame it on age but it is definitely one of the first self care things to be neglected.  The other morning as I sat on the toilet for my morning ablutions, I happened to glance down and realised I had Leo Sayers staring back up at me - younger readers google Leo Sayer circa 1970 hair for a rough idea.

Ignoring it and neglecting the manscaping for another few weeks, I decided to bite the bullet and deal with the publc afro currently making a bid for freedom from my pants.  On removing said pants I came to the realisation that this was no longer manscaping, it was industrial landscaping worthy of Charlie Dimmock and Alan Titchmarsh on a Groundforce special episode.  It was clear the hair trimmers were no match for this job.  Unleashing the big clippers I realised I have no guards as the three hairs left on my head generally get shaved to the wood.  Pausing for a minute I thought - what can possibly go wrong, shave carefully, take your time.

The job in hand seemed to be going well, no unforeseen accidents.  Gentle strokes over the bush, trimming slowly and in a controlled fashion.  As I reached the root of the penile area, I stopped to catch my breath and have a cup of tea just like Charlie Dimmock would have.  Back to work, in my head thinking I would remain calm and controlled, I seemed to just think go for it - where’s the harm?  I did complete the manscaping, but I have a question for you…

Do you call it a dick tache, a willy fringe or a boaby barnet?

A Day in the Life 

By Ying lei lee​

I live in Dennistoun area, in a small tightknit area called Wellpark, for over twenty eight  years.

I am a young looking forty seven year old and my birthday is March the 11th, whereas I will be forty eight years old!

Each day my sleeping pattern regulates due to being on medication and can wake up between seven am to eleven am.

I have breakfast like a cereal, or eggs in a roll, toast or later lunch is light like soup and bread, whilst dinner is either something homemade Chinese or something with carbohydrates.

The start of my day I either go out for a walk, or do housework, or if there’s a living rent union campaign, protest or something that involves living rent tenants and community union I usually do that.

Or even meet a random friend for a cuppa, before I used to go out, and do my spoken word open mics.

 On a Wednesday and Thursday I go to language meet ups and improve on my Cantonese parents language or try mandarin which I am learning. I have made a lot of friends there and date a guy before.

Tuesday, I’m considering keeping fit at a recovery boxing/ gym workout at bluevale community club and used to go before when Adele ran the classes.

Right now in my spare time I go to a book club called Glasgow go red and also I’m on the process of doing art work for my forthcoming art exhibition at deep end.

I also write comedy prose or rehearse my comedy too as I have a date to do a comedy stand up at the panopticon.

At night I unwind and watch Amazon or Netflix, or listen to a podcast, read a book, or music and then my sleeping is all over the place, can be at the latest two am to earlier eleven pm.

Usually I sign up to Eventbrite events as most are free and I have to watch my limited income, as right now can’t work due to health reasons.

I hope to return to university later during the year or beginning of next year, community based education, or psychology, art therapy course even, and unfortunately due to travel I couldn’t do my criminal psychology course at university earlier of the year.

I spend time with family, my eldest brother family when I have time and on Tuesday evening I’m going to be celebrating my nieces eighth birthday at di maggios in the evening!

I have my birthday celebration earlier on Saturday where I hang out with mates at a marble buffet then catch up with others at revolution or belinsky.

I have past time hobbies like art, creative writing, music, gigging, theatre, films of all kinds, and walking in my spare time,  this is my colourful bursts of energy that is in my outgoing personality and creativity.

On The Road with Kurt Sterling 

Australia Comedy Scene

As an Australian comic who has spent most of my career performing in cities around Australia, I’m excited to return to Scotland in April to perform for the second time, after debuting at Edinburgh Fringe in 2024.

Australia and Scotland share some cultural heritage and there are many similarities to Australian and Scottish audiences and how people like to consume comedy and laugh.

We share an irreverent sense of humor and a culture of making fun of anyone who dares to take themselves too seriously. When I first came to Edinburgh last year, I was worried about how much of my material would translate to a Scottish audience and whether some jokes would get lost in translation. However I was pleasantly surprised to find that about 95% of my material still works, and the other 5% audiences here were willing to go with me and learn about something new.

There are some differences however – audiences in Scotland are significantly more ‘comedy literate’, which means they are much more willing to take a chance and go and see a show, but they also have higher expectations and are better informed about the technical science of joke writing. A lazy half-formed punchline or premise might fly in Australia, but it definitely won’t here. It’s a great challenge as a comic and I feel my comedy improved a lot because of that higher standard the first time I was here.

The other main difference is the type of venues! The physical space itself. In Australia many gigs end up being in country pubs or bowling clubs, big open spaces (often with too much space to make good comedy). My experience at Edinburgh Fringe at least was a lot more intimate venues, often underground with a unique charm and feel.

