On a chilly sunny Saturday afternoon, I boarded the 16:26 train. Unaccompanied I headed towards Glasgow for a pre-gig meet up with some AB Family members before heading to a long-awaited gig. After a good blether over an Irn Bru in a nearby rock hostelry, we walked round to the venue of choice for the evening – the iconic Cathouse.

I’ve waited just over four years to see this band play live. Their 2021 show in The Garage was meant to be my first post-covid gig but the real world had to take priority at the time and I missed the show.

My patience and that of many others has been rewarded this week as the band in question played two shows- one in London and one in their hometown.

Who am I talking about? The marvellous Mason Hill!

The music Gods were smiling on us and we secured a rail spot for the evening. Happy Days!

With an early 10pm curfew in place there was only time for one support act. That honour fell to Manchester band, The Fear. I’m going to partially apply my Thumper Principle here. These guys area nu-metal band primarily and not my metal genre of choice. Aspects of their 30minute set were great but for me personally there was too much reliance on tracking. These additional effects, especially “beaming in” Kellin Quinn from Sleeping With Sirens detracted from the musical ability on display. The Fear played a song called White Noise…and that kind of summed it up for me. Sorry, guys.

Since Mason Hill last played Glasgow there’s been a change of line up with Tom Ward joining them on vocals. They’ve also been busy writing and recording. Their new album is due to drop next year.

As 8:30 approached the sell out crowd was desperate for their first glimpse of Tom and their first listen to some new tunes. Mason Hill did not disappoint.

They opened their thirteen-song set with Burn It Down, a new one but their fans were on side right from the start. Everyone in the room was simply delighted to the guys back on stage in Glasgow.

Burn It Down (set opener) – Mason Hill @ The Cathouse Glasgow 29/11/25

There were a few sound gremlins in the works and despite several pleas form the fans, Tom’s mic never seemed to get turned up a couple of notches so his vocals were somewhat muted in among the guitars of James Bird and Marc Montgomery, Matthew Ward’s bass and Craig McFetridge’s drums.

What may have been lacking in vocal volume was compensated by Tom’s fan engagement. He left the low stage and prowled the rail several times during the band’s seventy-minute set. I’ll also cut him a bit of slack as he had been under the weather all week and was still struggling a bit with his voice.

Mason Hill’s set was a mix of old and new, weighted slightly in favour of the new. That initially felt like a bit of a gamble to me but the guys pulled it off beautifully. From the new material that was played, it was a song called Resonate that was my personal favourite.

One highlight “old” song for me was DNA. The boys almost raised the roof off the Cathouse with that one.

DNA – Mason Hill @ The Cathouse Glasgow 29/11/25

Current single Remember was the penultimate song of the night.

Ahead of curfew but while Tom still had some voice left, Mason Hill brought their set to a climax with Against The Wall.

A great return to the Glasgow stage, guys. I’m viewing this one almost as the “dress rehearsal” show and am already looking forward to their headline show in The Garage in March. Grab your tickets. It’s going to be one hell of a night!