{"id":280901,"date":"2025-11-24T16:45:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T16:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/280901\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T16:45:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T16:45:10","slug":"biffy-clyro-talk-us-through-five-of-the-most-important-gigs-theyve-ever-played","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/280901\/","title":{"rendered":"Biffy Clyro talk us through five of the most important gigs they’ve ever played"},"content":{"rendered":"

The old adage is true of Biffy Clyro<\/a> more than most artists: you\u2019ve really got to see it live to get it. From sweaty basement shows where they made their name and grafted hard, to sold-out arenas and Glastonbury\u2019s Pyramid Stage, the band\u2019s rise to becoming one of the UK\u2019s biggest and best has been built on the foundations of their superb live show.<\/p>\n

As we crown them the winners of The Live Act Award<\/a>, supported by VYRA, at the ZYN Rolling Stone UK Awards 2025, frontman Simon Neil tracks their evolution as a live band via five particularly important, memorable and transformative gigs in their journey. It\u2019s important to say that the journey is ever growing, and they\u2019ll continue it next summer when they play a huge London show at Finsbury Park <\/p>\n

Read next<\/p>\n

10 July 1999: T Break Stage, T in the Park<\/p>\n

We\u2019d won a competition from playing [Glasgow venue] King Tut\u2019s, where judges would judge whether you were any good or not and invite you to play T in the Park. We knew that Roger Trust, A&R at Beggars Banquet, was there. It was the worst gig ever! On the first beat of the first song, Ben\u2019s bass drum pedal broke, so we didn\u2019t have the kick drum for the first song and a half. I decided to use a new guitar that wasn\u2019t a Stratocaster and managed to split all my fingers. The blood coming out of them was sticking in the strings, so the strings weren\u2019t resonating.<\/p>\n

We came offstage thinking we\u2019d blown our opportunity to become a real band. Then Roger came straight backstage and said, \u201cThe way you guys coped with that, with everything going wrong, was amazing. I want to sign you.\u201d It\u2019s a little lesson for anyone out there: sometimes you can think you\u2019re having the worst time in the world, and actually that was the day where we became an actual band making records.<\/p>\n

23 June 2007: John Peel Stage, Glastonbury Festival<\/p>\n

This was the first time that we\u2019d headlined any festival stage. It was just after Puzzle came out, and we really felt things had changed from that point. The tent was absolutely mobbed. We weren\u2019t particularly a Glastonbury band, as most heavy rock bands or metal bands aren\u2019t \u2013 it wasn\u2019t somewhere that we\u2019d learn our skill. So when we stepped out and there were thousands and thousands of people in this tent, we were like, \u2018Wow, maybe we don\u2019t need to be just one thing.\u2019 The world was our oyster.<\/p>\n

I set my guitar on fire for the first time at that gig, as my tribute to Jimi Hendrix.
I always had that in my mind \u2013 whenever I got to a big enough point, I really wanted to burn a guitar. I remember coming offstage feeling really strong, and that I was capable
of anything.<\/p>\n

25 August 2013: Main Stage, Reading &\u00a0 Leeds Festival<\/p>\n

That was our first time headlining a big, major festival. We were very, very nervous. Being a 90s kid, I\u2019d grown up watching the Nirvana performance at Reading religiously. At school, I\u2019d write a pretend lineup for Reading & Leeds where we were headlining and Nirvana were supporting. It was so pie in the sky at that point, but for however many years later, to be doing it, it\u2019s such an important show in our history. They were the first people that took a chance on us as a headliner and we fucking had a great time.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never been so scared to start a show, because it was such a big deal but also because I was starting the show by myself with no one else around, in such a minimal way. There\u2019s a handful of shows in my life that I\u2019ve had a little cry afterwards, and I remember having a cry with my brother after that. They were tears of joy \u2013 I just couldn\u2019t believe we\u2019d done it. I still get goosebumps thinking about that show, even these days.<\/p>\n

29 April 2016: Halle M\u00fcnsterland, M\u00fcnster<\/p>\n

\"\"Biffy Clyro arriving at the ZYN Rolling Stone UK Awards 2025 (Picture: Aaron Parsons for Rolling Stone UK)<\/p>\n

It was the first gig of the Ellipsis tour in this small town that we weren\u2019t that familiar with. We went out and there were 9,000 people. It was completely sold out on our first gig of that tour. It was the first time where I really realised that our music was spreading beyond the shores of the UK. It was the first time where I felt that we were an international band and that our songs belonged in environments that we hadn\u2019t physically been or spent a lot of time. It just reminded me of the power of music and of writing good songs.<\/p>\n

German people are so amazing at gigs. They love to sing along and get involved. They love to have a drink. It was one of the biggest party atmospheres we\u2019ve ever played in. I love hearing our songs sung in different accents \u2013 how they navigate our Scottish twang through the twang of their accent. It started our long-term love affair with Germany.<\/p>\n

7 October 2018: Den Norske Opera &\u00a0Ballett, Oslo<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to choose one from our MTV Unplugged tour, and I\u2019ll never forget the last show of the tour at the Opera House in Oslo. The stage set was so peculiar \u2013 we had a tree, we had office chairs. It was the exact opposite of how we normally tour. I\u2019ll never forget the liberation on that last night in Oslo and just letting the crowd sing and standing back and just seeing the tiers of people in this opera house. I couldn\u2019t believe that this post-hardcore, math rock band could be here playing acoustic, lush versions of these songs in a fucking opera house with 4,000 beautiful Norwegian people having the time of their lives.<\/p>\n

Every few years, I really suffer with self-esteem about my songwriting. Sometimes I need a kick up the arse with something, and this was one of the first times where I really felt, \u2018Fuck, I\u2019m pretty good at writing songs.\u2019 They were just all stripped down, we were in another part of the world, and it was a really beautiful, sophisticated night. Normally, we\u2019re just feral and sweaty! \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The old adage is true of Biffy Clyro more than most artists: you\u2019ve really got to see it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[70479,96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-280901","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-biffy-clyro","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}