With three days of festival excitement drawing up to 50,000 people to Glasgow Green each day, it is no wonder that TRNSMT has become one of Scotland’s biggest summer events. However, whilst tickets rapidly sell out for next year’s festival, it is facing criticism for a lack of female headliners for a ninth consecutive year.
Since it began in 2017, TRNSMT has hosted some renowned musicians such as Liam Gallagher, Calvin Harris, The 1975 and Sam Fender. Despite this, not one woman has ever topped the lineup. The 2026 bill, announced on 6th November, appears to maintain that pattern – as Richard Ashcroft, Kasabian and Lewis Capaldi were revealed as next year’s main acts.
DF Concerts, which organise the annual festival, have refused to comment on the announcement of yet another year of all-male headliners. Meanwhile, critics, including upcoming female musicians and music journalists, have been left “deeply disappointed” by the omission.
Scottish musician Tamara Schlesinger, who leads the Hen Hoose music collective, expressed disappointment. Nevertheless, she is “not surprised” that this year’s festival headliners include no women or non-binary artists. She welcomed the inclusion of acts like Amy Macdonald, CMAT, and Wolf Alice elsewhere, but said the continued lack of gender diversity at the top of the line-up “remains impossible to ignore.”
Schlesinger – also known by her stage name MALKA – warned that well-meaning projects such as Girls Girls Girls, which offers performance slots at Glasgow’s King Tut’s, can end up feeling like token gestures unless they are supported by real, measurable commitments to equality within the industry. She also encouraged DF Concerts to join the Keychange 50:50 pledge – an initiative which pushes festivals to work towards gender-balanced line-ups.
In 2019, attempting to address gender imbalance, the Queen Tut’s stage was introduced, aimed at spotlighting emerging Scottish female artists, but was criticised as a “box-ticking exercise”, with many believing its purpose was to “segregate women” – the latter of which was strongly refuted by festival officials.
Many will feel that seeing no women at the top is a step backwards, and that this issue also mirrors wider conversations within the music industry about inclusivity and visibility. Charli XCX swept the Brit Awards back in March, winning five out of the six awards she was nominated for. Additionally, artists such as RAYE, Olivia Dean and Chappell Roan are currently dominating the charts and have been headlining major stages.
On the other hand, several UK festivals have made visible strides toward improving gender representation.
Glastonbury, for example, responded to similar criticism in 2023 by featuring both Dua Lipa and SZA as headliners in 2024. Moreover, the British Summer Time concerts in Hyde Park have hosted various female acts – with Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter being two prominent headliners of this year’s instalment. Likewise, other acts such as Florence + the Machine, Lana del Rey, Adele and P!NK have also topped the bill over the years.
TRNSMT remains one of the biggest dates on Glasgow’s cultural calendar — a highlight for many people each summer. But as tickets go on sale and fans plan their festival weekends, some are asking whether representation should factor into the decision of which events to support. Representation isn’t just an industry issue; it shapes the stories, sounds, and stages we all see.
With tickets for TRNSMT 2026 up for grabs, the question that ultimately remains is: what does this lineup say about the future of women in live music?
She/Her
Second Year History and Journalism, Media and Communication student
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