Biffy Clyro’s Glasgow homecoming opens with a declaration of intent. “With a little love, if you want it, we can defeat them all,” frontman Simon Neil declares — a line that now reads less like the simple slogan of their 2025 return single and more like an affirmation of survival. After years marked by internal strain during the creation of their latest UK number one album Futique, numerous logistical setbacks, and the absence of founding bassist James Johnston from recent shows due to mental health struggles, this feels like a band determined to assert its status & resilience.
Any suggestion of fragility disappears once they hit the stage. New singles ‘A Little Love’ and the caustic ‘Hunting Season’ arrive early, muscular and confident, before the set surges into crowd-pleasing territory with ‘That Golden Rule and Who’s Got a Match?’. At times, Neil barely needs to sing, with the OVO Hydro happily taking over. Rather than being drowned out, he conducts the massed vocals with ease, occasionally stepping back from the mic and allowing the scale of the room to do the work.
Neil’s command of the stage is total. Energetically traversing across the band’s multi-tiered setup, he works the arena with the assurance of a frontman who knows exactly how to pace a crowd this size. If there is a slight dip, it comes mid-set, where momentum briefly softens during a run of newer material that lacks the instant punch of their established anthems, as the show threatens to become dangerously repetitive.
The band’s evolution is reflected in a well-chosen support lineup. English duo Soft Play’s confrontational and raucous punk-pop proves an ideal crowd warm-up, while Detroit hardcore outfit The Armed inject a level of chaos that nods to Biffy’s more abrasive and experimental early years. It’s a reminder of how far the trio’s sound has stretched — and how much of that extremity still underpins it.
Biffy’s greatest strength remains their range. Ferocious cuts like ‘A Hunger in Your Haunt’ transition comfortably between mass sing-alongs such as Biblical, while acoustic number ‘Machines’ provides a rare moment of intimacy in an otherwise thunderous show. Just as familiarity threatens to creep in, the band finish strong with a blistering triple salvo of familiar hits with ‘Living Is a Problem Because Everything Dies’, ‘Bubbles’ and the cathartic closer ‘Many of Horror’.
This isn’t a flawless victory, but it is a convincing one. Against the odds, Biffy Clyro once again prove that, whatever turbulence surrounds them, they remain one of Scotland’s most formidable live acts. If they are to go down, it’s certain they’ll be swinging.
“Biffy Clyro” by mzagerp is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.
