An Ambitious Live Show | Hidden Dundee Recap

It's Thursday and you know what that means.

Here at Lucid Liars HQ, we're still buzzing from our show at Hidden in Dundee on Saturday.

On the surface, it might have looked like another gig for this band from Inverness. Turn up, plug in, play songs, head home. But behind the scenes, this was one of the most ambitious live productions we've attempted as a band.

We've spoken a lot recently about being an independent band and trying to be as self-sufficient as possible. One of the core ideas behind Lucid Liars has always been taking ownership of every aspect of what we do, whether that's songwriting, recording, visuals, promotion or our live show. So for those who couldn't make it to Hidden Dundee, what exactly did that look like?

We have a new live setup.

For the first time, we were able to take complete control of our in-ear monitoring system. Thanks to our new digital setup, everything was dialled in long before we stepped on stage. Our monitor mixes were exactly where we wanted them, meaning one less thing to worry about during soundcheck and one more opportunity to focus on the performance itself.

Because we weren't spending valuable time making monitor adjustments, we could actually think about how we wanted the stage to look. With Jackwans drums positioned to the left, Jackto handling bass and trumpet on the right, and Rig front and centre, we were able to create a more deliberate stage layout that reflected the energy and identity of Lucid Liars as a live band. Something as simple as having the time to consider stage presentation made a huge difference.

Next up? Sound.

For this show, we were able to manage our own sound alongside our manager Steven. Steven has worked with Lucid Liars for years and has understood the mission from day one: create a Scottish indie rock band capable of bringing a high-quality live show to any venue willing to have us. Soundchecking at Hidden was a completely different experience from anything we'd done before.

Using our digital stagebox, we were able to send a stereo feed directly into the venue's PA system. That meant the audience heard our mix, our EQ decisions, our effects and our overall vision for how the songs should sound. Everything from the punch of the drums to the atmosphere in tracks from ‘Hard Times’ translated exactly the way we'd intended. The reason we could do this wasn't luck. It was the result of six weeks of planning, investing in equipment, learning new systems and spending countless hours figuring out how to make everything work.

And that's not all.

For the first time, Lucid Liars also introduced dedicated visual production to our live show.

Thanks to countless hours from Jackto, every song featured custom-designed visuals created specifically around the themes and emotions of the music. These projections were carefully timed and integrated into the set, helping reinforce the atmosphere we were trying to create on stage.

As a band heavily influenced by artists who understand the importance of creating an experience rather than simply playing songs, adding a visual element felt like a natural next step.

The result was a live show that felt bigger, more immersive and more representative of where Lucid Liars is heading as an alternative rock band. And honestly?

We couldn't be happier.

A month and a half of planning. Learning new technology. Troubleshooting. Problem-solving. Stressing about cables. Stressing about software. Stressing about things that didn't need stressed about. And when the lights came up, everything worked. No major issues. No disasters. Just the show we'd envisioned. Moments like that remind us why we put so much time into continuously refining what we do. Every gig is an opportunity to improve, and every improvement opens the door to something bigger.

We're incredibly excited to bring this new version of Lucid Liars to audiences across Scotland over the next year.

Anyway, here's what's been in the car lately.

The Cure – Disintegration

I keep coming back to this album. The textures, the atmosphere and the long-form nature of the songwriting continue to inspire me. There's a real sense of movement throughout the record that makes it feel bigger than a collection of songs. I've definitely tried to build a Lucid Liars album around the Disintegration blueprint before — the way it ebbs and flows emotionally is masterful. ‘Happy To Be Here.’ was written with some of those ideas in mind, even if it isn't immediately obvious.

New Order – Movement

I've recently been working my way through the Joy Division catalogue from start to finish, and naturally that leads into Movement. There's something comforting about hearing a band trying to figure out who they are after a huge change. You can hear the foundations of what New Order would become while still feeling the uncertainty of the moment.

In a strange way, it's reassuring. None of us really know what we're doing. We're all figuring it out as we go. WAGMI bro - We all gonna make it.

Until next time.