JJ Grey and Mofro at St Luke’s

St Luke’s, Glasgow, Scotland. Sunday 10-August-2025.

We were introduced to JJ Grey & Mofro by fellow blogger, Rosemary Ivey, in 2011 when they were coming to London. This is the first time we have been able to catch them since. Tickets booked in September ’24 and nearby accommodation reserved. 

The original date was back in March at Òran Mór but was postponed to now. Only belatedly did Mary spot that the venue had also changed. Fortunately our hotel booking was cancellable and a more convenient location booked. As often we decided to make a weekend of it with parkrun, meeting up with friends and visiting the Scottish nephews.

As you might guess from the venue name, it is a deconsecrated church hence the stained glass windows.

Tall Pines were a duo which I enjoyed, not quite to Mary’s taste but I liked their brand of swamp rock.

We have five of JJ Grey & Mofro’s studio albums so know their music well.  

Live it’s a different vibe. Their sound is much joyful, energetic and upbeat. JJ chatted a bit between songs giving some background to the songs and responding to the crowd.

They had a full band with two guitars, two brass, two percussionists, a keyboard player and two backing singers. I don’t remember the 2011 gig being such a large ensemble.

The audience loved it. The band’s first ever Scottish gig and they appreciated the enthusiastic reception and the fact that the audience knew all the words to the songs.

They played a couple of encores but had such a rapturous response that they played one more: "Brighter Days" [YouTube, opens in new window] took the set right up to the 10:30 curfew which meant we got over two hours of rocking music.