Biffy Clyro @ Finsbury Park
FInsbury Park, London - 03/07/26
Last night saw this year's run of Finsbury Park concerts get underway in the most emphatic fashion possible, with Biffy Clyro headlining the first of three consecutive nights at one of London's most iconic outdoor venues. The Scottish trio have long since proven themselves worthy of moments like this, having headlined some of the UK's biggest and most iconic festivals across a career that has only grown in stature with each passing year. Their most recent album 'Futique' arrived to widespread critical acclaim and earned them yet another UK number one, before a sold-out arena tour confirmed that their grip on British rock shows absolutely no sign of loosening. All of that built to last night, the biggest headline show of their career, and from the very first moment it felt like exactly that.
A capacity crowd welcomed Simon Neil and Ben Johnston to the stage, joined by touring guitarist Mike Vennart, keyboardist Richard Ingram and bassist Naomi Macleod, as well as violinists Annemarie McGahon and Ailbhe Clancy. 'The Captain' opened the set and immediately forced tens of thousands of voices to find themselves, but it was follow-up 'That Golden Rule' that got the crowd moving at full force, the string work of McGahon and Clancy bringing a sweeping grandeur that sent the already electric atmosphere even higher.
A cry of "Who needs a match when you've got a flamethrower" introduced 'Who's Got a Match?' and from there the set moved at a relentless pace. What unfolded across the next two hours was a career-spanning masterpiece, pulling from near enough every album in their catalogue. Only 'The Vertigo of Bliss' was left untouched, with everything else fair game, and the new material from 'Futique' sat just as comfortably alongside the classics as anything else in the set. Beloved deep cuts like 'Booooom, Blast & Ruin', making its first live appearance since 2017, drew enormous reactions and only reinforced just how rich a back catalogue Biffy Clyro have built across three decades.
Simon Neil's vocals were as good as I have ever heard them, every note delivered with total conviction across a set that demanded everything from him. He kept words between songs brief, but his gratitude and encouragement to the crowd was ever-present, woven into the music itself rather than saved for the gaps between songs. Ben Johnston was a force of nature throughout, his hard-hitting drumming underpinning everything while his backing vocals added another layer to each song. The chemistry the five other musicians brought to the stage matched the energy of the two longstanding Biffy members perfectly. This was not a touring band going through the motions — it was a full live band firing on all cylinders, and every song was the better for it.
It was the massive one-two of 'Black Chandelier' and 'Mountains' that brought the main set to a close, a confetti-filled moment that had the whole of Finsbury Park lost in it. The contrast this provided with the encore's opening could not have been more perfectly judged. Simon Neil walked out alone under a single spotlight to perform 'Machines', the acoustic guitar carrying a weight across the open air that felt almost impossible for one song to hold. Just as it seemed it had reached its peak, actor and musician Jamie Campbell Bower appeared atop the stage's podium to duet with Neil, the string section rising behind them to take the song somewhere none of the crowd could have anticipated. It was one of the most stunning live moments I have ever witnessed.
A riotous 'Wolves of Winter' followed before 'Bubbles' pulled one of the night's biggest singalongs from the crowd, but it was the timeless 'Many of Horror' that closed everything out. Backed by a huge firework display, the entire crowd sang every word back in a moment of anthemic communal brilliance that served as the perfect final chapter to one of the most perfect nights of live music I have ever seen.
Before Biffy took to the stage the supporting lineup was up there with the best festival bills you will find anywhere this year. Nothing But Thieves delivered a set of well over an hour packed with hits and vocal performances that still managed to blow me away despite having seen the band more times than I can count. New music from upcoming album 'Stray Dogs' blended seamlessly amongst anthems like 'Amsterdam' and 'If I Get High', creating a set that would have been worthy of headlining in its own right. Don Broco brought their heaviest era to date, with a set loaded with offerings from 'Nightmare Tripping' that had the mosh pits opening up far earlier in the day than anyone could have expected. Marmozets and Wavves both did everything asked of them and more across their respective sets earlier in the afternoon, ensuring the field was already buzzing long before the heavyweights arrived.
This rounded out one of the most momentous days Finsbury Park has seen, and with Kasabian headlining tonight alongside Louis Dunford, Razorlight, The K's, Miles Kane and SOFY, and Wolf Alice closing the weekend on Sunday with Lykke Li, The Last Dinner Party and Rachel Chinouriri, the momentum shows no sign of letting up.