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BIFFY CLYRO: ‘A CELEBRATION OF ENDINGS’ – LIVE FROM GLASGOW BARROWLAND BALLROOM To celebrate the release of their latest album, A Celebration Of Endings, Biffy Clyro embark on a livestream with all the hallmarks of a live show at an empty Glasgow venue that shares a storied history with the band and the production crew. TPi’s Jacob Waite reports…
To mark the release of their eighth studio album, A Celebration Of Endings, Biffy Clyro performed a one-off, live show at The Barrowland Ballroom Glasgow on 15 August. The livestreamed performance saw the band play their new album in full for the first time across a range of spaces in the empty Glaswegian venue – creating a bespoke experience for live music fans in lockdown while simultaneously providing much-needed work for production crew at the height of UK’s festival-less summer. Biffy Clyro were on the verge of beginning a 24-month album cycle when the lockdown of live events came into force. “We had an inkling for a month prior to the announcement, that things were going to slow down or stop, so we began to cautiously slow down on purchasing equipment and holding off confirming flights and hotels for the year ahead to protect ourselves,” commented Tour and Project Manager, Neil Anderson, who has been on the road with Biffy Clyro since 2001. Following the release of the album, the Scottish band were set to embark on a busy calendar of promo, live shows and music festivals, including visits Stateside – one of the first ventures that the team put the
brakes on as the COVID-19 pandemic developed. “The cancellation of BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend and Glastonbury sounded a death knell for our summer of festivals.” While he was well into the advancing process for summer, Anderson was able to release the various holds the band had on travel, accommodation, production and logistics. “I did so with a heavy heart in the latter two areas, knowing that our long-time suppliers would be suffering adversely through it all,” the PM reported. “In the case of one of our main suppliers, I believe over the span of a week, they lost 90% of their bookings for the entire year. Thankfully, we’ve been able to develop some other Biffy-related projects in that time, and I’ve been able to spend time working from home on those, which has kept me grateful and just busy enough to not be climbing the walls.” The Barrowland livestream arose from the band’s desire to do something with their newfound wealth of time in lockdown, and frontman, Simon Neil’s vision for the show. “Right from the first conversation, his idea was crystallised, and the ambition in the early stages through to the delivery 08
