A Paisley DJ became the first woman to play a controversial stage for only female artists at Scotland’s largest music festival.
And Suzanne McFadden, who is known as Suzi Mac, has hailed the new approach at three-day festival TRNSMT for giving her an invaluable career boost.
Suzie was the resident DJ on the Queen Tut’s stage at Glasgow Green’s popular music event.
The 30-year-old played to the crowds of thousands on the stage which was launched to give budding Scottish female acts a platform.
The move by festival bosses caused controversy, with some accusing it of “segregating women” from the male-dominated headliners such as Stormzy, Gerry Cinnamon and Lewis Cappaldi.
TRNSMT bosses defended the new stage - which is set to be in place for the next five years - by saying it was there to support up and coming female acts.
Suzie, who has been a professional DJ for a year, says without the stage she would never have been given a similar opportunity.
She spent the day at the festival playing on the stage in between acts.
Suzie said: “I have only been doing this professionally for a year so to be given the chance to play the biggest festival in Scotland is such a big career boost for me.
“I would never have been given a chance like that without the Queen Tut’s stage and I think anything that promotes women is a good thing.
“It’s so hard to make yourself known in this career, especially as a female so it was amazing to be up there with so many hard working female performers.”
Suzie decided to pursue her dream after a career in radio wasn’t turning out how she had hoped.
The budding DJ, who lives in Glenburn, is already on her way to stardom, having played sets in London and Ibiza throughout the year.
Suzie also has an impressive social media following, with over 540,000 subscribers to her Instagram profile - which she says has a big impact on her career.
Her resident slot every Thursday night at Revolution bar on Mitchell Street in Glasgow is also proving to be a hit.
Suzie added: “I lived and worked in London and I have spent time with the likes of Clyde 1 and BBC but radio is quite a hard career to pursue as a female and I wasn’t enjoying it.
“I have always wanted to be a DJ and I have had decks in my house for years so I decided to move back home and pursue being a DJ as my career.”
Following her stint on the festival stage at TRNSMT - Suzanne now has her sights set even higher.
She added: “I would love to keep moving up the stages and perform in front of even more people next year. I would really love an opportunity to go back.
“It wasn’t like anything I had ever done before.
“I have played in busy clubs but to have such a wide audience right across the whole of Glasgow Green was amazing.”
