Deacon Blue’s new generation of fans

Deacon Blue are at the centre of a mysterious pop phenomenon their fans are getting younger.

The much-loved Scots rockers, who play their first-ever T In The Park this summer, have seen the average age of their concert-goers plummet. And singer Lorraine McIntosh is sure she knows the reason why.

“Kids come and speak to me now about Deacon Blue,” she explains. “I think they’re getting into the band through their parents I know that’s how I first got into music.

“My daughter told me some of her friends have been talking about the band and they’re coming to our show at Glasgow Hydro in December. “We’re playing T In The Park this year too. I don’t know why it’s never happened before maybe if you stick around long enough, people think you have relevance again.”

Before Lorraine, husband Ricky Ross and the rest of the band head out on the festival circuit, she’s starring in the National Theatre of Scotland’s latest production. It’s a stage adaptation of the cult Swedish romantic horror novel and film, Let the Right One In, which was re-made by Hollywood as Let Me In. The play is being directed by John Tiffany who won acclaim at the helm of the National Theatre’s award-winning drama Black Watch. And he has moved the action from Sweden … to Tayside.

“I hadn’t read the book before I started working on the production, but I’m reading it now,” explains Lorraine, who starred as Alice Henderson in River City before quitting the soap in 2010. “I saw the Swedish film while I was on tour with another National Theatre production, Men Should Weep, 18 months ago and I loved it. I think they moved the setting to Dundee because it’s the same sort of size as the town in the book, with a similar social background. “They also like the idea of Tentsmuir Forest, where a lot of the story is set, being nearby Dundee as well.

“I’ve wanted to work with John Tiffany since I saw Black Watch years ago. It’s so powerful. He’s freelance now, but the first thing he did since going freelance was come back to Scotland to work on this. It’s great working with him.”