Big Big Train are an English progressive rock band formed in Bournemouth in 1990. The current line-up consists of band founder Greg Spawton (bass, guitars and keyboards), along with Nick D'Virgilio (drums, guitars and keyboards), David Longdon (vocals, flute, keyboards, guitars and bass), and Rikard Sjöblom (guitars and keyboards). Robin Armstrong (guitars and keyboards) joined the group for live performances in 2019. Until 2009, the band were active as a predominantly-studio project led by Spawton and co-founder Andy Poole (guitars, bass and keyboards), who departed the band in 2018, with changing line-ups and guest musicians. They have released twelve studio albums and three EPs.
After starting out as an independent band, Big Big Train were signed to Giant Electric Pea from 1993 to 1998 and distributed their releases through their own website. Since their sixth album The Underfall Yard, which received critical acclaim from the progressive rock community, a more stable lineup has been established, and the band performed their first live concerts in 17 years at Kings Place, London, in August 2015. The gigs were voted Event of the Year by the readers of Prog magazine. Stone & Steel, a Blu-ray featuring the 2014 rehearsals at Real World Studios and four of the songs performed at Kings Place, was released on 21 March 2016. Big Big Train were the winners of the Breakthrough Award at the Progressive Music Awards held at Kew Gardens, London on 3 September 2013, and have been nominated in several other categories in recent years. The band's latest studio album, Grand Tour was released in May 2019. Big Big Train embarked on their first UK tour in October 2019 and a further tour of Europe in 2020. Scheduled dates for the band's first ever North American tour were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.