They’ve been playing Glasgow for pretty much their whole careers, twenty years, starting at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut so it seems only fitting that Biffy Clyro come home for Glasgow’s festival debut. 2009’s Only Revolutions might have shot the band into superstardom but they’ve always been heroes in Glasgow, only a half hour drive from their hometown of Kilmarnock. On the Green on the fateful Sunday evening it’d be positively belting down with rain for hours but very few seemed deterred by it in the slightest, the crowd having been kept warm by dancing along to The 1975’s boppy hits just an hour ago.

The crowd is chanting ‘Biffy Fucking Clyro’ long before the trio come onstage but they don’t keep the tens of thousands in waiting for too long. The stage lights up and a wall of noise erupts from the three men standing upon it (in rather jazzy pants if I say so myself), rather scantily clad even for the Scottish. ‘Wolves of Winter’, the lead single from Ellipsis brings the crowd to life. The way Simon Neil rips into his lyrics with such demonic fury is something of a spectacle, he scarcely stops to come back to the microphone to lead the group vocal of the chorus. The call of ‘we are the wolves of winter’ beckons the crowd to wrap an arm around one another and belt it out together, which they do gladly.

After ‘Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies’, Biffy Clyro dip into their back catalogue to bring out old favourite ‘57’ which they’ve been playing for nearly twenty years. Despite the song being written long before Biffy Clyro were even close to reaching the echelons of rock that they now sit in, they still fill out the song to sound just as at home in festival headline set as it does being blasting down the stairs of King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut.

‘Biblical’ comes next and there’s a bit of irony in the biblical rain descending down onto Glasgow. Regardless it’s a massive song, Neil visibly incredibly comfortable in this soul bearing song, cutting back on his eccentric, jutting movements to soak up the atmosphere that ‘Biblical’ creates. The bridge fits like a glove to huge sets like this, like the band knew that Opposites would be the album to throw them into the ring as one of rock music’s heavyweights.

‘The Captain’ takes the band back to usual form, Simon Neil and James Johnston indulging in huge riffs and rock star jumps across the front of the stage. ‘Who’s Got a Match?’ is sharp. There’s almost blinding lights and pyro to match the punky guitars which transform into raucous shredding as the sound descends into it’s final minute of chaos. Fan favourite ‘Black Chandelier’ goes by in a flash, every chorus getting louder than the last.

A few songs later ‘Medicine’ is what really stands out next. It’s a delicate moment for Biffy Clyro but it makes the set even more atmospheric through the use of their backdrop and Simon Neil’s powerful yet emotive vocals. This feels special. ‘Different People’ slots in perfectly behind ‘Medicine’, remaining emotive and not cheapening the moment still left by the previous song, yet still pushing back into usual Biffy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd9iJ0j4U-Y

Their main set ends with cut from their newest album ‘Animal Style’ and international hit ‘Many of Horror’. If the main set wasn’t enough to leave everyone in awe, the final slam of the encore was. Running through ‘Machines and ‘Folding Stars’ before cult favourite and live extravaganza that is ‘Stingin Belle’. If TRNSMT proved anything is that Glasgow are in safe hands for next year!

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