Organisers of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay 2010/11 announced today that Scottish rock band Biffy Clyro will headline the Concert in the Gardens, the music and fireworks spectacular at Edinburgh's 2010-2011 New Year. Tickets will go on-sale to the public from 9.00am, Friday 1 October.
Headlining the Concert in the Gardens concludes a big year for Biffy Clyro with critically acclaimed album ‘Only Revolutions’ exceeding 300,000 sales in the UK alone and earning the band their first Platinum-selling album as well as their first Mercury Music nomination.
2010 has seen the band make a stellar leap forward into rock’s major leagues and has included two sold-out UK tours, a run of spectacular summer festival appearances, as well as receiving the 2010 Kerrang! Award and their first ever NME Award for Best Video for ‘The Captain.’
"Bringing in the Bells in Scotland at the biggest party in the world is the icing on the cake of an amazing year for us," said Biffy Clyro.
Pete Irvine, Director of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, added: "Biffy Clyro are the UK festival band of the year. They’ve made us all feel good. And they’re Scottish. What better way to see in 2011?"
The Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Street Party and Concert in the Gardens form part of four days of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay which runs from Thursday 30 December 2010 until Sunday 2 January 2011.
Tickets are already on-sale for the Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Street Party featuring live music stages, giant screens and the Midnight Fireworks.
Tickets for The Keilidh and Torchlight Procession also go on-sale Friday 1 October, 9am and full event details to be announced in due course.
Festival organisers will release further artist details in the coming weeks and full programme details early in November.
Biffy Clyro biography
Biffy Clyro came together in 1995 in a school in Kilmarnock, just outside of Glasgow, when childhood friends Simon Neil (vocals/guitar) and twins James (bass/vocals) and Ben Johnston (drums/vocals) started playing music together.
United by a love of underground, experimental rock and post-hardcore bands such as Braid and Karate, along with the starrier likes of Guns N’Roses and Metallica, their first three albums – ‘Blackened Sky’, ‘The Vertigo Of Bliss’ and ‘Infinity Land’ – arrived in a barrage of creativity, a record released every year and relentless touring building up a small but devoted army of followers.
As Team Biffy’s ranks grew they found themselves playing Wembley Stadium with Muse, headlining the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury and gigging with The Rolling Stones. U2 even
supported them at a special Little Noise session at London’s Union Chapel.
In 2007, fourth album ‘Puzzle,’ exploded to propel the band out of the underground where they’d been honing their craft and into the mainstream consciousness. The gold-selling major label debut went on to shift over 250,000 copies, to the delight of the loyal and passionate fanbase who had been willing them on for the past decade. An overnight success story, this is not.
Leap into 2010 and current release ‘Only Revolutions’ is widely acclaimed as one of finest albums
of the year, it has seen Biffy Clyro make a stellar leap forwards into rock’s major leagues as it has
reached 300,000 sales in the UK alone.
As well as a succession of hit singles – ‘Mountains’ (#5), ‘That Golden Rule’ (#10), ‘The Captain’ (#17) and ‘Many of Horror (#20) - the band’s subsequent successes have included two sold-out UK tours which included gigs at Brixton Academy, Hammersmith Apollo and two rapturously received homecoming shows at Glasgow’s Barrowland, as well as their first ever NME Award for Best Video for the single ‘The Captain.’
The band have also earned their first nomination for the highly prestigious Mercury Prize, and having been nominated in two categories at the 2010 Kerrang! Awards, walked away with the
Best Video award for ‘The Captain.’
Biffy Clyro’s ongoing ascension is set to continue unabated into 2011, following success in 2010
unrivalled in the music scene. A series of major summer shows including a prestigious closing night set at the iTunes Festival as well as dates at Reading and Leeds, their biggest headline tour to date and to cap it all off, the trio will conclude a sensational year headlining the Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations. All of which reiterates Biffy Clyro’s status as Britain’s most compelling band.