Tide Lines
Tide Lines are a band whose story stretches from the wild expanses of the Scottish Highlands to the beating heart of Glasgow. In June 2025, they celebrated a landmark moment with their fourth album Glasgow Love Story via their own Tide Lines Music label, which landed at No.1 in Scotland and No.11 in the UK Official Album Charts — their highest UK chart position to date and third Scottish No.1.
The band still record and rehearse in a converted church on the Isle of Mull, where the ever-changing Hebridean landscape seeps naturally into their sound. As vocalist/guitarist Robert Robertson puts it: “We’ve always felt like our music carries traces of where we’re from — the
space, the weather, the drama of the Highlands. But it’s just as much about connection, about reaching people everywhere.” At heart, Tide Lines are a rock band in touch with the geography and the culture that formed them.
2025 has already underlined that connection. In May, five intimate Glasgow Love Story album launch shows across Scotland sold out instantly, while a surprise busk on the Glasgow subway stopped commuters in their tracks. Just weeks later, the band played the biggest headline show of their career so far, a 5,000-capacity outdoor concert at Rouken Glen Park, followed by high-profile summer appearances at HebCelt, Belladrum, and Aberdeen’s Quayside Concerts for The Tall Ships Race. They also added a touch of sporting history to their story, performing in front of 67,000 people at Murrayfield Stadium during Scotland’s Six Nations win over Wales.
Across three earlier albums — from the sweeping romanticism of Dreams We Never Lost through to 2023’s An Ocean Full of Islands (which charted at No.13 in the UK and No.1 in Scotland) — Tide Lines built a reputation for expansive, anthemic songs and magnetic live performances. 2024 was a milestone year: three euphoric nights at Glasgow’s legendary Barrowland Ballroom, 14 summer festival appearances across the UK, a sold-out European run through the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany. They closed the year with a 14,000-ticket Scottish tour that included a triumphant return to the Usher Hall.
Now, as they mark 10 years together, the story continues with the recently released Glasgow Love Story, an album rooted not in island remoteness but in the pulse of the city they now call home. Robertson describes it as “a love letter to Glasgow. It’s the city we started the band in, and it’s been a constant presence in our journey ever since.” He continues: “We’ll always be influenced by where we’re from. The Highlands gave us our first songs, but Glasgow gave us a stage and an audience. Both places are written into what we do.” The record paints a panoramic portrait of the city: the sandstone tenements glowing red in the evening sun, rain-slicked streets shining under lamplight, and the everyday lives unfolding in its bars, dancehalls and quiet corners.
Looking ahead, an autumn 2025 UK headline tour will include their biggest London show to date at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, before concluding with six gigs across Scotland including an already sold out Usher Hall date. And in 2026, the band will take Glasgow Love Story on the road again for their biggest UK and European tour yet, alongside major festival appearances, a special 10th anniversary celebration yet to be announced, and further international dates.
Reflecting on the band’s journey, Robertson says: “When we first got together in a bar in Glasgow back in 2016, we never imagined that ten years later we’d be playing to thousands of people across the country. It’s been a mad journey, but one we’re very grateful for.” And on their live shows: “The best part of releasing new music is seeing it come alive on stage. Nothing compares to the feeling of a crowd singing your words back to you.”
From their very first single Far Side of the World (now at almost 12 million streams), Tide Lines have sung of place, belonging, and the journeys that stretch beyond the horizon. Over the years they’ve been hailed for “alt-pop that looks to American heartland rock, whilst retaining the tartan patterns of home” (Wonderland), and for “expansive singalong moments and classic songwriting” (The Line of Best Fit).
Now heading into their tenth year, Tide Lines carry the same hallmarks that first won them fans — poetic lyricism and emotional honesty, brought to life in live shows that swell into mass celebrations.
