ABC

ABC bring their new-pop craft to Glasgow on 11 August 2026 at Kelvingrove Bandstand. Formed in Sheffield in 1980 out of the electronic project Vice Versa, the group is led by Martin Fry, the constant voice at the centre of its changing line-ups. Early on, The Lexicon of Love, produced by Trevor Horn with arrangements by Anne Dudley, set a template of synth textures, orchestral touches and crisp pop writing. On stage, the band moves through the sharper guitars of Beauty Stab, the neon gloss of How to Be a… Zillionaire!, the sleek contours of Alphabet City, and the dance-pop and house currents that followed on Up and Abracadabra. The show pulls from later chapters too, including Skyscraping, Traffic and The Lexicon of Love II. The setlist connects the familiar — The Look of Love, Poison Arrow, When Smokey Sings — with deeper cuts, arranged for a live band and led by Fry’s distinctive baritone. Four decades of songs, performed with a clear sense of arrangement, rhythm and melody.