Biffy Clyro at the Enmore Theatre - Live Review - 5/9/14

Biffy Clyro are proof that hard work pays off. Since forming in 1995 they have consistently worked hard and built upon their past successes to grow bigger and bigger. Now in 2014, almost 20 years later, they have reached the pinnacle. Since the release of their #1 debuting latest album they have headlined just about every major festival in the UK from Reading and Leeds to T In The Park and Isle Of Wight. Fortunately for me this success has never completely transferred to Australia so I got to see them in the intimate venue of the Enmore Theatre.

The evening started with a charged set from Calling All Cars. A moderate amount of die-hard fans turned out and made their presence known, resulting in the first 5 rows moshing hard. The three-piece played hard rock at its most primal with lots of solos for every band member, or as my mother remarked to me mid set “they are a good old pub-rock band! It is like they are three friends making as much noise as possible”. They had only 1/3 a stage to make their own, they had nothing but simple white down lights the whole set, and Biffy are world famous for their live sets. Being the support of Biffy wasn’t an easy job, but even still they gave their all in trying to entertain the crowd and I can’t say anything other than it worked.

People trickled slowly into the venue so when I looked around after Calling All Cars had finished I was startled to discover that the Enmore was near capacity. The Enmore really is a great venue. It enables the best of both worlds. Half ground floor area was flat for mosh pits to occur, while the back half of the ground floor was on an incline so that everyone who would rather stand than mosh could see the stage. Upstairs meanwhile was seated for those that have accepted that sitting is easiest. All three elements were necessary for the Biffy Clyro fans. A big contingency of Youth mosh and crowd surfed up the front, while behind them stood a large number of middle aged British men downing large quantities of alcohol as they try to show that they are still youthful, with the occasional wife standing nearby silently condemning. All those who didn’t really fit into any particular category seemed to be seated upstairs, such as families.

Before Biffy Clyro walked out onto the stage a recording of a Scottish war chant akin to the New Zealand Hakka blared aggressively at the crowd. With everyone thoroughly hyped up (and slightly confused) the band appeared and settled into the stage. None of the 3 members of the band bothered wearing a shirt for a second, showing off their nipples from the get go. Bass player James Johnson also had on an amazing par of leopard print pants.

They had a very simple stage lay out, with just the instruments on stage and a banner at the back of the cover art of ‘Opposites’. They made up for this however with an intense and perfectly choreographed light show. There was nothing elaborate about it. There were no gimmicks. Just a mass of different kinds of lights to call from. In many ways its simplicity was what made it so startling and affective.

Right from the start it was clear that this was going to be an amazing experience. ‘The Golden Rule’ was played 2nd in their set and kickstarted the first of many sing-a-longs of the night.These moments all truly feel special. Most of these moments seemed to come off songs from the album ‘Only Revolutions’, though this could be due to the immense popularity of the album. My own personal highlight of the night was the mass sing along to ‘Many Of Horror’. I don’t know what made it so special, it as just a serene moment. It was like we all still believed that it was you and me until the end of time.

It was clear that Biffy truly were digging throughout their whole discography to pick songs, stretching all the way back to their debut with ‘Joy.Discovery.Invention’. For the die-hard Biffy Clyro fan it really would be a treat. The audience also seemed to know a great deal of Biffy’s discography too. The audience cheered from the first note of ‘Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies’ from 3 albums ago, while doing the same for the first note of ‘Black Chandelier’ on their most recent album. The audience truly seemed grateful of Biffy and in reciprocation Biffy genuinely seemed grateful towards the crowd.

After a bit over an hour on stage the band departed much to the languish of the crowd. They weren’t off for more than a few seconds before a chant of “MON THE BIFF” started to spread throughout the whole crowd. Not to leave the crowd hanging, Biffy Clyro eventually returned to blast through a few more songs. To finish they played their most well known song in Australia, ‘Mountain’, though it didn’t really matter as the audience had made clear that they already knew all their songs.

Biffy have had to work hard to get to where they are, and it has paid off. They have perfected every element of a live show so that they are in total control of the whole crowd the whole time, while still feeling fresh and organic and new. I don’t know how they will be able to build from where they are currently as they seem to be at the pinnacle, but I genuinely believe that if anyone could do it, than Biffy Clyro could.

Review by Matthew Turner

Photos by Clare Hawley, view more here

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