Youth's a tough gig; Teenagers are pop music's staple audience. Why

Your first gig is as important and memorable as your first kiss - only gigs last an awful lot longer. But some teenagers around Scotland are being forced into gig abstinence - not because their guitar-wielding idols don't play here, but because of their age. Under 18? Sorry, you're not coming in.

Scotland is blessed with some of the most famous venues on earth: Glasgow's Barrowland is always near the top of most bands' lists of where to play in the world, and the city's intimate King Tut's Wah Wah Hut - where rockers Oasis began their global conquest - still hosts some of the world's most cutting-edge bands. These places are special, but sometimes it's not easy for under-18s to find out why. At 15, Navid Noorbakhsh and his friends are finding this out the hard way.

"It's frustrating," he says. "We can't get into King Tut's because that's over-18s only. And there are bands that I'd like to see but can't because they're playing King Tut's. The NME Brat Pack Tour was there and I couldn't go to that."

Noorbakhsh plays bass with his friends Hugh MacDonald and Simon McOuat in the imaginatively titled band Buttwiser. So over-18 venues not only prevent them from seeing their favourite bands; they can't play there either. MacDonald takes up the story.

"Our band has had a bit of trouble recently because a few of the venues, like Strawberry Fields [in Glasgow], have lost their licences for under-18 gigs which means we can't play there. We were supposed to play there but, because of an incident at one of the dance music nights, Glasgow council said they can't do it any more. It was a bit of a blow."

Drummer McOuat agrees: "There are still places we can play, but it takes away from the excitement a bit if we think we've a gig coming up and then we are told we can't play because we aren't old enough."

But there are many influential people gunning for teenagers' right to mosh no matter what age they are. Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamaq is one of them.

"It's ridiculous that there are gigs that exclude anyone under 18," he says. "Pop music is about participating. Imagine if 13-year- olds weren't allowed to go and see Celtic and Rangers. What would be the point of being a fan?"

Lamaq recalls the bundles of complaints he received from disgruntled teenagers while hosting Radio 1's influential Evening Session, a show responsible for introducing some of the biggest musical names to the world. "A lot of people were complaining that they were the people buying the records, pushing through the new acts, but they couldn't even get to see them. It's just not right."

Fortunately, Geoff Ellis has sympathy with the under-18-year-old gig-goer's plight. Ellis is to live music in Scotland what Tony Hawk is to skateboarding - he is the master. Ellis and his company DF Concerts organise gigs at the Barrowland, run King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, are in charge of this year's Download festival and organise Scotland's biggest musical gathering, T in the Park. Ellis has been instrumental in loosening age restrictions.

"Five years ago it was pretty hard to get to see a concert if you were under 18, unless it was Westlife or Boyzone at the SECC," he says. "As audiences have got younger and younger they have become disenfranchised from rock'n'roll. So we made a conscious decision to campaign for places like Barrowland to let under-18s in."

But what about King Tut's? Why does it only have a handful of over- 14 gigs a year?

"We couldn't make every concert open to under-18s or we wouldn't be able to have a pub licence," he says. He also explains why under- 16-year-olds at T in the Park must be accompanied by an adult over 21.

"It's such a large number of people - probably more than most of the audience have ever seen. The only comparison is probably a Celtic- Rangers match, and that's only an hour and a half, not from Friday night to Monday lunchtime. There's nothing worse than seeing a kid who's lost all their friends. You want to try and avoid people going through that heartache."

Still, if you choose your gig and venue carefully, you can experience your first gig ("an absolutely life-changing moment", says Ellis) well before you get your driving licence. And you are encouraged to. "It's a rite of passage. It's what rock'n'roll is all about," says Lamaq. "When I see nine-year-olds at Wembley Arena watching Green Day I think, 'Good on ya! You're the next generation. We need people like you. You are the future of the music industry.'" So get your tickets and get gigging.

Upcoming over-14 gigs:

Funeral For A Friend, Barrowland, Glasgow, May 2.

Incubus, SECC, Glasgow, May 12.

Bad Religion, Carling Academy, Glasgow, May 13.

The Streets, Barrowland, Glasgow, May 15.

Less Than Jake, Barrowland, Glasgow, May 25.

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