Running from Friday 11th to Saturday 19th October, The Spree is expanding with another great line-up that promises something for everyone.

Among the highlights we're really looking forward to is a series of gigs in the glamorous Salon Perdu Spiegeltent in Paisley's County Square.

Decked out with cosy booths, numerous mirrors and glowing red velvet, the 500 capacity spiegeltent will provide an atmospheric setting for these brilliant shows.

We are hot for gigs from the rapidly rising Snuts; Superfurry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys and singer songwriter Karine Polwart.

Karine will be dipping into her Scottish Songbook, a collection of Scottish pop classic spanning more than 50 years.

Gerry Rafferty tribute

The festival kicks off on Friday 11th October with a tribute to one of Paisley’s most celebrated musical sons: Gerry Rafferty. Roddy Hart, Emma Pollock and Rab Noakes will be celebrating his talent with A Gerry Rafferty Songbook.

Playing their only full-band Scottish date of the year, platinum-selling indie-rockers Glasvegas (pictured) will be getting us all totes emosh on Tuesday 15th.

London’s First Lady of Soul, PP Arnold, will perform songs from her six-decade career working with stars including Rod Stewart and the Small Faces, Barry Gibb, David Bowie, Eric Clapton and Oasis.

The festival ends - possibly explosively - on Saturday 19th. Now, Jerry Sadowitz is definitely not family-friendly but the comedy headliner promises to blow the roof off with his unique blend of anarcho-magic and innovative swearing.

And if he doesn't take the roof off then those hillbilly rockers Hayseed Dixie are coming all the way from Tennessee to bring the house down with a lively late-night closing party.

There will also be two late-night comedy shows on Friday 11th and 18th, headlined by Mark Nelson and Gary Little and compered by Fred MacAulay and local lad Scott Gibson.

Gigs selling out

We'll also mention the gig from Hue and Cry. At the time of writing, it has sold out - as most of these gigs will. However, it never hurts to check for returns.

Renfrewshire Leisure are also programming Spree shows at Paisley Arts Centre. These include Lost Map’s Lost Weekend Sunday Social featuring the Pictish Trail, Fell, Molly Linen and Callum Easter.

Other artists performing in Paisley Arts Centre during The Spree include Michael Cassidy and Andy Monahan plus ex-Arab Strap musician Malcolm Middleton.

Doing it for the kids

And that's just the gigs. We haven't even mentioned that there will be a screening of the fantastic Rudeboy: The Story of Trojan Records.

If you have children then check the busy Wee Spree kids programme.

There is more. Look out for the expanding Spree for All fringe festival in local towns and villages.

As we noted earlier, several shows have already sold out, but remaining tickets are available to buy now from the festival website.

See you down the front.

The Spree festival is programmed by Regular Music and sponsored by Tennent’s Lager. This blog post is in partnership with Renfrewshire Council