Last night brought Biffy Clyro to Melbourne’s Forum for a sold out show on their Futique tour.
It’s been 8 years since the Scottish rockers last graced our shores. And 13 years since the first time I saw them live. I have a long held opinion of them being one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen and I’ve stood by this for over a decade, so getting to experience them in a smaller venue was something I was eagerly looking forward to.
Adelaide’s Teenage Joans opened the night. There was quite a crowd down there early to see them, and I was really pleased. They were a great live and a good pick to support Biffy. It’s clear most of the crowd were unaware of them prior to last night, and I hope they’ve picked up a few new fans along the tour. Vocalist and guitarist, Cahli Blakers is incredibly likeable. Self-deprecating yet confident, she strikes an endearing balance in her between song chats with the audiences and doesn’t hold back from rocking out hard when she’s performing. Biffy Clyro are a high energy band on stage and Teenage Joans certainly matched that with their opening set.
I don’t know how to describe the feelings in the room for Biffy. Palpable doesn’t come close to covering it. There was a strong cohort of Scottish fans in the audience and a fair number of fellow Northern English people too. This was an audience incredibly in sync with the band, in a way I’ve rarely seen before. People were transfixed. Other than one person ducking out for a drink that I feel was perhaps necessary for hydration after all the singing, no one moved. They stood, they sang and they watched. It was the first time in Australia for the band without founding member James Johnston, and I can’t imagine how nerve-racking this must be, but Naomi Macleod stepped in beautifully on the bass. And while they’ll always be that sadness and nostalgia of James’s absence, Naomi could not have fitted in better. If you’d not seen the band before you would have thought she’d been there all along.
Simon Neil has always been a captivating front man. He looks the part with his tattooed torso and jet black hair, but he also puts so much passion into his performance. The band used the stage beautifully. I liked that Simon moved around. It made it a bit more interesting visually that your typical “band stand there and play intruments” type rock show, and it meant if your view was blocked for one spot you still got to see him at other points. I was stage left so with the guitarist and drummer directly in front of me I was very happy with the sound but I’d be curious how this worked from the other side of the venue especially towards the back.
If there was an award for crowd sing alongs, last night’s Biffy Clyro audience would have won it. You could see the pure joy on Simon’s face as the crowd were singing back their biggest hits. It was most cleanly illustrated during Machines. This track is probably their oldest hit and Neil performs it on an acoustic guitar with just Ben as an accompaniment. Theres a repeated motif in the song “take the pieces and build them skywards”. And it’s just a touch offset to the rest of the song. What transpired was this gorgeous duet between the band and the audience – so clean, so well timed and well understood by the crowd. It was truly beautiful.
I enjoyed the set. The new work sat well with their back catalogue. I really liked Futique which helped, but it felt like a solid balance of new tracks and their hits so whichever brought you there you wouldn’t leave disappointed. I have one bone to pick with the set list and that’s the placement of Black Chandelier. It’s one of my favourite songs so when they played it randomly in the middle, I assumed I (and the guy behind me who was also a fan of it) were in the minority, but the crowd went off, which made it feel as if the set was building to something and then it just fell away with the next song.
This was exacerbated by the fact that when the crowd swelled with the music, they didn’t do it by halves. It wasn’t an overly rowdy crowd in terms of crazy jumping around mosh pits (we’re all probably a bit too old for that) but there were points during Biffy’s biggest hits when the floor was literally shaking, and I’ve already mentioned the fervent singing. The fans showed up.
It was interesting seeing Biffy in the same venue as industry up and comers Wunderhorse (whose live performances remind me of Biffy in many ways) and other favourites of mine such as The Vaccines, The Libertines and The Courteeners. It was certainly a less elaborate show visually than I’ve seen in the past (yet still well thought out. It’s just the practicalities of the arena shows of back home vs medium sized venues here) but I’ve retained my opinion that they’re one of the best live bands of this generation. Their stage presence and the almost subtle, yet powerful energy that courses through their set is still, to me, largely unmatched.
Find Biffy Clyro tour dates and tickets here.
Find our more about Teenage Joans here.