Del Amitri were carried by fans after 'car crash' return to stage, says Justin Currie

Justin Currie has admitted Del Amitri’s first show after the pandemic layoff was a “car crash” – but hailed loyal fans for helping them return to top form.

The Scots rockers are set to tour Europe this autumn after being one of the headliners at Linlithgow’s Party at the Palace festival.

The show comes after a spring playing live in the United States for the first time in 25 years, before selling-out the Barrowlands in Glasgow.

Speaking to STV entertainment show What’s on Scotland, Currie recalled the band’s return to the stage after a Covid-enforced break.

“Five months in [to the pandemic], I realised that was the longest I’d not been on a stage since I was 15,” he said.

“So, you start thinking, are you going to lose the brass neck to go on a stage and believe you belong there?

“The first night [a gig in Edinburgh] was a total car crash, but the audience seemed to carry us through it. The audience was vibrating at a high frequency.”

The 57-year-old Glaswegian also revealed that one of the band’s biggest hits – Roll to Me – was only so successful because of its length.

“All the radio DJs said they loved it because they could always fit it on before the news,” he said.

The US tour took Del Amitri from coast-to-coast, including shows in New York and California.

“It was the first time we had been on a tour bus since 1997,” Currie said. “We were extremely apprehensive about it, but it was water off a duck’s back.

“We got straight back into it, and we came back from that tour feeling like it had all been a bit of a dream, because we did a lot of distance in quite a short space of time, and it just felt very surreal.”

Next up is Party at the Palace on August 13, where other headliners include Ocean Colour Scene, Human League and Sophie Ellis Bextor.

“At the end of the summer, we’re going to Europe, and I’m really excited about that,” Currie said. “We’ve not toured Europe since the mid-90s.”

What’s On Scotland is on STV at 7pm on Friday, August 5, or catch-up on the STV Player.