There’s always been a space in my heart for Biffy Clyro (and yes that wording is definitely intentional). It’s hard to argue that they haven’t been one of the hardest working bands over the last couple of decades; from their early days of relentless touring to now being one of the biggest acts in the UK headlining festivals and selling out arenas within a heartbeat. In the last two years they’ve released two of their most polished and critical acclaimed albums to date and they show no signs whatsoever of slowing down.
Despite headlining a massive outdoor show in Cardiff just over a year ago, they are back in the capital with another sold out gig in the Welsh capital. This time around they’ve brought along another band who are at the absolute height of their powers, Brighton based Architects. From the off it’s all things go as “deep fake” the first track of their brand new album, opens proceedings and we know exactly what sort of treat we are in for.
On their tenth record “the classic symptoms of a broken spirit” they’ve perfectly incorporated the use of synths into their sound which doesn’t compromise the heaviness one bit. “tear gas” is industrial in tone and shows frontman Sam Carter giving it his all on the front platform. His glittering silver boots are an absolute wonder to behold and the performance is as equally as dazzling. There are clearly a lot of fans of the band in tonight, but even those not familiar with their work are equally swept along.
Both “Black Lungs” and “Meteor” have given them the mainstream success they so rightly deserve and both go down great tonight. The crowd lap everything up evening getting involved in the whole “crouch down on the floor” method which can sometimes go either way. But there’s no fear of that particularly during “when we were young” which sees the circle pit whirling in the centre of the room along with crowd surfing bodies over the front. It all finishes with a triumphant version of “Animals” with its chugging riff that sounds in the arena like a heard of angry elephants stomping their feet. Over the ten song set, you already feel as though you’ve been given a headline set in itself, now how’s that for a warmup?
A sea of red bathes across the stage as the band are lit up at the back for “DumDum”. It’s the traditional Biffy “Taps Aff” from the start for guitarist Simon Neil so you know that things are going to get pretty energetic tonight. Another thing for certain is that things are going to get loud and remain loud as signposted as the bust straight into “A Hunger In Your Haunt”. Bassist James Johnston if not in a power stance is bounding across the stage with as equal energy to that of Neil who is already throwing pretty much his whole body weight into each note that he plays. There’s something particularly joyful about hearing “Tiny Indoor Fireworks”, that sparks a somewhat youthful exuberance as it just bops along.
The songs are given a great sense of ummph in the live setting not least due to the strings that they have in the set up. It makes the already epic “That Golden Rule” have that much more of an impact rather than just the crunching guitars. The same came be said during the synth chorus of “Instant History” which simply roars out. The first chance we get to catch our breath is during an acoustic version of “Machines” performed by Neil front and centre stage. Not even a few songs in and you can already see him dripping beads of sweat on the big screens.
We soon get back into the heavy stuff again with the likes of “Unknown Male 01”, “End Of” and “Wolves of Winter” the later of which in particular has the echoes of 7,500 voices in the arena bouncing off of the walls. One of the many highlights of the evening is the wonderfully epic “Cop Syrup”; with the aforementioned strings in the mix really bringing a sense of scale to the occasion. But the clear driving force are the drum fills added by Ben Johnston which really pick up the pace during the crescendo.
I think that becoming older and more mature makes you realise that their more gentle and less heavy work is some of there best. That is certainly the case with the absolutely sublime “Space”. If you haven’t already heard the live Abbey Road recording then I suggest you search for it straight after this review. There’s something about hearing the song in this capacity that feels transcendent in a way. As I close my eyes there is such a sense of calm that washes around the room and for those four minutes it just feels as though everything is alright in the world.
Every drum beat in the build up to “Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies” hits you like a bullet. It feels as though every organ inside your body is shaking and it’s incredibly thrilling and “Biblical” sounds as big as its name suggests. You can confidently say that the setlist is as close to perfect as you are likely going to get with a perfect balance of everything across their career. There’s something for the old school fans in there as well. With “57” it takes you back to those early sweaty days in the local Academy venue and every lyric comes back to you like muscle memory. Instead you now get to hear it over a massive PA in a huge arena and it feels as though it was always destined to be played in a place like this.
The edginess “Glitter & Trauma” also still remains led by strobe lights blinding the crowds in its intro just like they used to do in the old days. I think it’s fair to say that most Biffy fans today aren’t as familiar with this earlier work, but there are still an awful lot of people around who are fully involved with it. What feels like a perfect way to end proceedings is with probably their most well known hit “Many Of Horror”. As hinted at previously, I personally used to be a fan of Biffy just fully letting the taps off and going for it full throttle, but I can say I’m glad to fully appreciate these slower moments.
You have everyone in the arena singing, arms aloft to every single word. It’s a special moment which manages to go up yet another gear in the second chorus. The adoring Welsh crowd are there until the very last moment to soak every last bit of the atmosphere up. I think it is probably fair to say that Biffy Clyro are the band that I have seen the most throughout my time; be it through their early days, their high profile support slots, festival shows up to their arena tours now. And over all that time they still don’t fail to surprise me in the best possible way. Mon The Biff.
All photo credits to Daniel Winkler