I’m excited to be back in town and will be this time doings gigs around the country so am excited to see the scene outside Fringe time and how it varies across cities. Regardless, with Scottish audiences I know I’m in for a great time and that I will finish the trip a better comedian than when I started.

Kurt Sterling 

GAMING

BY Euan Scarlett

Welcome back to a second month of nonsense about videogames. It’s been a quiet month for me on the gaming front, having started a new job which has really been eating into my leisure time, and I’ve really only had a chance to play the new entry in World War 2 set Nazi baw shooting simulation series Sniper Elite, Sniper Elite Resistance, which was released in January and was added to Game Pass on Xbox and PC as well as releasing on Playstation. Nazis are easily the best type of enemies for a game to have as clearly no one is going to defend Nazis unless they were only mistakenly making a Roman salute, and so this month let’s have a look at some of the best Nazisploitation games in honour of the US president and his billionaire South African friend.

​Sniper Elite

Sniper Elite casts the player as an Allied sniper special agent behind enemy lines during WWII, who is tasked with eliminating Key figures in the Nazi war machine to further the Allies ultimate victory. Inevitably over the course of a few levels you uncover a secret Nazi superweapon which must be destroyed and all the Nazis involved in any way with the design and implementation must be killed, or Hitler will win the war. This is the Inglorious Basterds type of WWII rather than Saving Private Ryan or even the Jude Law-starring Stalingrad sniper movie Enemy at the Gates, and the main hook is that after the player makes a successful sniper shot, the camera switches to slow-motion bullet time and follows the bullet to its target before switching to extremely detailed slow motion X-ray footage showing exactly what happened to this unfortunate fascist, his bones and various organs when your bullet hit them, in all its gore porn glory, making this series the best and most satisfying of all Nazi killing games.

​Whilst early entries reduce the Nazis to little more than caricatures spouting popular Nazi catchphrases from 1970s British war comics Warlord or Victor, like ‘Achtung’; ‘Mach Schnell’; ‘Schweinhund’ and of course ‘Donner und Blitzen’, the more recent entries provide a little potted history of the Nazi so you can make moral choices and decide if they are a good Nazi, and should be pacified with one of the non-lethal options, or a bad Nazi who should have his baws shot. This is Fritz, he misses his family back home and has been feeding local stray dogs from his rations – good Nazi, knock him out and hide him in a bush; this is Ernst, he got a local girl pregnant and denies it’s his – baws shot with high explosive rounds.

As far as Nazi shooting games go, the Sniper Elite series should tick all the boxes for most players. Sniping can be adjusted from almost an automatic point and shoot hit to being extremely complex and involving the player calculation of distance drop, wind and other factors, and Nazi intelligence can be adjusted from Allo’ Allo’ levels of ineptitude to elite Waffen SS who will triangulate and hunt the player down, making this a supremely accommodating game series for players of all ability. Whilst I can recommend the entire series apart from the first entry which is now extremely dated, my particular favourites have been Sniper Elite 4 which is set in Italy and allows you to shoot a different flavour of fascist, and Sniper Elite 5 which has some of the best level design in the series and is the first to really require the player to indulge in guerrilla tactics, trap setting and decoy activities at the higher difficulties. There is also a co-operative spin-off series ‘Nazi Zombie Army’ where Hitler has implemented his occult based ‘Plan Z’ towards the end of the war and the players take on hordes of Nazi zombies who thankfully also still have undead baws to be shot, and all entries after the first also have a special downloadable level where the target is Hitler himself, and which allows you to shoot der Fuhrer through his single ball, since as we are all aware, the other is in the Albert Hall.

Wolfenstein

Nazis and the occult brings us to the next series in this short history of the essential Nazi shooting games, and the longest running, Wolfenstein, which originally began in 1981. It was 1992’s third entry Wolfenstein 3D which was really groundbreaking, being one of the earliest ever games in the most popular gaming genre - first-person shooters, one that includes current gaming behemoths Call of Duty and the Battlefield series, and in fact, creators iD software were to consolidate their place in gaming history by creating one of the greatest shooters of all time with their next game, Doom, but the template for almost all modern shoot-guys-in-the-face games was pretty much created here.

