Biffy Clyro live music review: Catharsis at full volume
A thunderous, string-laden set at the OVO Hydro shows the band’s range and resilience in the face of recent upheaval
Has Edward Elgar ever been played at this volume? Perhaps ‘Nimrod’ blasting from the Hydro speakers is simply a harbinger of the onslaught to come. The headlines on Biffy Clyro’s Futique tour have all been about bassist James Johnston’s abrupt hiatus in order to deal with addiction and mental health issues, the first time this tight trio has been sundered since their teens. The good news is that they sound as potent as ever with Naomi Macleod deputising calmly and comfortably on bass, with additional guitar, keyboards and strings populating a stage set of German expressionist levels, angles, drapes and silhouettes.
Variety, as much as volume, is the spice of this setlist with the band vaulting from ear-splitting new track ‘A Little Love’ via the mainstream rock of ‘Hunting Season’ to the ferociously curt punk holler of ‘That Golden Rule’ and the glam stomp of ‘Who’s Got A Match?’ Happily, the strings are loud enough to take their proper place in the mix. A Biffy set might range all over the map, but precision is key on multi-part epics such as the gleeful sludge raid in ‘Wolves Of Winter’, the mighty ‘Mountains’ and the, well, biblical ‘Biblical’.
Ballads, from the sweetly melodic ‘Space’ to the grand guignol ‘Goodbye’, are sprinkled liberally throughout, providing a breather for the audience as much as the musicians who scurry into position from song to song. ‘Black Chandelier’ combines a lusty singalong with muscular playing while ‘Machines’ is stripped back to acoustic guitar and violin. They end with a salvo of their very best, including the celebratory metal of ‘The Captain’, the pointed drama of their punk Pink Floyd moment ‘Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies’, and the cleansing catharsis of ‘Many Of Horror’ ringing to the rafters.
Reviewed at OVO Hydro, Glasgow.