There are few albums in Scottish music history that carry the kind of quiet, devoted following that Belle & Sebastian’s 1996 record If You’re Feeling Sinister does. So when the Glasgow band took to the stage at Fringe by the Sea to mark the album’s legacy, the crowd already knew they were in for something special.
The North Berwick festival has built a reputation for pulling in acts that feel genuinely suited to its coastal, laid-back atmosphere, and Belle & Sebastian fit that bill perfectly. Stuart Murdoch and the rest of the band delivered a set that moved between deep cuts and fan favourites, threading together nearly three decades of affection for a record that helped define a certain kind of introspective, tender Scottish indie pop.
If You’re Feeling Sinister arrived at a time when the Glasgow music scene was producing some of its most quietly influential work. The album, recorded on a shoestring and famously released with little fanfare, went on to become one of the most beloved Scottish records of its era. Songs like Seeing Other People, Me and the Major, and the title-adjacent tracks carried a wistfulness that felt deeply rooted in a particular kind of Scottish experience, grey skies and all.
Playing the album in a live setting, with the full emotional weight of its anniversary behind it, gave the performance a celebratory but also reflective quality. Fans who have carried these songs with them for years found themselves singing back every word, and there was a genuine warmth between the band and the audience that made the whole evening feel less like a concert and more like a reunion of sorts.
Murdoch, as ever, proved himself a compelling and slightly unpredictable frontman. He has a way of making a large outdoor crowd feel like they are all in on some private joke or shared secret, which suits the intimate nature of the band’s songwriting perfectly. The rest of the band were on fine form too, with the arrangements sounding full and considered without ever losing the delicate touch that made the original recordings so enduring.
Fringe by the Sea itself continues to punch above its weight as a festival. Tucked into North Berwick on the East Lothian coast, it draws a crowd that tends to be genuinely enthusiastic about the acts on the bill rather than simply showing up for the spectacle. That kind of audience suits Belle & Sebastian down to the ground.
For anyone who has ever had If You’re Feeling Sinister on repeat during a difficult week, or discovered it late and wondered how they managed without it, this was the kind of live experience that deepens that connection further. Euphoric might sound like an odd word to attach to a band whose music is often melancholic and inward-looking, but that is exactly the effect the night had. Sometimes the best kind of euphoria comes wrapped in a minor key.