MOTH Club Must Be The Place...

Hold tight. Byrnes Night has returned!

Byrne’s Night is one of those ideas that sounds slightly unhinged until you’re actually in the room and then it makes perfect, beautiful sense. A bunch of musicians from across the local scene forming one-night-only supergroups to play David Byrne songs, on Burns Night? Sure. Obviously. Of course this works.

Now entering its fourth year, the night has continued to grow bigger and better. After being scooped up by festivals near and far, this year the show hit the road with shows in Glasgow and Manchester - but Friday night saw Byrne’s Night return to its spiritual home of MOTH Club ahead of their grand KOKO finale.

Spider Stacy from The Pogues and Gina Birch from The Raincoats stand alongside members of Dream Wife, Blood Wizard, Human Interest, Black Country, New Road and a seemingly never ending roll call of who’s who in the local scene. Part of the joy is seeing how wide and weird the musical universe in the room actually is. New talent share the stage with legends who’ve quietly shaped the scene for years. The result is a thing of beauty - a reminder that scenes stay alive because they make space for both the new and the enduring.

As each new guest vocalist takes over, there’s a passing of the torch moment into the next track. This isn’t a tribute night with reverence and rules. It’s playful, chaotic, affectionate. Songs get twisted, stretched, shouted, danced through. You clock how many different projects are represented onstage and then immediately stop caring because the energy is too infectious. Everyone’s clearly having a great time, and that includes the bands and crowd in equal measure. The advert for the night states the show “should be treated as a theatre show”, yet somehow it feels entirely immersive.

While we were a couple of nights early celebrating Burns night, the whole show continues to lean happily into the theme. Bagpipes cut through the room between sets, poetry is read aloud, and the night breathes in these little ceremonial pauses before launching straight back into the chaos. It’s charming, slightly surreal, and exactly the kind of left field detail that makes the evening feel thoughtfully stitched together rather than just stacked with bands.

There’s something genuinely heartening about seeing a local scene flex like this. No hierarchy, no ego, just people pooling talent for the sake of a good night and a lot of joy. Byrne’s Night feels like a reminder that music scenes survive on moments like this, the temporary, communal, slightly ridiculous, and completely unforgettable. Burns Night, Byrne’s songs, MOTH Club at full tilt. Honestly? Perfect.

While a lot has changed in the past year, unfortunately the ongoing threat of nearby building developments means that the future of MOTH Club remains at risk. Please help to protect this wonderful grassroots venue so we can share special moments like this for many years to come.

Please sign the petition to save MOTH Club here: https://www.change.org/p/moth-club-faces-second-building-planning-application