Tonight's gig saw Biffy back on home turf in their hometown of Glasgow to finish off their UK tour which represents the first outings of tracks from their latest album "Futique" which was out last year. I've seen Biffy on a number of occasions but not for a long time, probably pre 2010 was the last time. Previously I have seen them at King Tuts, QMU, Barrowlands and Belladrum festival. Fast forward today and they are easily selling out the biggest venue in town, the OVO Hydro arena.
On support duty today was Soft Play who were previously known as Slaves. I think there may have been a band on before them but we missed them. But Soft Play are certainly unique and really made you stand up and take notice. There maybe just a guitarist and a drummer with the drummer taking most of the vocals; but don't be fooled as they make a hell of a racket. They had good banter as well as they quipped between songs that the reason there was only 2 of them in the band is because nobody else wanted to join. The songs were short, punky and packed a punch. I probably wouldn't see them at their own show but appreciated them as a support act.
And they set the scene nicely for main act of the evening Biffy Clyro. This tour was to be different from any previous tour the band has been on, due to the notable absence of bassist James Johnston. They are such a tight group you could feel the emotion of the loss as he took some time out from the band to focus on his mental health. But the show must go on in the say and they brought in Naomi Macleod who has previously played bass in lead singer Simon Neil's other project, Empire State Bastard. She did a fine job and you wouldn't have known she had such a little time to rehearse. Simon did dedicate "Friendshipping" to them both.
It was one of those nights where the setlist mainly centred around the new album with 7 tracks played from "Futique". To my surprise no "True Believer" which is a single and also my favourite track from the record but they are right to lean heavily on the record as it is a solid album. The next album they dipped into the most was "Only Revelations", which is perhaps no surprise as it contains their biggest hits to date and they finished on "Many a horror" and to be honest Simon didnt even really need to sing it the crowd well and truly could have carried it.
They didn't play anything off their first 3 albums which I wasn't particurlarly bothered about as they have so many good songs to choose from but maybe some older fans would want them to sneak in a few classics from back in the day. But the thing is you never really know what you are going to get from a Biffy setlist from tour to tour, festival to festival. I remember watching their Glastonbury and TRNSMT appearences last year and the appearences were less than a month apart but the set lists were totally different and due to "Futique" coming out since this setlist was different once again. Really refreshing for a band to do that and for me are rewarding fans who see them regularly.
Overall a top night and Biffy were on fine form.
Setlist
A Little Love
Hunting Season
That Golden Rule
Who's Got a Match?
Shot One
Space
Wolves of Winter
Tiny Indoor Fireworks
Goodbye
Friendshipping
Biblical
A Thousand and One
Different People
A Hunger in Your Haunt
Black Chandelier
Instant History
Mountains
Two People in Love
Machines
The Captain
Living Is a Problem Because Everything Dies
Bubbles
Many of Horror
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