King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, also known as King Tut's, is a live music venue and bar on St. Vincent Street,

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland. It is owned and managed by Glasgow-based gig promoters DF Concerts. The Glasgow live music venue takes its name from a club in New York that hosted music, comedy and performing arts events in the 1980s.

History

King Tut's was founded, in the former Saints and Sinners pub in St Vincent Street in the centre of Glasgow, by the DF Concerts boss Stuart Clumpas, who wanted to create a platform for promoting bands at club level, showcasing them with gigs seven days a week at a reasonable hour, after being unable to find such an establishment in the city centre's nightlife. The venue first opened its doors in February 1990, and has established a reputation for showcasing new talent and hosting many well-known bands' first Scottish appearances. This reputation was acquired early on in 1993 when

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and

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentCreation. According to the venue's manager, Dave McGeachan, the band "bullied their way on stage" after discovering that they would not be allowed to play despite travelling the long distance from

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. Others who have played gigs at King Tut's early in their careers include

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, Blur,

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, White Stripes,

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, Franz Ferdinand,

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and Travis, who played the live music venue regularly under their original name of Glass Onion. Colin MacIntyre, the singer-songwriter from the Scottish indie band Mull Historical Society was reported as saying "you haven't made it unless you've played Tut's". The appeal and popularity of King Tut's has been credited to "its consistency and dedication to bringing a cross-section of different styles to Glasgow's doorstep" In 1999 King Tut's decided to branch out with the launch of a monthly comedy night where comedians, including Phil Kay, Lynn Ferguson and Fred MacAulay, have taken to the stage, alongside some of Scotland's rising young comics. In February 2000, the ten-year anniversary of the Glasgow live music venue was celebrated with a series of one-off concerts, parties and surprise guests running over ten days. Due to the success of the event, a £25,000 refurbishment of the upstairs bar was completed. In November 2001, King Tut's was named Licensed Music Pub of the Year by the ''Scottish Licensed Trade News''. It successfully applied for a 1am licence, which gave more time for performances. In 2005, King Tut's held "The Best Scottish Bands of All Time" night, which featured acts such as

Snow Patrol Snow Patrol are a Northern Irish–Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in 1994 in Dundee, Scotland, consisting of Gary Lightbody (vocals, guitar), Nathan Connolly (guitar, backing vocals), and Johnny McDaid (piano, guitar, keyboards, backi ...

, Idlewild, Eugene Kelly and Colin MacIntyre. From 17 to 21 December 2008, Idlewild performed a series of live shows at the venue, playing each of their albums on consecutive nights. King Tut's Wah Wah Hut played host to the Homecoming Scotland 2009 Finale Celebrations in conjunction with the

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. In November 2017, the venue served as the location of the music video to former Oasis frontman

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's single "Come Back To Me".

T in the Park

King Tut's also ran King Tut's Wah Wah Tent at what was Scotland's biggest annual music festival, T in the Park, hosting many big acts. Their founder, Stuart Clumpas, now runs the festival. Over the years, acts such as the

Manic Street Preachers Manic Street Preachers, also known simply as the Manics, are a Wales, Welsh Rock music, rock band formed in Blackwood, Caerphilly, in 1986. The band consists of Nicky Wire (bass guitar, lyrics) and cousins James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, le ...

Teenage Fanclub Teenage Fanclub are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in Glasgow in 1989. The group were founded by Norman Blake (Scottish musician), Norman Blake (vocals, guitar), Raymond McGinley (vocals, lead guitar) and Gerard Love (vocals, bass), al ...

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, the View, Jamie T, Dum Dums,

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, Goldfinger, Twin Atlantic and the

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have all performed on the stage. Manic Street Preachers dedicated a song on stage to King Tut's after lead guitarist and vocalist

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stated that "King Tut's was the first venue to treat us properly and give us hot food on tour".

Notable acts

Many famous acts have performed at King Tut's, including

Amy Macdonald Amy Elizabeth Macdonald (born 25 August 1987) is a Scottish singer-songwriter. In 2007, she released her debut studio album, ''This Is the Life (Amy Macdonald album), This Is the Life'', which produced the singles "Mr. Rock & Roll" and "This ...

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to Rage) was an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1991. It consisted of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim ...

, Blur,

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, Travis, Pulp,

, Average White Band, Goldfinger, Chuck Prophet and

Paolo Nutini Paolo Giovanni Nutini (born 9 January 1987) is a Scottish singer-songwriter from Paisley, Renfrewshire, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. Nutini's debut album, ''These Streets'' (2006), peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart. Its follow-u ...

praised King Tut's variety: "I've never actually seen a big band at King Tut's, you know that? But it's the kind of place you can see anything. One night they'll have a really great band playing their ass off and the next there'll be a nice acoustic thing on. One gig I remember seeing there is

Matt Berry Matthew Charles Berry (born 2 May 1974) is an English actor, comedian, musician, and writer. Noted for his distinctive voice, he is best known for his television roles in comedy series such as ''The IT Crowd'', ''Garth Marenghi's Darkplace'', ' ...

, from ''

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'' and '' Garth Marenghi''. That just shows what a range of stuff you can find in Tut's."Pollock, David (10 September 2009) In 2017 The View played a record run of six sold-out shows at the venue.

Album

In 2011, singer-songwriter Tom McRae released an extended live album entitled '' Tom at Tut's'' featuring songs and banter from his gigs on two consecutive nights in November 2004.

References

External links

{{Commons category, King Tut's Wah Wah Hut
Official website

Profile page of the venue at The List
Culture in Glasgow Music venues in Glasgow