The Wolfenstein series casts the player as Jewish American super-soldier B.J. Blazkowicz as he single-handedly takes on the Nazis with a wide selection of guns, usually uncovering nefarious experiments involving the occult and supernatural or advanced sci-fi Nazi weaponry. Again subscribing to the Commando comic level of war depiction rather than All Quiet on the Western Front, up until 2014’s ‘Wolfenstein: The New Order’ this was a largely entertaining shooting series without much substance to support the slaughter of Nazis other than ‘Nazis are bad’, imagine a MECHAHITLER! but the 2014 entry, the plot of which begins with hero Blascowicz recovering from a head injury in an asylum, only to realise it is now the 1960s and the Nazis have won the war, has a genuinely well-written and acted story to accompany the superlative shooting action, which had me surprisingly invested and caring about the fate of the characters. The quality of the storytelling for the most part is carried over to 2015 prequel Wolfenstein: The Old Blood and the direct sequel Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, which takes place in a Nazi-conquered USA and has the player join a resistance largely made up of black, jewish and latinX men and women, members of the LGBTQ+ community and other minorities who have been declared enemies of the Nazi state. Unfortunately the last entry, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, which introduces Blazkowicz’ twin daughters Jesse and Zofia as the protagonists, was not the greatest of games, but being set in a Nazi-occupied 1980s France meant the soundtrack’s imagining of contemporary music of the time provided us with some absolutely stellar pro-Nazi synthpop bangers, which you can listen to on Spotify. We haven’t had pro-Nazi dance music this good since Ace of Base

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Machine Games, the studio responsible for the 2014 Wolfenstein and it’s follow-ups are clearly good at making games where you get to kill Nazis, and so they got to make last year’s  acclaimed ‘Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’ which features lots of Nazis, some Italian Fascists and plenty of fisticuffs and puzzles. Admittedly I haven’t got past the Vatican section yet so have yet to encounter much other than nuns and priests but I did get to whack an Italian fascist in the plums with a spade so that was good. Looking forward to meeting Nazis later in the game and then hitting them as well. Voice and motion capture actor Troy Baker’s performance as Harrison Ford playing Indiana Jones is so uncannily spot on that it’s difficult to remember sometimes that it isn’t actually Harrison Ford, who was too busy climbing mountains in Scotland to sell whisky at the time, shortly after tanning up Bothwell Street in Glasgow on a horse.

The Saboteur

This open-world adventure takes place in occupied Paris during WWII, the player is an Irish (the top o’ the morning, ach I seen a leprechaun American movie type of Irishman) mechanic turned race car driver turned member of the French Resistance who happens for some reason to be really really good at bombing things. Apart from the insane choice of player character, apparently based on an actual real guy called William Grover-Williams who was all of those things except Irish, the most striking thing about the game is the choice of art style which has Nazi occupied territories rendered in black and white with the only colour being the bold red of Nazi flags and banners contrasted with the territories the player has inspired to fight back being in full colour. Game plays like a Nazi themed GTA, and is a great deal of fun. My favourite bit is when you get killed and everything kind of goes into slow motion and the player character goes ‘Shoite’ but at the same slow motion speed Shooooooiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttttteeeeeee!!!!!!

Iron Sky: Invasion

Based on the batshit 2012 Finnish sci-fi movie Iron Sky, in which Earth is attacked in 2018 by a fleet of Nazi spaceships from their secret base on the moon where they fled to in 1945. The player flies a spaceship as part of the Earth defence fleet and takes part in various missions to help stop the invasion of the Moon Nazis. Not the best or worst space shooting game ever but does have Nazis, movie was stupid and more entertaining than it should have been as well and spawned a crowd-funded sequel which I haven’t seen.

Call of Duty, Battlefield, Medal of Honor

All 3 of these long running military first-person shooter series have had entries set during WWII, which obviously involve shooting Nazis, however if you’ve ever harboured secret desires of invading Poland, committing genocide or are just really into those fabulous Hugo Boss designed uniforms, you can also play as the Nazis in multiplayer modes.

That’s probably enough games about Nazis, I’m likely on a list now because of my search history. Next month – more nonsense.

PANTERA Ignite Glasgow With ‘A New Level’ of Power and Passion

Venue: OVO Hydro, Glasgow – Tuesday 18th February 2025

Legendary groove-metal titans Pantera made a triumphant return to Glasgow after two decades and dominated the OVO Hydro for a night of relentless, groove-laden brutality. This recent incarnation of Pantera – a supergroup featuring original members Phil Anselmo on vocals and Rex Brown on bass leading the charge, alongside guitarist Zakk Wylde of Ozzy Osbourne & Black Label Society fame and Anthrax’s Charlie Benante honoured the legacy of Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul, this was more than just a gig – it was a celebration and a tribute to one of the most iconic and influential bands in metal.

Pantera stormed on and ripped into A New Level – the energy inside the Hydro was electric. Wylde’s powerful riffage and Benante’s thrashing drums proved that this incarnation of Pantera was the bollocks. Mouth for War followed, igniting the first of many circle pits. The crowd was so packed that only ‘mini’ pits could occur but this did nothing to discourage the enthusiastic crowd who flung themselves into crowd surfs continuously throughout the set – there was a flying shoe at some point which just served to reinforce the highly charged atmosphere of the night.

