Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Jerneja Jerak
Location: Ljubljana / CUK Kino Šiška / Slovenia
Concert date: June 8, 2016
Attendance: 700
Ticket price: €29 (advance) / €32 (day of show)
Scottish trio Biffy Clyro haven’t been unknowns in alternative rock circles for a long time now. With six studio albums under their belts and a seventh on the way, the band is right now a hot story of commercial success that has managed to keep the fire of independent, auteur-driven musical vision burning, without bowing to the pressures of corporate forces and that monster called the music industry. Unlike their peers, who tasted the sweetness of fame the easy way, only for it to last “just a day,” Biffy Clyro had to work their asses off to get where they are today. Through years of defiance and grinding through the nineties as Screwfish, the trio hardened and forged itself into an impenetrable stage fortress that knows exactly what its musical focus is. Biffy Clyro are simply outstanding stage performers, shaped by hard graft and a long mileage.
Biffy Clyro are an intelligent, energetic musical story in what is otherwise an ocean of wide, expressively unruly bands that we cram under the alternative rock label. With that energy and an intelligent mix of melody and incisive compositional combinatorics, whose result is far from naked, barefoot little indie rock ditties, the untamed energy of these three Scottish stallions recalls the golden days of similar bands who built the extraordinary dynamics of their live shows, starting with Nirvana, through Queens of the Stone Age and, if I may dare to be a bit more provocative, the early era of the hot-blooded Canadians Rush.
But let’s take it from the top. Before Biffy Clyro, the evening was opened by Slovenia’s own Jardier. In the half hour the headliners granted them, the indie rockers made it clear once again that their musical vision is well defined: short but sweet, melancholically introspective songs, cleverly packaged and (radio-friendly too) ultra-catchy, backed by an excellent command of English. The band also has a self-titled debut studio album under its belt, which it presented well in its short set. Indie rock, the way the band cultivates it on that old-school jangly guitar sound, may not bring seismic shocks of songwriting revolution, but it’s a skillfully repackaged story that has already clicked abroad, and let’s hope Jardier make it on the international scene as soon as possible. A lovely and thoroughly confident performance, then.
Biffy Clyro are a whole different story, and it’s honestly hard to pair them with a support act. Few bands don’t get overshadowed. A band at the peak of both its stage and creative songwriting power delivered, as expected, an outstanding show in front of a packed-to-the-rafters Kino Šiška: superb sound, superb play of spotlights and haze that put the dot on the “i” of all that stage dynamics, along with a signature concert atmosphere and overall vibe. In the songs you don’t just feel minimalism backed by the ignition-switch paradigm of rock’n’roll, nor does the raspy, sharp, yet voluminously expansive vocal, with its hint of hooligan rebelliousness, always take center stage. The main magnet that fires this band up is the extraordinary chemistry between Simon Neil (vocals, guitar) and twin brothers James (bass, backing vocals) and Ben Johnston (drums, backing vocals). It’s the product of the trio’s very long cohabitation in one musical body, so the lads play no hide-and-seek, they read each other perfectly on stage and communicate effortlessly, which means they can pull off a performance at its optimum that wins you over and carries you away in an instant.
The band, which among other things also presented four brand-new songs from the upcoming studio album “Ellipsis” (2016), namely the first two singles Animal Style and Friends and Enemies, plus On a Bang and Wolves of Winter, while the bulk of the set was made up of tracks from “Opposites” (2013) and “Only Revolutions” (2009), also impressed with a massive wall of sound, at times dangerously close to metal, produced mainly by Neil’s Fender Stratocaster.
The band clearly enjoyed the sight of a packed house, and also loved the audience participation, as the crowd knew the verses by heart. The crowd was of course dominated by members of the fairer sex, which means the band still has a very, very long shelf life and bright commercial prospects ahead. But it’s not all about sex appeal. As mentioned, Biffy Clyro are extremely intelligent songwriters, and if I may toss in a rather banal observation, Simon Neil is even one of the few guitarists of the new generation of commercially breakthrough bands in the alternative rock scene who decorates the instrumental middle sections with guitar solos. As for pulling off multi-layered vocal harmonies, Biffy Clyro have that in the pinky of their left hand.
The show turned on a dime! Energetic and cocky. With the commitment and approach Biffy Clyro showed, you couldn’t have expected anything else. The trio, backed on tour by an additional live guitarist and backing vocalist, Mike Vennert, really showed itself in the light of outstanding stage coherence and sensual, intelligent performance that follows the band’s musical vision.
Setlist
BIFFY CLYRO:
1. Wolves of Winter
2. Living Is a Problem Because Everything Dies
3. Biblical
4. Who’s Got a Match?
5. Animal Style
6. Born on a Horse
7. Victory Over the Sun
8. Bubbles
9. Friends and Enemies
10. Black Chandelier
11. God & Satan
12. The Captain
13. Sounds Like Balloons
14. 9/15ths
15. Spanish Radio
16. On a Bang
17. Mountains
18. Different People
—encore—
19. Many of Horror
20. Stingin’ Belle
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