Biffy Clyro talk us through five of the most important gigs they’ve ever played
Biffy Clyro – our newly christened Rolling Stone UK Live Award winners – are gearing up to play Finsbury Park next summer. Before that, we got them to tell us about five of their most important shows.
The old adage is true of Biffy Clyro more than most artists: you’ve 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’s Pyramid Stage, the band’s rise to becoming one of the UK’s biggest and best has been built on the foundations of their superb live show.
As we crown them the winners of The Live Act Award, 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’s important to say that the journey is ever growing, and they’ll continue it next summer when they play a huge London show at Finsbury Park
10 July 1999: T Break Stage, T in the Park
We’d won a competition from playing [Glasgow venue] King Tut’s, 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’s bass drum pedal broke, so we didn’t have the kick drum for the first song and a half. I decided to use a new guitar that wasn’t a Stratocaster and managed to split all my fingers. The blood coming out of them was sticking in the strings, so the strings weren’t resonating.
We came offstage thinking we’d blown our opportunity to become a real band. Then Roger came straight backstage and said, “The way you guys coped with that, with everything going wrong, was amazing. I want to sign you.” It’s a little lesson for anyone out there: sometimes you can think you’re having the worst time in the world, and actually that was the day where we became an actual band making records.
23 June 2007: John Peel Stage, Glastonbury Festival
This was the first time that we’d 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’t particularly a Glastonbury band, as most heavy rock bands or metal bands aren’t – it wasn’t somewhere that we’d learn our skill. So when we stepped out and there were thousands and thousands of people in this tent, we were like, ‘Wow, maybe we don’t need to be just one thing.’ The world was our oyster.
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 – 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.
25 August 2013: Main Stage, Reading & Leeds Festival
That was our first time headlining a big, major festival. We were very, very nervous. Being a 90s kid, I’d grown up watching the Nirvana performance at Reading religiously. At school, I’d 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’s 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.
I’ve 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’s a handful of shows in my life that I’ve had a little cry afterwards, and I remember having a cry with my brother after that. They were tears of joy – I just couldn’t believe we’d done it. I still get goosebumps thinking about that show, even these days.
29 April 2016: Halle Münsterland, Münster
It was the first gig of the Ellipsis tour in this small town that we weren’t 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’t physically been or spent a lot of time. It just reminded me of the power of music and of writing good songs.
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’ve ever played in. I love hearing our songs sung in different accents – how they navigate our Scottish twang through the twang of their accent. It started our long-term love affair with Germany.
7 October 2018: Den Norske Opera & Ballett, Oslo
I’m going to choose one from our MTV Unplugged tour, and I’ll never forget the last show of the tour at the Opera House in Oslo. The stage set was so peculiar – we had a tree, we had office chairs. It was the exact opposite of how we normally tour. I’ll 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’t 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.
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, ‘Fuck, I’m pretty good at writing songs.’ They were just all stripped down, we were in another part of the world, and it was a really beautiful, sophisticated night. Normally, we’re just feral and sweaty!