As Glasgow gears up for the summer months, despite our challenging weather, the range of concerts and activities to enjoy is unparalleled, outside of London, in the UK.

Just look at the astonishing list of concerts on the go in our city. 

Only last weekend we had two top notch Scottish acts performing in the southside of Glasgow – Calvin Harris and Primal Scream.

This weekend has the highlight event of the summer with TRNSMT at Glasgow Green featuring Paisley’s Paolo Nutini and another home-grown Scottish talent in Lewis Capaldi.

Over the summer months in Glasgow there will be over 15 outdoor events and it is estimated that £55m will be generated in the local economy from the summer of music we are having.

But the reason the city of Glasgow is popular is not just the remarkable enthusiasm we have always had for live performances.

I can still remember as a youngster, my love of early 80’s soul music and I apologise for my occasional dance moves at the iconic gigs of Luther Vandross and Shalamar in 1982.

The reason why we are popular is that an incredible amount of work has been put in to develop the performance and event infrastructure of the city over the last 20 years. 

This is why major gig promoters such as DF and Regular feel confident in working with the city.

Local entrepreneurs such as Donald MacLeod of the Garage and Cathouse fame have always championed our city as an entertainment capital.

They also know that achieving UNESCO City of Music was also due to the pioneering work done by Celtic Connections and by our national arts companies providing remarkable quality live performances in folk/traditional music and classical music. 

Yet the challenge facing Glasgow is that despite the incredible work done to build up the music brand for Glasgow, our transport infrastructure and our wider support for the hospitality industry is insufficient. 

It is absurd that the Hydro has generated an incredible regeneration of the Finnieston area into a thriving night economy, but our utterly limited provision of transport is diminishing the potential of our night-time economy.

The complacency of the Scottish Government when the transfer from Abellio to public ownership occurred has resulted in thousands of concert goers leaving concerts early to return home safely because of a lack of train services. 

Only this week the Glasgow Times columnist, Catriona Stewart, claimed: “We can only credibly call ourselves a City of Culture if everyone has access to what’s on offer.” Cat was spot on.

Glasgow Labour led the way on the regeneration of Glasgow. 

Our team of councillors has a wealth of knowledge, a level of enthusiasm and energy that wants Glasgow to achieve the very best. 

As Glasgow Labour leader I want the very best for my city and we will continue to call on the city leader and for the First Minister to have similar ambitions for the city we love.