GLASGOW, Scotland -- The bearded passport clerk stuck out a hand, thumped my booklet and asked the usual question.

"Work. I'm here to find the best rock 'n' roll in Glasgow. Got any suggestions?" I replied.

A slow, beatific smile spread across his 40-ish face as he considered the possibilities.

"Ah weel, I was muir inta the euphoric trance dancin', back in the day, meself," he began happily.

In the northern U.K. less than 10 minutes, I glimpsed its true passion: ask a rock 'n' roll question in Glasgow or Liverpool, England, and everyone has a well-informed opinion. As new British bands like Belle & Sebastian and the Zutons break internationally, foreign music fans are tuning in at the source to the Next Big Thing.

Glasgow echoes Pittsburgh, with its River Clyde waterfront, 19th-century core and university district. In June, new Glasgow University graduates celebrated on the streets in formal Highland attire, with buttoned jackets, kilts, sporrans (a leather and fur pouch) and high-laced black slippers. Other flame-haired hipsters wore their kilts with T-shirts, sandals, cell phones and total aplomb. This student scene generates hundreds of bands with thousands of supporters.

"Even indie bands attract crazy fans here," Glasgow promoter Geoff Ellis told me. Along Argyle Street downtown, playbills advertise live gigs every night of the week. Music stores like Avalanche Records and Fopp stock the most esoteric discs. Intimate venues such as Nice 'n' Sleazy, ABC and Barfly, and bigger ones such as the Barrowlands, offer straight-up rock. Old West End churches such as Cottier's have shoved aside their pipe organs to make room for bars and amplifiers. "Here, you can hear a lot of bands that aren't [half bad]," explained local fan Russell Paton proudly.

Glasgow owes its current soul to a mix of experimental art and music. The city of 600,000 pulled out of an economic funk during the 1990s, due in part to new arts venues built for its selection as a European Capital of Culture (more on that honor later).

Local acts such as Jesus and Mary Chain, Oasis and Teenage Fan Club broke big. A crop of local artists became finalists for the Turner Prize, Britain's top contemporary art award, while Franz Ferdinand and Belle & Sebastian, both formed at the Glasgow School of Art, found a worldwide audience. As local rockers such as Paolo Nutini and 1990s climbed the charts, the city's grit became glamorous. Glasgow welcomed 775,000 international visitors in 2005 -- a 25 percent increase over the previous year.

"Put Your Demos Here" read a sign above a bin at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, a West End rock mecca. Local bands pile their homemade discs in the box for a chance to be discovered here. Fifteen years ago, the hot local band was Oasis; right now, that honor belongs to the Dykeenies, a quartet just signed to Lavolta (the record label of The Killers).

"It's the best atmosphere," Dykeenies frontman Brian Henderson, 21, said of King Tut's intimate upstairs stage. "If people don't like ye, they throw an old shoe." The evening's headliners, DiAgusto and Asobi Seksu, were in no danger as they played to a crowded house (though the latter rocked so hard they collapsed their drum kit).

On to Liverpool

In Liverpool, 200 miles south, the Dykeenies greeted me again, from a poster advertising their spot on the Flaming Lips U.K. tour. Here, newcomers perform in the shadow of rock's biggest breakout band.

There's no danger of missing any tributes to Merseyside music history here. The city's airport, John Lennon International, bears the slogan "above us only sky." Gerry Marsden's tinny rendition of "Ferry Cross the Mersey" bleats farewell to commuters 20 times a day, local bakeries sell Abbey Road cakes (at £200 -- or $410.50 -- for the album cover replicated in icing), and shop clerks sing along to Lennon-McCartney soundtracks.

So does everyone else. Despite a drenching downpour, a crowd of strangers sang in cheerful anticipation while queuing for The Beatles Story, a museum anchoring redevelopments along downtown's Albert Dock. The attraction itself was disappointingly off-key, a lifeless tribute with bewigged mannequins and a pricey souvenir shop.

The Beatles' musical spirit is better remembered a half mile away at the Cavern. The group's earliest musical home is still a working club. With music by Boston garage band Muck and the Mires, the vibe in the restored space was still satisfyingly dark, dank and loud. Along stone-cobbled Mathew Street, a bronze statue of a youthful John Lennon slouches against a wall.

The opening of the Hard Day's Night Hotel around the corner, expected by year's end, adds a four-star Beatles theme to a 110-room hotel. The $35 million restoration of a 19th-century building boasts its own tunnel entrance to the Cavern and coincides with the city's selection as a 2008 European Capital of Culture.

Pop music will dominate the city celebrations. Ringo Starr and Dave Stewart kick off the year with "Liverpool: The Musical" on Jan. 12 at the new Liverpool Arena. Sir Paul McCartney will close out the era of the city's iconic football pitch, Anfield, with an international concert there on June 1. The World Museum will trace the city's pop contributions from Brian Epstein to Echo and the Bunnymen. The Mathew Street Music Festival will return in August, and a citywide band competition, Streetwaves, will include "heats" of neighborhood bands.

A few minutes' walk from Mathew Street, Korova books indie bands on its downstairs stage. As Brighton's Fujiya and Miyagi wailed, posters in the sleek upstairs pub invited entrants to a digital contest. Sundays are reserved for "random iPod duelling," with contestants comparing the freshest playlists. Around the just-gentrifying corner is Parr Street Studios.

Coldplay, The Coral and Paolo Nutini have recently worked in its state-of-the-art studios, and new owners recently launched a small club and boutique hotel upstairs. My room, decorated in minimal boho chic with Pop colors, was reached by a steel-gated freight elevator.

I didn't see any of pop's new royalty at the Parr Street. And more important, I didn't hear them: The thick industrial floors kept the sound far away. After a week of rock and roll, the silence was golden.

• How to get there: Glasgow and Liverpool offer direct U.S. air service; US Airways flies to Glasgow daily (estimated round-trip fares with three-week advance purchase are $520 from Pittsburgh -- via Philadelphia or other stops). Flyglobespan (www.flyglobespan.com) offers trans-Atlantic service three times weekly from Boston to Glasgow and from New York JFK to Liverpool; limited one-way fares available from $238 with three-week advance purchase.

• Where to stay: Glasgow's Radisson SAS Hotel, 301 Argyle St. (www.radisson.com/glasgowuk) is steps from central Queen Street Station, with a contemporary "green" design and excellent restaurants and bars; doubles from about $283 per night. Liverpool's Parr Street Hotel, 33-45 Parr Street (www.parrstreet.co.uk) offers 12 nonsmoking rooms with weeknight rates from about $130; breakfasts not available. View advance information on Hard Day's Night Hotel, North John Street, at www.harddaysnighthotel.com.

• Find music: Download a free podcast of the Glasgow music scene at www.seeglasgow.com; view upcoming music events under "Gigs." Liverpool tourism information is online at www.visitliverpool.com. Download a podcast of Liverpool music tips at www.liverpool08.com; view coming events at www.ents24.com/web/whatson/music/Liverpool.html.

• More information: VisitBritain: In the United States call toll-free: 1-800-462-2748; www.visitbritain.us; www.visitscotland.com; www.visitliverpool.com.