BIFFY CLYRO SET EDINBURGH ABLAZE IN TRIUMPHANT SUMMER SESSIONS SHOW

LIVE REVIEW | BIFFY CLYRO w/ Swim School, Nothing But Thieves | SUMMER SESSIONS, EDINBURGH | 21st August 2026 by Courteney Pearson

Few bands can command a Scottish crowd quite like Biffy Clyro. Beneath a host of bright lights, strikingly impressive on-screen visuals, and the familiar chant of “Mon the Biff”, Friday night in Edinburgh felt like a homecoming, with the capital definitely providing a very warm welcome.

Superb Support At The Showground

Before the Ayrshire legends took to the stage, we were graced with an opening set by the talented Swim School. I can only imagine how exhilarating it would be opening for a band as iconic as Biffy Clyro on home turf. Their droning guitar and sultry vocals made for an atmospheric introduction, filling the space with a hazy wall of sound.

Nothing But Thieves follow, and for a band I somehow have never managed to catch live before, they immediately made an impression. Frontman Conor Mason‘s extraordinary upper register is even more striking live; his voice powerfully cut through the scale of the production around him.

Playing sandwiched between two Scottish bands on Scottish soil is no small assignment, but this band never once felt dwarfed by the occasion. As we Scots tend to do, with all those years of primary school assembly practice, the crowd sang beautifully in unison throughout the entirety of their performance.

The highlight of their set came at ‘Imposssible’. The power ballad was immediately swallowed by the crowd, its beautiful guitar line carrying Mason’s vocal as thousands sang it back towards the stage. By the time they closed the set and began to leave, there was a special energy to the crowd, now well and truly hyped up for what was to come next.

Edinburgh Erupts

And then the main event. Bright white beams announced Biffy Clyro‘s arrival as chants of “Mon the Biff!” and “Biffy Fucking Clyro” were released into the atmosphere, rippling all the way from the barrier to the exit gates.

Even their entrance felt theatrical; a rhythmic instrumental piece of music played while those blinding lights shot off in every direction. From there on, subtlety was not particularly high on their agenda.

There were strings. There was spectacle. There was Simon Neil in nothing but a denim kilt. And, because apparently all of that still wasn’t enough of an entrance, the frontman also had a fucking flamethrower.

As the flames continued to erupt across the stage, the heat reached way into the crowd. It could have felt ridiculous and gimmicky. Somehow in the hands of this band it felt completely appropriate. Underneath all the spectacle is the reason this band has remained such a formidable live act for so long now.

Simon Neil remains a magnetic frontman, prowling across that stage as if it were his own property, switching effortlessly between moments of vulnerability and absolute ferocity. Beside him, Ben Johnston and temporary replacement for James Johnston – Naomi Macleod – provided the muscular backbone that has always made Biffy sound much bigger than three people have any right to.

There’s something so satisfying about hearing the songs chanted back by a Scottish crowd. Choruses are roared rather than sung, arms shoot high into the air, and every familiar opening note seems to trigger another surge of excitement.

Many of the night’s strongest moments came when songs were given the room to really breathe; take away the theatricality and what you’re left with is 60,000 people feeling thousands of different emotions, all with their own connection and ties to the songs.

The addition of strings was particularly effective live, bringing cinematic weight to the more emotional parts of the set and serving as a reminder of just how much melody sits beneath Biffy’s characteristic noise and jagged guitars. That contrast has always been one of the band’s greatest strengths. They can move from something tender and exposed into a wall of guitar without warning, and live, those shifts become even more dramatic.

Decades into their impressive career, there isn’t anything surprising about Biffy Clyro delivering a polished and well executed show. What is impressive is how little it felt like a routine or pre-rehearsed performance. There’s still that sense of raw unpredictability to them, a slightly unhinged energy running beneath even the slickest elements of a large scale production.

As their set drew closer to its end, Edinburgh was complete putty in their hands. Their set was loud, emotional, theatrical, and occasionally absurd. Biffy Clyro didn’t just play to Edinburgh; they completely set it ablaze.

Edinburgh Summer Sessions continues this week with headline shows from Lorde, Deftones and The Prodigy. Final tickets are on sale here.