LOTS of stellar names have topped the bill at the Glastonbury Festival in recent years. The Rolling Stones, U2, Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, Radiohead, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Adele, Muse – some of the biggest acts in global rock and pop.

A few months ago Emily Eavis, co-organiser of Glasto, was asked what acts could headline future bills there. And among the names she rattled off – Katy Perry, The xx, Royal Blood – was that of a rock trio from Ayrshire.

Biffy Clyro – Simon Neil, and twin brothers James and Ben Johnston – already had Glastonbury in their sights. Simon told an interviewer this February: “It’s more than a music festival, I think it’s such a cultural touchpoint and touchstone. We’d love to do it one day, that’s the plan. I mean, why the hell not? We’re a good enough band for it.”

Biffy Clyro, who have previously headlined T in the Park, Download and (twice) the Reading and Leeds Festival, tonight top the bill at the first-ever TRNSMT festival, on Glasgow Green. Their appearance is widely expected to be one of the highlights of the three-day-long event. Concert footage on YouTube shows what to expect: the band, shirtless and soaked in sweat, totally in command, effortlessly setting the arena alight. Their delirious fans have a chant of their own: ‘Mon the Biff!” – which has made its way onto a keyring and tie-dye T-shirt on sale on the band’s website.

Allied to their strong songs and musicianship, the band has a ferocious work ethic, and there’s a strong mutual respect between them and their fans. In the liner notes of their seventh CD, Ellipsis, which was released a year ago yesterday, there’s this heartfelt message: “Thank you to every single person that has joined us on our journey so far. You have made our lives into something we could never have dreamed. We hope to never let you down”.

Biffy Clyro were formed at a Kilmarnock school in 1995, when Simon and his childhood friends, James and Ben, began playing music together. In 2000 they released an four-track EP via Stow College’s Electric Honey label. The Sunday Herald reviewer said: “Three young rock pups from Ayrshire, Biffy Clyro have done their time on the Scottish toilet venue circuit and - on the evidence of this sinewy EP - are ready to take the next step up”.

Their first three albums – Blackened Sky (2002), The Vertigo of Bliss (2003) and Infinity Land (2004) – got good reviews and earned them a loyal following, but sailed under most people’s radar. Their fortunes, however, turned as they switched to a new label, an affiliate of Warner Bros, and released their fourth album, Puzzle, in 2007.

NME magazine spoke of the band achieving their full potential by taking the plunge into instrumental diversity. Another critic observed that the album was full of MTV-friendly songs. The album, written in the aftermath of Simon’s mothers’s death, sold in excess of 250,000 copies.

Biffy Clyro were suddenly on many people’s radar. They went on tour with top-selling US band Red Hot Chili Peppers and they supported both the Rolling Stones, in Rome and Barcelona, and Muse. “It’s been a brilliant year”, Neil said in November 2007. "We have had so many chances to do amazing things, a lot of pinch-ourselves moments – and they are still happening”.

Two other well-received albums followed – Only Revolutions (2009, which was nominated for the 2010 Mercury Music Prize) and Opposites (2013) - as the band kept up its relentless concert schedule. They rounded off 2014 with three hugely successful, sold-out shows at Glasgow Barrowland, each night show focusing on two of the albums.

The following year, 2015, saw the band recharge their collective batteries, Ben Johnson explaining: “We don’t like to be in people’s faces too much. The last thing we want is for people to get bored of us, so you could almost call it a year off”. They were as good as their word, but by early 2016 they were talking excitedly about their forthcoming album.

Neil told NME: “For me, the first three albums we made were lo-fi, angular prog-metal and the last three were big-boy records – big, important music. This one is just embracing the chaos. This is the first one where we’ve been feeling our way in the dark a little. I think that’s exciting. This is probably the pre-teen album! The reboot”. Ellipsis, like Opposites, topped the UK album charts.

So now here are Biffy Clyro, back on the road, back on the festival circuit. Speaking on Glasgow Green this week, DF Concerts CEO Geoff Ellis told the Sunday Herald: “I’m a fan of theirs, and I love the guys as well. We’ve worked with them since they were on the [Stow] record label and were playing King Tut’s.

“To work with a band that you’ve seen go from playing King Tut’s to playing Barrowland, the SECC and Hydro … and headlining here, is fantastic. You couldn’t meet three lovelier guys. They’re very into what they to, they’re the real deal, and they’re proof that you don’t have to be a w----- to be in a rock ‘n’ roll band.

“They deserve everything that has come to them and will still come to them, because they write some great music. There are very few bands that have their energy, live. They’re one of the best live acts in the world”. ‘Mon the Biff.

* http://trnsmtfest.com; www.biffyclyro.com