TRNSMT festival review, Glasgow: Biffy Clyro homecoming steals the show

A lot smaller in terms of scale in comparison to T in the Park, TRNSMT is not entirely a like for like replacement, but its headliners were just as impressive

Scotland’s own Biffy Clyro stole the show as the curtains came down in an emphatic display of fireworks, streamers, and three half naked Scotsmen, on what was an eventful and eclectic inaugural TRNSMT festival.

Over the past few years T in the Park, what was traditionally Scotland’s highlight of the music calendar, has been embroiled in difficulty, a change in location, dreadful weather and logistical issues combined with the unsavory as reports of arrests, drug related deaths and even stolen cash machines were bandied about meant this was an opportunity for TRSNMT to cement itself firmly as the main Scottish festival.

A lot smaller in terms of scale in comparison to T in the Park, TRNSMT is not entirely a like for like replacement, the urban festival situated on Glasgow Green in the heart of the city didn’t offer camping and housed much smaller secondary stages to its much larger equivalent, however it didn’t lose any of the grandeur with its headliners as Radiohead, Kasabian and Biffy Clyro topped the bill across the three days.

The opening day of the festival saw the likes of London Grammar, Rag n Bone Man and Belle & Sebastian accompany Radiohead, fresh from their Glastonbury headline slot, on the main stage whereas the other three stages, King Tut’s. Jack Rocks and Smirnoff House provided a platform for smaller, but by no means lesser, acts and DJs to perform.


 

Saturday brought with it a continuation of the untypically Scottish weather as the sun bore down brightly as revelers poured back into the festival site to catch the likes of Cabbage and Circa Waves early on. However, it wasn’t until London grime superstar Stormzy took to stage for the 3pm slot that the atmosphere got going.

Huge mosh pits accompanied his set as he performed tracks including ‘Big For Your Boots’ and ‘Cigarettes and Cush’ as well as a cover of Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ before closing with what is arguably the track that got him where he is today, ‘Shut Up’.

George Ezra and Catfish and The Bottlemen made up the remainder of what was a slightly underwhelming main stage line up before Saturday’s headliners, Kasabian, played a loud, brash and somewhat predictable set to close the night. That didn’t stop their fans from having a good time however as singalongs to ‘Club Foot’ and ‘Shoot The Runner’ provided the soundtrack to beer spilling and ‘arms around shoulders’ dancing your dad would no doubt be proud of.

Over at the Jack Daniel’s Jack Rocks stage, up and coming bands such as London rock four-piece Paves, Scottish act Vida and the the dark melodic group Wytches filled out the smaller tent as crowds took a break from the overly commercial main stage acts. Paves, with their exuberant stage presence, easy listening indie rock sound and enigmatic lead singer (complete with cravat and overly ostentatious hat) are surely destined for bigger things.


 Black Honey 

The final day of the three-day festival saw a return to norm with the weather as a dramatic drop in temperature and sporadic showers providing a welcome reminder that we were actually in Glasgow and not Ibiza. Band of the moment, Blossoms continued their unprecedented rise to the top, I’m going to make the prediction now that they’ll top a festival bill sooner rather than later at this rate, their performance at TRNSMT was again faultless.

Frontman Tom Ogden is a rock star in the making, exuding coolness and making it effortless, it’s his interaction with the audience that makes him work so well, shoehorning the name of a recently broken hearted audience member and their now publicly lambasted ex into the lyrics of ‘My Favourite Room’ to huge applause.

Festival favourites Two Door Cinema Club, Twin Atlantic and The 1975 made up the rest of the bill on the main stage before Scottish rockers, back on home turf (and hugely apologetic for being away a while, I might add) took centre stage in what was one of their most emphatic performances yet. Irish indie rockers Two Door Cinema Club went through their archive playing favourites including "What You Know", "Something Good Can Work" and "Are We Ready?" setting the crowd in good spirits despite the rain, jovially acknowledged by Alex Trimble: "Thank you so much for joining us on this beautiful summer day."

The King Tut’s and Jack Rocks stages were fast becoming the go-to place to hear some of the better up and coming acts. Declan McKenna, also fresh from his performance at Glastonbury, took the same form and applied it to his slot on the Green, with his almost awkward indie rocker vibe easily endearing himself to the Scottish audience, his rendition of "Paracetamol" got the crowd going.

The Amazons and award winning Vukovi were other highlights on the King Tut’s stage in what was a stronger secondary stage line up. Over at the Jack Rocks tent, White Room, The Blinders and Tijuana Bibles all played to what was potentially a bigger crowd due to the poor weather. However it was Bristol natives, The Shimmer Band, that stood out with their own brand of psychedelic rock and swagger.

Somewhat fittingly however, it was Biffy Clyro on their home turf that stole the show as the crowds gathered for the final act of the festival. Topless and adorning sequin trousers, the ever-enigmatic Simon Neil was in good form and clearly glad to be home: “We need to come back home more."

Launching with ‘Wolves of Winter’ the band went through their impressive discography weaving in softer melodic tracks such as "Many of Horror" and "Re-Arrange" with the heavier anthem titles "The Captain" and "Biblical". As the sun began to set and the rain cleared up, Neal took to the mic bellowing “We rocked the rain away” before closing with a pumped-up rendition of ‘"Stingin’ Belle" accompanied by a Glastonbury-esque fireworks display to round off the weekend.