Biffy Clyro Glasgow Hydro review: Resilient, loud, joyous singalong
The longstanding Scottish rock band have had a tough time of late, but they’re coming out of 2025 sounding as good as ever, writes Rosalind Erskine.
“It’s great to be home Glasgow”, Simon Neil shouts to a cheering crowd. “This is the first time in 30 years we’ve played Glasgow without James” Neil continues to even louder cheers before thanking stand-in bassist Naomi MacLeod and launching into Friendshipping, a song from their 10th album Futique.
30 years and 10 albums is a long time for any band, but Biffy Clyro are one that seemed to have passed through the years without much drama. Great music, stadium-sell out gigs, and they seemed to just keep on keeping on. Until last year, when frontman Simon Neil and brothers Ben and James Johnston spoke to Rolling Stone about burnout, exhaustion and falling out.
Futique was a celebration of getting through this (and one with a lot of love) but it was short lived as it was announced in late 2025 that James Johnston was leaving the tour due to mental health and addiction issues. The band also had to cancel their US leg of this tour due to an admin error on their work visas.
With these recent troubles in mind, the band kicked off this year and tour, the UK leg of which ends, naturally, in a sell-out at Glasgow’s Hydro.
Opening with a Little Love, the band were shrouded under a thin curtain-like veil until the chorus of this new hit, which set the high energy tempo of the night.
The songs continued in seat shaking, chest thumping cadence, from a Who’s Got a Match, Biblical and Wolves of Winter to a rousing rendition of Goodbye.
Other new songs felt rooted in purpose and are very ‘Biffy’- delighting both long-term fans and those that discovered the band when their 2007 album Puzzle went mainstream - with Neil paying tribute to James on the lively Friendshipping.
While there were plenty of scream and jump around instances - Mountains and That Golden Rule to name just two - there were quieter, more reflective moments - an acoustic version of Machines was the quietest point in the show, but with the voices of the crowd raising the roof. The quiet moment didn’t last long, as they launched straight into The Captain.
The ever moving Neil popped up all over the stage, from the top of the staggered staircase, to the left and right wings, while projections of his face and profile were on screen. The stage set up and lighting added to the energy, with bright flashing lights, confetti, pyrotechnics and streamers.
Sometimes there wasn’t a lot of breathing space, as many songs as possible were crammed into the one hour 45 minute set.
Closing with Bubbles and Many of Horror, this was a loud and joyous show that reaffirms the band’s place in Scottish music history and in the hearts of fans, no matter the odds they face.
Biffy Clyro’s Futique tour continues throughout Europe with a gig in Edinburgh coming this summer.
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