Live Review: Biffy Clyro's 'Only Revolutions' tour

 

As the crowd begins to get impatient, the lights dim and Simon Neil, Ben Johnston and James Johnston take to the stage. It all kicks off with forthcoming fifth record ‘Only Revolutions’ second single, and when I say it all kicks off, I mean a pit is forming immediately and we are neck deep in the energetic guitar riff of ‘That Golden Rule’. Following is ‘Living is a Problem Because Everything Dies’, which I half expect as Biffy have quite often opened with it since the release of ‘Puzzle’. Despite the predictability however, it’s probably the best song to get everyone shouting the lyrics after their mosh.

Then, out comes their brand new ‘Bubbles’ flanked by ‘A whole child ago’ and ‘Who’s got a match’ which are undoubtedly two crowd favorites since the success of ‘Puzzle’. Safe? Perhaps, but probably for the best. It may have resulted in an atmospheric drop had they thrown all their new stuff together at once. I had a similar feeling again with ‘Born on a Horse’ but it’s ingenious placement (following head-banging ‘9/15ths’ where the crowd inevitably chanted) served as an intense build to the insanity that was ‘57’, with Biffy owning the entire venue for the first time in the evening. The set of angled metal girders came alive with flashing lights, the strobes were on overtime and the crowd were alive with passion, screaming along with James Johnston’s renowned vocals in the chorus.

‘Machines’ then gave the crowd to relish in melody (as well as give them time to catch their breath after ‘57’) as Simon served it up with real emotion. The purple up-lighting and crowd involvement was very reminiscent of Biffy’s festival performances over the last year, a welcome refreshment for the die-hards. The rhythm’s of ‘Now I’m Everyone’ and ‘Love Has a Diameter’ had the crowd nodding with the beats again and lead us beautifully into the melodic ‘God and Satan’. This was another safe move by Biffy using two ‘Puzzle’ songs to flank a newbie, however crowd reactions to ‘Blackened Sky’ and ‘Justboy’ highlighted that Biffy know their audience.

After a successful reception of ‘The Captain’, their encore began with ‘Joy.Discovery.Invention’, which was happy relief for early fans and a great sing-along for the crowd, finally ending with the hugely popular ‘Semi-mental’ and ‘Mountains’ which left the crowd leaving on high.

Where I could take away points for some safe choices, I could also add points for delivering exactly what paying fans wanted. So it must be a solid:

7/10.

Album Review: 'Battle for the Sun' by Placebo (Written in 2009 following the albums release)

Placebo, the band who sound tracked adolescence and self discovery, have returned with a mature reflection on their gritty, emotionally honest and somewhat self indulgent predecessors with their new album Battle For The Sun. “All of my wrongs … come back to haunt me” seems to be the perfect lyric as Placebo regress back to their angst filled years with new drummer onboard, Steve Forrest.

‘Kitty litter’ is the perfect opening track, being fast paced yet melancholic and echoing classic titles from Black Market Music like ‘Special K’. Fans who were unimpressed with their previous album Meds will certainly recognise their token anthemic sound returning in the following track ‘Ashtray Heart’ and later on in ‘Bright lights’. Both songs capture that blurry feeling as life passes by just as Sleeping With Ghosts did with ‘This Picture’ and ‘Bitter End’.

Title track ‘Battle For The Sun’ offers a refreshment for old fans who, despite revelling in their old sound, want to hear something fresh. For the new fans however, this is the track that you will not be able to shake from your head and god knows you will be checking their backlog after this. ‘Devil In The Details’ and ‘Speak In Tongues’ bring the tone back down to an angry reflection of things past much like ‘Black Eyed’ did, however this time with a more thorough and adult angle. I’m not sure how these two tracks serve the album in that they seem to lack that Placebo edge that made the band who they are. A sign, I think, that that the naivety and confusion that we all experienced with them has moved on, both in their lives and their music.

Nevertheless, ‘Julien’ brings us back to ‘Battle Of The Sun’ with that powerful bass and ‘Happy You’re Gone’ reminds us of the innovation and spark that we have all grown to love about Placebo. For new fans, this album will certainly give you the perfect taster of what these guys were and are about. On the other hand, if you are a die-hard old school fan and you want to hear some classic Placebo, they deliver.

8/10