Strength Beyond Strength and Becoming kept the momentum at full throttle, followed by I’m Broken with Anselmo in command as he prowled the stage, delivering his vocals with trademark ferocity. Suicide Note Pt. II and 5 Minutes Alone were executed with crushing intensity, as Wylde’s shredding skills brought new life to Dimebag’s iconic solos.

A brief moment of respite came with This Love, its evocative melodies and explosive choruses striking a perfect balance between grace and aggression. However, the most emotional moment of the night arrived during Floods, the song’s mournful outro combined with the video footage honouring Dimebag and Vinnie was a poignant tribute to the fallen legends.

Boom! One of the most recognisable riffs in metal sends the Hydro into absolute chaos – Walk – its iconic groove shook the venue to its core. The Domination / Hollow medley showcased both the band’s crushing heaviness and melodic depth, before Cowboys From Hell causes hysteria —this was Pantera at their most anthemic.

Of course, there was more carnage to come. The first encore brought Fucking Hostile, an all-out thrash assault that whipped the crowd into a frenzy. Then, for the final blow, Yesterday Don’t Mean Shit closed the night in defiant style.

This wasn’t just a nostalgia trip—it was proof that Pantera’s music is timeless. Wylde and Benante delivered a fitting tribute while still putting their own stamp on the performance, Anselmo and Brown proved that their fire still burns as fiercely as ever.

Pantera came to Glasgow and conquered. The music, the energy, and the legacy remain stronger than ever.

By Smeggy McSmeggerson

INSPIRATIONS AND INFLUENCERS (True Influencers, not the social media talentless attention seekers)

My influencer of the month this month is Ray Bradbury, an author of science fiction.  Ray is famous for a vast range of stories most famous being the dystopian novel  ‘Fahrenheit 451’ written in 1953 which stands alongside Huxley's 'Brave New World' and Orwell's '1984' in anticipating the modern world that we see becoming a reality day by day.  He is a master storyteller, and his tales range from the wonder of existence to space travel. 

Ray Bradbury was born in 1920, Waukegan, Illinois and started writing at the age 12 and would spend all day in libraries writing.  Years later he raised money for public libraries to prevent their closure.   Ray Bradbury has inspired a number of famous authors including Stephen King, who in his own words said…” without Ray Bradbury there is no Stephen King”.  He also inspired J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter series and Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park. 

For me personally it’s his fantastic but relatable storytelling and a favourite that stands is a tale from ‘The Martian Chronicles’ ‘Mars is Heaven’.

(spoiler alerts).  This story has stuck with me since I read it as a teenager in the 1990's.   The story is about a spaceship from Earth that lands on the planet Mars.  The crew are surprised to discover a town very similar to their own town on Earth that they remembered from their early years when growing up!  They are ordered by their commander not to leave the spaceship under any circumstances, but when they spot relatives that had died on Earth, they are unable to resist leaving their spaceship to join their deceased loved ones. 

The crew are eventually all split up from each other to go to their own families. 

One of the crew members starts thinking, what if…. what if these are not our family members  but aliens who are telepathically reading the minds of the astronauts to split them us up as part of a divide and conquer strategy?

He is correct but it’s too late.  The Martians take on the faces of their relatives to lull them into a false sense of security and then kill them one by one.  I think this is a fantastic way for the Martians to invade our planet.

For me, this is a 100% pure horror story. Imagine meeting loved ones who you thought were long gone, reuniting with them and having food and drink with them but it’s all a lie, and a lie that is stripped away from you before you’re killed.   We ask ourselves as we’re reading who we’d like to meet again, if such things were possible. And that’s what makes this story so effective. We all lose people throughout our lives and therefore we can relate to the feelings of the characters in the story who have the opportunity for this impossible reunion and ask ourselves what we would do in their place? 

A copy of The Martian Chronicles has been placed on the Red Planet in 2008 by NASA and to finish here is a quote by Ray Bradbury:

“The thing that makes me happy is that I know that on Mars, two hundred years from now, my books are going to be read. They’ll be up on dead Mars with no atmosphere. And late at night, with a flashlight, some little boy is going to peek under the covers and read The Martian Chronicles on Mars.”

Pet of the month! 

Kasey's dog Freddy

Freddy has been the Sausage catching champion with the Basset Hound Society of Scotland 2 years in a row as he loves to catch. He can jump and doesn’t get called a long eared counter surfer for nothing. He can’t stretch and reach most things, so all food must be kept well back or he will find a way, risking everything to get to it. He follows his nose!

His other hobbies are singing. If you sing something he likes, he copies you. He loves to sniff and can sniff for ages in the one spot.

People think bassets can’t move fast, but if he wants something, he turns into a greyhound on a race track.

He loves cuddles and always wants up on your knee to sit for a cuddle but forgets what size he is.

He’s very stubborn and doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to do.

When you own a basset you have to realise you never own one. They own you. His parents were Crufts qualifiers but Freddy is just our pet.