Phone torches, a nine-year wait for Silverstein and a Caleb Shomo speech that leaves the Barrowlands in pieces: the Pure Ecstasy tour hits Glasgow…

Words & photos by David Prentice (davidprentice_media) | Oct 11, 2026

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It’s a beautiful Scottish night at the Barrowlands in Glasgow for Beartooth’s Pure Ecstasy tour, and kicking things off are Kingdom of Giants. The turnout is fantastic for an opener, which is something I always love to see for the first band on the bill.

Frontman Dan Wylie has a fantastic way with the crowd. With their drummer absent tonight, the band play in front of a massive video wall of the drummer performing, which is a nice touch. The guitarist delivers incredible clean vocals, with melodic lines that invite dancing working alongside harsh vocals that hit hard and send everyone wild. Throw in catchy choruses, brutal breakdowns and chunky riffs, and it’s a great combination.

The Glasgow audience warmly welcomes the California band, and throughout their set they focus on the love and energy of music, and live music in particular. The set ends with an anthemic feel as much of the crowd raise their phone torches at Dan’s request, and the band get the crowd surfers they’ve been after during the last song.

If Kingdom of Giants warm the room up, the highly anticipated Silverstein set it alight. It’s been nine years since the Canadian band last played Glasgow, but that doesn’t stop the city giving their set everything. You know a crowd is having a great time when they start chanting “Here we, here we, here we fucking go”. It’s a very Glasgow chant, and you won’t really hear it anywhere else in Scotland.

Guitarist Josh Bradford carries the energy throughout the set and gives everything to the audience. They dig into some of their older material, including My Heroine, where frontman Shane Told prompts the crowd to sing and they don’t miss a single word. It’s a moment that hits deep for the crowd, and especially for Shane. Dan Wylie then returns to the stage to join Silverstein for their second-to-last song, which is a cool moment that ties the night together.

By the time the stage is reset for Beartooth, there’s an electric atmosphere in the room, with two years having passed since they last came to Glasgow. This is their first tour back, and the visuals for the show are impressive. Caleb Shomo’s live presence is strong; he really interacts with the crowd and makes individuals feel seen. I’m always blown away by how skilled the band’s musicianship is, and Caleb’s showmanship is fantastic to watch.

They play several crowd favourites, including The Lines, In Between, Beaten in Lips and Hated, which take me right back to my younger days. Caleb’s vocals are the best I’ve heard from him, and it feels like I’m finally seeing him as himself on stage.

Glasgow still holds, and always will hold, a place in Caleb’s heart. Close to the end, drummer Connor Denis delivers a phenomenal drum solo. As a drummer myself, I find it a great blend of rhythm that’s easy on the ears and showboating, which is always a crowd pleaser.

The past times I’ve seen Beartooth, Caleb has often shown a lot of emotion and given the crowd their flowers, but tonight he seems deeply grateful for everyone’s support. He describes this year as a wild rollercoaster for him and the band, admitting he was very uncertain about what was going to happen.

Then comes the last song of the night, Might Love Myself. It feels like a full-circle moment for the band, and especially for Caleb, who came out as gay earlier this year after the end of his 14-year marriage. It’s a very emotional end to the night, with Caleb giving a massive speech that lasts around 10 to 15 minutes. I start to tear up just listening to the pain in his voice as he pours his heart out to the crowd.

He talks through what the past year has been like for him and the band, centring on music, working things out, and enduring the scariest time of his life. He speaks from the heart, and his message is simple: be yourself, no matter what.

Overall, it’s a fantastic night, celebrating live music, being yourself, and being there for people in their hardest times.